Official Report 1094KB pdf
Good morning. The first item of business is general question time.
Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 (Addition of Sex Characteristic)
To ask the Scottish Government what the current status is of its plans to add sex to the characteristics covered by the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. (S6O-05371)
The Scottish Government is currently considering responses to the public consultation that we undertook last year on the draft Scottish statutory instrument to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, and we intend to lay the final SSI in Parliament in the coming period.
I was listening very intently for something substantive in the cabinet secretary’s response. What I really want is a personal commitment from her that the SSI will be laid before this Parliament goes into dissolution, because I cannot see how it is conceivable that sex should be the only protected characteristic that is not covered by the 2021 act when, as the Scottish Government says, women experience bad behaviours because of their sex class. I seek a personal commitment from the cabinet secretary that that will happen.
I very much appreciate Mrs Thomson’s interest in the matter. I assure her, both personally and politically, that the Scottish Government wants to ensure that women and girls have the new criminal protections that are provided through the 2021 act for other characteristics such as age, disability, religion and so forth.
Mrs Thomson will be aware that we have to follow a super-affirmative process, which is what Parliament agreed when the hate crime legislation was passed. That means that we have to publish a draft SSI and consult on it, and we are obliged to analyse the consultation responses and publish them, where permitted, with the analysis. That will be done when the SSI is laid, and it will be laid in due course.
The minister says that the SSI will be laid “in due course”, but we do not know when that will be. Only this Tuesday, at the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, the Minister for Equalities informed us that she had not met the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs to discuss the nine protected characteristics—sex being one, as now defined and clarified by the Supreme Court judgment. That was absolutely alarming
You have still not included sex in the hate crime legislation and have still not told us when the SSI will be laid. Also, why have you not met the Minister for Equalities?
Always speak through the chair.
In summary, I will repeat the essence of what I said to Michelle Thomson: I will lay an SSI well in advance of the end of this parliamentary session, because I want to ensure that women and girls have those protections in the format of hate crime legislation, in the same way that those with other protected characteristics do. I assure members that that is all in hand.
As for the second part of Tess White’s question, I would note that the Minister for Equalities has certainly not met me in recent times on the various equality duties. I recall that, some time ago, soon after her appointment to her post, she met ministers collectively and I know that she has, on more than one occasion, reminded all ministers of our collective responsibility to meet our equality duties. If need be, we could go back into the records and find a note of the meeting that Ms Stewart had with me and a range of other ministers, but that is going back some time, and I will have to come back to the member on that issue.
I remind members that, as this is our shortest question session of the week, concise questions and responses are appreciated.
Pension-age Winter Heating Payment (Mid Scotland and Fife)
To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Mid Scotland and Fife who are eligible for the pension-age winter heating payment have not yet received their payment for winter 2025-26. (S6O-05372)
Pension-age winter heating payment will support at least 880,000 pensioners with heating bills this winter. The United Kingdom Government’s 2024 decision to cut winter heating payment was a betrayal of millions of pensioners. Although the belated U-turn was welcome, costs are rising, and many people will struggle with household bills this winter. That is why the Scottish Government is taking action and will deliver the strongest package of winter support compared with anywhere else in the UK. By 14 December 2025, £124.9 million was paid through more than 837,000 winter heating payments, with updated figures due on 4 February.
That means that around 300,000 people have not yet received their payments. The First Minister promised that they would receive them by St Andrew’s day. Now, more than six weeks after St Andrew’s day, and well into the winter weather, there are still people wondering where those payments are.
Will the cabinet secretary advise why it has taken so long for a payment to be made and when those who are still waiting for payments will receive them? Will the Scottish Government apologise to all those pensioners who were promised payment in November but did not receive it?
Just as the Scottish Government laid out, the payments began in November and will continue through the winter. We have also ensured that the winter heating payment, which goes to pensioners on low incomes, is being paid throughout the winter; that payment is not guaranteed anywhere else in the UK but in Scotland. We have also paid the child winter heating payment to children on the highest rates of disability payments.
The package that we have in Scotland is stronger and more robust than anywhere else in the UK. Payment began in November, and it is moving through the winter months according to the timetable that was set out previously. We are on track to deliver it this winter.
Caithness Maternity Services (Independent Review)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the independent review of maternity services in Caithness, including the remit and timescale of the review, and what detail has been shared with relevant duty bearers. (S6O-05373)
The Scottish maternity and neonatal task force will look at the requirement for, and scope of, a national review, based on the emerging themes and outcomes of the Healthcare Improvement Scotland inspections of maternity units across Scotland and any other area that the task force might identify. The cabinet secretary has been clear that the task force will look at rural maternity services as one of its first areas of focus, and will review the issues in rural communities, including Caithness and Stranraer. A full work plan will be agreed by the task force following the first meeting in January 2026, and Parliament will be updated in due course.
In a freedom of information response, NHS Highland said that there were no plans for an independent review of Caithness maternity services. Instead, it would sit within the wider remit of the task force.
The cabinet secretary knows that this Parliament voted for an independent review of Caithness maternity services; indeed, the need for it was further highlighted when Caithness was cut off from the rest of the country for days during the recent weeks of bad weather and no one could get to Raigmore hospital.
Will the task force be independent of Government? Will it be asked specifically to examine all aspects of Caithness maternity services, including the journey to Inverness, and to make recommendations for the safe delivery of maternity services in the county of Caithness?
I thank Rhoda Grant for her follow-up question. I also thank the staff in NHS Highland for the way in which they have coped with the really difficult weather, including the wonderful midwives who are based in Caithness.
As I said in my first response, it is for the task force and its expert members to determine whether further action is required—they will determine the scope. As Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, I will chair it, but my co-chairs are both independent of Gov—well, my co-chairs are Ann Gow and Professor Anna Glasier.
Scotch Whisky Industry (Importance of Supply Chain)
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the importance of the supply chain to the Scotch whisky industry. (S6O-05374)
The Scotch whisky industry is one of Scotland’s most significant economic sectors, contributing more than £5 billion in exports, and a resilient, competitive supply chain is essential to its continued success. The industry supports thousands of jobs across Scotland, not only in distillation and maturation but in farming, malting, packaging, logistics, engineering, tourism and professional services.
The wider supply chain is therefore integral to national economic growth, rural sustainability and export performance, and it is crucial to safeguarding the global reputation of Scotch whisky and ensuring the long-term competitiveness of the sector.
The First Minister has led from the front to protect Scotch whisky from US tariffs, taking the case directly to the US Government. Does the minister have any update on whether the United Kingdom Government has followed up the matter with the United States in order to protect the whisky industry and its supply chain, which includes packager Eurostampa, in my constituency, which recently expanded its site in Cumbernauld with Scottish Enterprise support? Or are we left with the view that the UK Government views the Scottish food and drink sector as nothing more than a cash cow to support the UK Exchequer?
Jamie Hepburn makes a good point—the whisky sector is not just about distillers but about the wider supply chain, which benefits constituencies such as Jamie Hepburn’s.
On the tariffs issue, the First Minister was highly praised by the sector in Scotland, including in Speyside, in my constituency, as he picked up the cudgels on behalf of the sector and took its case directly to the White House.
I raised the issues with my UK counterpart, Chris Bryant, at our meeting earlier this month. We are still waiting for the UK Government to deliver on what we all expect—to give Scotch whisky the priority that it deserves in those negotiations and to secure tariff exemptions from the US.
We are also disappointed that our calls to address the disparity in alcohol duty in the latest UK budget went unheard. Instead, the spirits sector faces a further increase in duty rates, which will rise by 18 per cent in three years. That takes the tax burden on a bottle of Scotch to an eye-watering 72 per cent.
I agree with Jamie Hepburn’s comments, and we will continue to pursue the case.
I recently visited the Annandale distillery in Dumfriesshire and was impressed by its commitment to reaching net zero, with a significant investment in a multimillion-pound, game-changing thermal energy storage system, which was partly funded by the previous UK Conservative Government. What support can the Scottish Government give to the Scotch whisky industry to meet its decarbonisation and sustainability goals, not just in our world-class distilleries but throughout the wider supply chain?
I have not had the privilege of visiting that distillery in the member’s region, but perhaps one day I will have the opportunity to do so.
