Official Report 959KB pdf
Crime Statistics
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the overall increase in recorded crimes in the past year, including rape, violent crime, antisocial behaviour and shoplifting. (S6T-02626)
Scotland continues to be a safe place to live, with recorded crime falling by more than half since 1991. However, I am very concerned about those areas of crime in which there have been increases, particularly sexual violence and domestic abuse. Although I welcome the fact that some of the increase will be due to an increase in reporting and trust in the justice system, it is abhorrent that such crimes, which are mainly against women, are taking place. That is why, through the equally safe strategy, we are aiming to tackle and prevent such violence. This year, we are investing £4.2 billion across the justice system, including a record £1.64 billion for policing.
The data actually shows that, in the year to June 2025, violent crime went up. Sexual crime is up, antisocial behaviour is up and shoplifting is up. The president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents asked:
“how bad does it have to get before we actually see some meaningful and credible steps to ensure policing is able to deal with these things”,
and added,
“What’s needed is actually a real credible response”.
Does the cabinet secretary have a real and credible response that she can provide, or will she continue to hide behind decades of statistics?
It remains imperative to acknowledge that Scotland remains a safe place under this Government. However, where we are seeing changes in the types of offences, it is imperative that we respond to that. For example, if we take crimes of dishonesty, housebreaking figures have fallen, but shoplifting has increased significantly. That is why we are investing £3 million in relation to retail crime, and we are seeing positive outcomes from that investment.
Over and above our record investment in policing, there is investment in the violence prevention framework and in work to deliver the equally safe strategy to tackle abhorrent crimes against women. That work is, in essence, about prevention and providing support for victims and about changing men’s behaviour and underlying attitudes.
It is important that the Government responds. Antisocial behaviour is up by 5 per cent and the use of offensive weapons is up by 13 per cent. In late July, I asked the Minister for Victims and Community Safety what actions have been implemented following the youth violence summit that the Government insisted was not yet another talking shop. The minister could not name a single action—not one. Can the cabinet secretary help the victims minister by telling us whether any new actions from that summit have now been implemented and, if so, when they will result in those figures finally beginning to fall?
Any level of violence among young people, or by any citizens, is concerning. It is imperative that the Government continues investing in early intervention, and prevention is key to that. Following the summit, I advised the media and Parliament that the next phase of cashback for communities funding will increase from £20 million to £26 million. One of the additional actions that is being taken following the summit is the delivery of education roadshows on violence and weapons prevention, in targeted areas where levels of violence are high.
It is crucial that we listen to the voices of young people who are law abiding who seek to get on with their lives and to attend school, but we must also reach out to those in our communities who have become marginalised. Young people’s voices are particularly important in all of that, as is work across Government, not least the investment in education which, of course, led to the excellent exam results that were published over the summer.
I am keen to take supplementary questions, so it will be helpful if members can be concise.
The vast number of charges under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 are being prosecuted, with more than 90 per cent proceeding to court. Does the cabinet secretary believe that such changes to our laws and culture will empower women to speak out and to have the confidence to go to the police, courts and support services?
One important part of the equally safe strategy is to continue our work to empower victims to come forward to report crimes. When a crime has occurred, it is essential that people have the confidence and support to come forward.
What we have seen with the 2018 act, which is often described as gold-standard and world-leading legislation, is that crimes recorded under that piece of legislation have increased by 26 per cent.
However, we can, of course, not just stop with our legislation on domestic abuse. It is important that we introduce other measures, and that is what we are doing in the remainder of the current session. In only a few weeks’ time, we will debate the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, which is about implementing a trauma-informed justice system and supporting victims of sexual violence with, I hope, the implementation of the new sexual offences court.
Given that crimes linked to prostitution are rising—a crime that is obviously rooted in exploitation and violence—does the cabinet secretary accept that Scotland’s current laws are failing to protect those who are exploited by the global sex trade? Will the Government work with me in supporting my unbuyable bill to make the purchase of sex illegal in all circumstances, so that we send a very clear message that sex is not for sale in Scotland and the burden of criminality lies with the exploiters and not the exploited?
I very much agree that sexual exploitation of women is a form of violence against women and girls. I also very much agree that the core root of the problem is indeed the behaviour of men who think that women are there for them to purchase as they please. Where Parliament will have to come to a view is on what course of action will best protect women now and in the future, and what course of action will now keep women safe. The Government, like every other parliamentary group, will look to see how Ms Regan’s bill progresses in the course of parliamentary scrutiny.
Shoplifting is up by 124 per cent in the past four years, and that is an underestimate, as many retailers do not bother reporting it because they do not think that the shoplifter would face justice. They are right, because fewer than half of shoplifting cases in Scotland are solved, and most of those who are caught rack up fines that they have no intention of paying or get a slap on the wrist. It is clear that the current system is not working. When will the Government change course, bring in stronger punishments for repeat offenders and increase police visibility on our streets to deter thieves?
Our independent courts do very much take into account people who are involved in repeat offending. A key aspect of the retail crime task force, which the Scottish Government has supported with additional funding of £3 million, is to stop people becoming perpetrators of acquisitive crime and to bring perpetrators to justice, with a focus on repeat offenders and organised criminals, as well as to strengthen the collective protection against retail crime.
The task force bulletin for July 2025 reported on significant results in Edinburgh since April, with 234 charges being brought against retail crime offenders. The cases that were dealt with relate to an estimated £25,000 of stolen goods, and the team’s work has led to 230 offender identifications across the city. I would be happy to provide more information.
We move to question 2. Again, concise questions and responses would be very gratefully received.
NHS Waiting Lists
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce national health service waiting lists, in light of new analysis reportedly showing that waits of over two years are now more than 800 times higher in Scotland than in England. (S6T-02642)
We are investing a record £21.7 billion in health and social care this year, in a budget that Jackie Baillie refused to support. The focused investment coming from that budget is delivering tangible improvements in health and social care performance. Statistics that were published this morning, which I am sure that Jackie Baillie will wish to welcome, show just a few examples.
In July 2025, the number of operations performed was at its highest level in more than five years. For planned care, new out-patient activity and in-patient and day-case activity have increased, with in-patient and day-case waiting lists down compared with the last quarter. Child and adolescent mental health services waiting time standards have been met for a third time in a row, and we had the lowest number of eight and 12-hour waits in accident and emergency departments for any month since September 2023, despite July attendance being the highest of any July in the past six years.
Those are encouraging signs that efforts to improve access and efficiency are delivering results, and my thanks go to the staff for their incredible efforts.
That was so much spin from the cabinet secretary that he must be positively dizzy. I am afraid that his excuses will not wash with the 14,963 people who have been waiting for more than two years for an operation. The numbers of operations are still lower than the pre-pandemic level. Despite John Swinney’s promise of action last year, the number of people waiting in Scotland has gone up and is at a staggering 880,000—a record high. Can the cabinet secretary tell us why it has gone up?
I note from that question that Jackie Baillie refused to offer thanks to the staff for their efforts in improving performance over the recent quarter or welcome the progress that has been made. However, we are making progress. We have delivered a record number of hip and knee operations in the national health service over the past year. We continue to make improvements, as this morning’s figures demonstrate. That is why the most recent comparable analysis, to go back to February, shows that we are delivering faster levels of increased activity than the NHS in England. That is the difference that a Scottish National Party Government can make.
That is interesting, because I spend most of my time listening and talking to staff, and the cabinet secretary’s response is an indication of how desperate he is. He does not like the message, so he simply attacks the messenger.
New figures from yesterday show that the number of private hospital and clinic admissions in Scotland are the highest on record. The cabinet secretary failed to mention that. Is it not the case that the SNP’s neglect of the NHS has led to a two-tier health service, is letting down staff and is continuing to fail the 880,000 patients who are waiting in pain?
Of course I want to ensure that NHS capacity in Scotland is able to deal with demand. That is why we are delivering a record settlement for health and social care services and directing targeted interventions around waiting times. However, it is a bit rich for Jackie Baillie to criticise the Scottish Government for private admissions, given that there were 240 private admissions in Scotland per 100,000 of the population, whereas the figure in England is 54 per cent higher, at 370 admissions per 100,000.
Jackie Baillie has come here with negativity. She has not supported the positive interventions that have come forward. However, I have one area of positive intervention—this is serious—that Jackie Baillie could support us with. Home Office figures show that there was a 77 per cent reduction in the number of health and care worker visas that were approved by the United Kingdom Government in the year to mid-2025. We need international workers in health and care—Donald Macaskill has said so, clearly. Perhaps Jackie Baillie could help us in recruiting the staff that we need for health and social care by convincing her Government to deliver a migration system—
Briefly, cabinet secretary.
—that works for the health and social care system in Scotland, rather than making it harder for us to recruit.
I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner, in which role I worked over the summer. After nearly two decades of SNP mismanagement, one in six Scots is now trapped on an NHS waiting list; GP vacancy rates remain high; there are continued nursing shortages; despite promises, waiting times are spiralling, with nearly a quarter of patients waiting over a year; and a shortfall of £290 million prevents practices from hiring additional staff. Patients’ physical and mental wellbeing is being harmed. Is it not time that the Government made significant commonsense bureaucratic cuts, reducing the redundant middle management of the NHS and diverting those resources to the front line?
Sandesh Gulhane will know that Public Health Scotland is clear that, in order to arrive at a one in six figure, list numbers would have to be combined—which it recommends should not be done. He will therefore want to check that figure.
On GP numbers, welcome figures have just shown, for the first time since 2019, a 4 per cent rise in the number of whole-time equivalent GPs. I am now engaged with the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association on the long-term funding position, including how there can be greater recruitment of general practitioners, to match the incredible investment that is going into training them. A record number of 1,200 GPs are currently in training.
I remind members that I hold a bank nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
I welcome the progress that the Scottish Government has made in reducing waiting lists, and it is disappointing that Labour consistently talks down our national health service and our hard-working staff. In that vein, what can the cabinet secretary say about the recent figures in relation to the number of GPs, paramedics and the wider NHS workforce?
I am absolutely committed to our workforce. It is the greatest asset of our health and care services. I remain extremely grateful for the daily contribution that it makes to providing high-quality services to patients across Scotland.
It is welcome that data published this morning shows an increase in the NHS whole-time equivalent workforce since last year, and a 16.6 per cent increase in headcount over the past decade. Last week, we saw an increase in the number of new paramedics, and our GP whole-time equivalent workforce has grown by 4 per cent over the past year, which is the first such increase since 2019.
We will continue to invest in our NHS and our incredible staff so that they can continue to deliver an NHS for the people of Scotland.
In my summer surgeries this year, one of the biggest issues was lengthy waiting times at NHS Grampian. I had an elderly constituent in Portgordon, who has been told that he will have to wait 18 months for a cataract operation, and another in Hopeman, who has been waiting since February 2023 for a referral to ear, nose and throat services, and who has been told that the waiting time is 137 weeks. Can the cabinet secretary defend those lengthy waiting times? If—as I hope—he cannot, what is he doing with NHS Grampian, a board that is in dire financial straits, to get those waiting times reduced, because patients urgently need that care?
I know that the waiting times that Douglas Ross has outlined are not acceptable. They are not in the position where we expect them to be. That is why we are making the investments that we are making. I was able to recount the position in relation to improvement in both in-patient and day-case activity and out-patient activity, as well as record numbers of hip and knee operations.
We are providing specific support for NHS Grampian through its escalation process, which Douglas Ross will be aware of. We are also looking at how regional support can be provided to bring down its waiting list so that there is wider health service activity to support the position for the constituents that Douglas Ross referred to, allowing them to be seen faster.
In NHS Ayrshire and Arran, more than 11,000 patients were stuck waiting more than a year for an out-patient appointment. Those waits have consequences for patients and for our highly professional and hard-working staff. The reworked plans that you constantly set out are not working. We need some honesty from this Government.
What can you say to those thousands of patients, and to the staff in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, about what action you will take to stop them waiting in limbo?
Always speak through the chair, please.
I recognise the question from Carol Mochan, and I hope that she recognises that the interventions that we are taking are making a difference. We are seeing increases in activity. I was able to quote statistics from this morning showing that July had the highest number of operations delivered for any month since February 2020. That is welcome progress, which has been delivered by the targeted investments of this Government, through the budget of £21.7 billion, and thanks to the hard-working staff in our NHS.
We are rolling out greater regional working to support the delivery of faster progress on waiting times. The Golden Jubilee hospital is a critical example of that, as well as our national treatment centre programme and other regional hubs. I hope that that will help to deliver the improvements in NHS Ayrshire and Arran that Carol Mochan is waiting for.
Ardrossan Harbour
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Cabinet Secretary for Transport’s announcement on 19 February 2025, whether it will provide an update on its discussions with Peel Ports regarding bringing Ardrossan harbour into public ownership. (S6T-02625)
I assure Kenny Gibson and his constituents that concluding the matter and bringing Ardrossan harbour into public ownership is a top priority for Scottish ministers. Yesterday, I shared an update with the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee and the Ardrossan task force that our asset owner, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, is continuing positive negotiations with Peel Ports Group.
Those complex and commercially sensitive discussions are now focusing on heads of terms, and both parties are committed to confirming details of the potential sale as quickly as possible. Achieving a clean title on the assets—a large part of which have not been transacted since the late 19th century—and adhering to legal and commercial due process is essential to securing a sustainable future for our ferry operations.
