Chamber and committees

Kate Nevens, who is attending the committee today, might want to come in on this area. What engagement have you had with the Gypsy Traveller community in the early days in your role? Does the Government have any plans to work further with that community to improve its situation?

You will be aware of the round-table session that we had last week, in which a powerful case was put forward by one of the participants that this committee, and the Parliament and the Government as a whole, should be doing more to support that community. Do you have any early thoughts on that? I appreciate that you are not long into your role.

Yes.

Good morning, minister. As I have said to colleagues already, I apologise for the fact that I am not there in person. I am sparing you all the passing on of my bugs. However, it is a delight to have you at the committee, minister, in your first appearance in front of us.

I have two questions, if that is okay with the convener. One is on an issue that has already been touched on: the worrying increase in tensions in our community, particularly around race. You have spoken a wee bit about that in answer to questions from other members, and I do not want you to repeat yourself—I do not think that the convener would allow that, given the time. However, can you say any more about what the Scottish Government is actively doing to bring more harmony to our communities? Is your department, or are other Government departments, involved in any work to manage the current situation?

10:30

Welcome to the committee. I want to speak about the Children (Scotland) Act 2020, which you have touched on a bit, and to ask whether the Government remains committed to implementing that act in full.

I also want to ask about the possibility of introducing further reforms to tackle parenting disputes. That is in the context of some of the work that Shared Parenting Scotland has done, which has found that quite a lot of evidence suggests that one parent—it tends to be fathers—does not have the same amount of contact. How can that be balanced out in domestic abuse cases? Does the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 provide enough protection when it comes to domestic abuse?

I am sorry—I asked a lot of questions at once, but I keep cutting in and out online.

Thanks, minister, for that full and heartening response.

I will put on the record a reflection on something that I experienced recently. Probably a few months ago, I visited a mosque with my colleague Neil Gray. The mosque sits on the border of our constituencies, so it serves both populations. I have visited it regularly over the 10 years during which I have been an MSP; I have always made a Facebook post about those visits and there has never been any issue. After the most recent visit, however, my post went viral and received really derogatory comments from people across the UK—it felt organised. I felt that I had to take a stand against that, so I made a counter-post calling those comments out, which, I am pleased to say, did equally well, with people coming on Facebook and being supportive.

Please answer this question briefly, because there is another area that I want to come on to: do you think that some of the stuff that we are seeing online is co-ordinated? When I clicked on the profiles of some of the people who were commenting on my post, I found that they were from all over the UK and, to be honest with you, there was no need for them to be thinking about a mosque in Coatbridge. Have you also found such co-ordination and are you working with other agencies to tackle it?

Sorry, convener—I was just waiting to be unmuted. I am the MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston and, as you can see, I am joining remotely today.

Thank you, convener. I was not going to come in because I am joining remotely. The conversation has been very good and we have managed to get a lot from it, so I did not want to come in for the sake of it, but following Lorraine’s very powerful contribution, I felt the need to come in. I do not have a question as such, convener; I just want to put on the record that I fully support Lorraine’s calls. The committee and the Parliament as a whole should rise to the asks and respond appropriately.

It is worth saying that, even though circumstances were outwith anybody’s control for much of the time, the previous committee let the Gypsy Traveller community down at times. We have a duty to ensure that that does not happen in this session of Parliament. I take the opportunity to put that on the record, convener, and hope that you do not mind my doing so.

Good morning, everyone. I am the MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston.

My line of questioning goes back to what Carol Young spoke about. First, I have to say that there have been so many points in a range of areas. We were talking in the break about just how much stuff there is.

I want to focus on what Carol Young talked about, because that is a real concern. This is my third parliamentary session, and I feel that the discrimination, hate and polarisation that we are seeing in Scottish society just now could be the defining issue of this session. Obviously, it will be a big issue for the Parliament as a whole, but particularly for the committee, given its title. This is a bit of an open question, but can you suggest anything that the committee could do to be part of the solution in bringing more harmony to our country and to the debate on race and immigration, whatever form that might take?

Before you come in, I should say that I am well aware that the issue is not unique to Scotland. We are seeing it across the UK, Europe and, indeed, the world, so we need to be part of a bigger solution.

10:45

I am the MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston.