Chamber and committees

Before I invite Paul Sweeney to ask his question, I will just give everyone a wee nudge by saying that we are up against our time limit.

Welcome back. I welcome to the committee, for the first time in his new role, Neil Gray, Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development and Minister with special responsibility for Refugees from Ukraine. He is joined online by Alison Byrne, director for equality, inclusion and human rights, and John Primrose, the deputy director of the international division, both of the Scottish Government.

I look forward to working with you on this issue, minister. I believe that you have a short opening statement for us.

Good morning and welcome to the 10th meeting in 2022 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. I am delighted to be here this morning and I want to put on record my thanks to members, especially the deputy convener Donald Cameron, for their sterling efforts over the past few weeks during what has been a particularly busy time for our committee.

This morning, Dr Allan will be joining us remotely, and we have received apologies from Sarah Boyack. I welcome to the meeting Paul Sweeney, who is substituting for Ms Boyack, and invite him to make any relevant declarations of interest.

I will ask a final question, minister. Obviously, we are facing a huge humanitarian crisis and we want to help the best that we can. Witnesses on the first panel said that they believe that the supersponsor route has been implemented with empathy at its heart. I want to ask about the relationship with the Westminster Government, given that much of that work will involve co-operation with Westminster. In the past, there have been significant differences in attitude to refugees; for example, the Scottish Parliament did not give legislative consent to the Nationality and Borders Bill. More recently, withdrawal from the 1951 refugee convention has also been mentioned.

How well and how willing is Westminster is able to co-operate? Having been convener of the Social Security Committee, I know that even data sharing can be a contentious issue. How is that relationship working and do you feel that Westminster is co-operating with the Scottish Government as fully as it can? If the Ukrainian situation was the only thing that we were facing that would be enough, but there are other humanitarian issues across the world that mean that people are seeking asylum and refugee status here. I appreciate that you are here as the minister with responsibility for Ukrainian refugees, but how can we ensure that the needs of other people who come to our country are met in the same way and with the same dignity and respect?

As I am conscious of time, it would be really helpful if we could have succinct answers. I appreciate, though, that there is a lot that all the witnesses have to advise us on.

Could we bring in Ms Hayes on the previous points first?

It would be worth asking the minister that question, too, Mr Sweeney.

Graham O’Neill and Andy Sirel, if you want to respond, please be very succinct.

I will ask a question on that note of compassion, dignity and respect for the refugees coming here, and as someone who has experience of the resettlement scheme in North Lanarkshire. As a representative of that area, I am sure that the minister is also very familiar with that scheme and how successful it was, particularly for Syrian refugees.

I have a concern about the level of media interest in some cases, such as the Dnipro Kids children. We have talked about how the Scottish people have stepped up to welcome people and about how there is a long-standing relationship between Hibernian Football Club and Dnipro Kids, which they have been able to build on. However, how do we ensure that those coming have their privacy and dignity respected, and that they are given the space and time to deal with resettling?

Agenda item 1 is a decision on taking several items of business in private at future meetings. Do we agree to take in private our consideration of the draft report on the Scottish Government’s resource spending review, the draft report on our inquiry into the Scottish Government’s international work and the committee’s work programme?

Members indicated agreement.

That concludes questions from the committee, minister. I know that this is an incredibly busy time for you and your officials and I thank you all for attending.