This Government will continue to support the role of Ardrossan harbour for the long-term benefit of local communities in Arran and Ardrossan. I look forward to updating Parliament on further progress at the earliest opportunity.
I am heartened that progress is being made, and I commend the cabinet secretary’s tenacity in pursuing the harbour’s purchase. However, progress still appears to be glacial. The communities of Ardrossan and Arran just want to know when the purchase will successfully conclude, given the time that has already elapsed. Few people thought, regardless of how complex the negotiations to buy the harbour would be, that it would take even the six months that we have waited so far. Can the cabinet secretary say what further work is being done to ensure that the purchase is concluded in days and weeks rather than months and years?
I understand people’s frustrations. I have been quite clear about my determination that the purchase will be concluded, but success will be when those negotiations succeed and are agreed to by both parties.
On my part, the move to heads of terms ensures that we are getting into the practical detail of ensuring the clean title that I referred to, which will be the long-term result of those negotiations.
In terms of the impetus to ensure that progress is made more rapidly now that we have got to this critical stage, the member can be assured that the matter has my utmost attention, as it has done in recent months.
I sympathise with the cabinet secretary’s predicament. Peel Ports chronically underinvested in the harbour for years. When the save Ardrossan harbour and Arran for Ardrossan harbour groups came to Holyrood, the cabinet secretary met them, whereas Peel would not when they protested outside its Glasgow headquarters.
Although the Scottish Government has declined to comment on active commercial negotiations, Peel has accused it of not matching its “pace, energy and commitment”. Does the cabinet secretary agree that, to right the wrong of the Tory privatisation of Ardrossan harbour, Peel Ports should cease trying to hold Scottish taxpayers to ransom and sell the port now—lock, stock and barrel—for a fair price?
I agree that a fair price is absolutely essential. The member is also correct to remind members in the chamber that the situation is a result of the long history of Conservative privatisation of ports. He also recognises the key reason why we are doing this, which is to ensure that there is investment, both in the short and in the long term, to make sure that there is a secure and sustainable future for Ardrossan harbour.
Let us not forget that it was Humza Yousaf who promised the upgrade of Ardrossan harbour when he was transport minister. This Government has had years to get on with the job.
Peel Ports has accused the Government of not matching its “pace, energy and commitment” when it comes to the negotiations, and it says that the negotiations must be a higher priority. I hope that that will be the case moving forward.
On compensation specifically, will the cabinet secretary consider extending the window of opportunity for compensation beyond today, which is currently the last day for applications? There are businesses out there that still need cash and are not aware of the scheme. Secondly, will the scheme be extended to businesses in Ardrossan? I do not want to see a single small business in Ardrossan lose business or go bust as a result of this sorry saga.
I note that the Liberal Democrat member has taken the side of Peel Ports and accepted its interpretation. As the cabinet secretary, I am trying to ensure that there are constructive discussions between the parties and that both parties are giving the issue the attention that is required.
The member refers to a separate scheme that has been announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands to help support islanders. I understand that there has been an extension to the application period.
My main concern for Ardrossan harbour is to keep it open and operating as long as possible. That is why we are providing additional funding to ensure that, where possible, there is two-port provision. However, I am also very conscious that there will be a period of investment that will mean that Ardrossan harbour will be closed, so I think that we should be turning our attention to how we can provide practical support to businesses during that stage.
In February, after years of the Scottish Government ridiculing those arguing for the public ownership of Ardrossan harbour, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport announced, during rural affairs portfolio questions, that the Scottish Government now supported it. The Scottish Government knew more than 10 years ago, when it decided to commission the two Arran ferries, that the ferries did not fit into Ardrossan harbour, that the Scottish Government did not own Ardrossan harbour, and that it was going to be very difficult to get a deal with the owners, but it spent years failing to take the necessary compulsory action. Does the cabinet secretary accept that the Scottish Government has failed the people of Arran and Ardrossan?
No, I do not, and I would be interested to know whether compulsory purchase of ports and harbours in Scotland is a new Labour Party policy; that might be news to a lot of investors who want to create jobs and provide services.
The member was not a member of this Parliament at the time, and she is rehearsing an argument that is more about propaganda—[Interruption.]
Presiding Officer, this matter is very important to the people of Ardrossan.
Let us hear one another.
The member, in her anger, perhaps betrays her regret that progress is in fact being made. If she thinks that compulsory purchase is, or was ever, a legal solution for Ardrossan or for other ports, the Labour Party needs to look seriously at its economic case.
That concludes topical questions.
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