In recent years, the Scottish Government has given substantial support to the whisky sector to decarbonise its operations. The sector is playing a really important role in achieving the country’s national decarbonisation aims, and we will continue to work in partnership with it.
E-scooters (Antisocial and Dangerous Use)
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether reliance on local enforcement to tackle antisocial and dangerous e-scooter use is creating a postcode lottery in public safety, with some communities protected and others left exposed. (S6O-05375)
The Scottish Government does not accept that reliance on local enforcement creates a postcode lottery in public safety. Police Scotland operates within nationally set strategic police priorities, which apply to the whole of Scotland and emphasise public safety, prevention and consistency, while allowing appropriate local flexibility to respond to community needs.
The Scottish Government continues to support policing capacity through record funding of £1.64 billion in this financial year. Scotland has a higher number of police officers per capita than England and Wales, and Scottish Government funding enabled Police Scotland to take on more recruits in the most recent financial year than at any time since 2013.
Operational policing decisions, including taking enforcement action against illegal and antisocial e-scooter use, are rightly a matter for Police Scotland, and the member will be aware of my commitment to working collectively to address concerns that were raised during the debate on 9 December. I welcome the positive examples of Police Scotland’s enforcement activity in this area.
I struggled to hear the answer, so I will do my best.
In Edinburgh, in my region, the number of e-scooter confiscations has tripled in just two years, while some areas have recorded none. E-scooter use is clearly a growing menace to everyday Scots, who feel unsafe just walking about in their high streets. The statistics show that there is a lack of consistency, but the minister has denied that there is a postcode lottery in public safety. Will the Scottish Government finally press the United Kingdom Government for a clear national framework on registration, insurance and licensing instead of letting the problems get worse?
We have had lots of meetings about the matter over the past year and will, I hope, have another one with MSPs who have an interest in it. Jim Fairlie and I wrote to the UK Government regarding it in October. I received a letter last week saying that the Labour Government did not feel that any legislation was necessary, which is disappointing, but I will keep members updated on that.
Swimming (Open Letter from Elite Swimming Athletes)
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the open letter from Scotland’s elite swimming athletes sent to the First Minister on 6 November 2025. (S6O-05376)
The Scottish Government agrees that there is a real opportunity to create a lasting legacy for children across Scotland from the 2026 summer of sport. I know that Liz Smith cares a great deal about that and shares my enthusiasm for it.
The 2026-27 budget announced an additional £40 million of funding for sport and physical activity. That includes the universal offer of swimming tuition for primary school children in Scotland to give them vital water safety skills. I hope that members will welcome that announcement and support the budget proposals, which provide vital support for the sector and open up a range of sports and activities to more children.
Is the cabinet secretary aware that, earlier this morning, first at 9.48 am and then at 10.15 am, Shona Robison made a request to correct the record—I am not sure whether it is another of those “production errors”—to say that her answer to the question that Jackson Carlaw asked on Tuesday on the budget statement was factually inaccurate? Namely, the one-year commitment is not, in fact, one year but is being rolled out over a sustainable period. That is welcome, but what action is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that the 18 local authorities that are not making full provision for swimming lessons will now do so and that children in those areas have access to swimming pools in the first place?
I confirm for the record that the funding is, indeed, recurring, which is incredibly positive. Liz Smith shares my enthusiasm for the project, which is good news for swimming provision and is giving children life-saving skills. [Interruption.]
Let us hear one another.
It is also good news for ensuring that we provide opportunities for the next Duncan Scotts and other elite swimmers to come through the system.
On progress with local authorities, we are providing the funding to enable local authorities to make provision for all primary children in Scotland precisely because of the variability in provision. Those engagements with local authorities will continue, and, given Liz Smith’s interest, which I genuinely accept and understand, I will ensure that she is kept updated on the matter.
Child Poverty (Draft Budget 2026-27)
To ask the Scottish Government how the measures announced in its draft budget for 2026-27 will further its aims of tackling child poverty. (S6O-05377)
Eradicating child poverty is at the heart of the Scottish budget and the Scottish spending review, which outlines how we will drive continued progress. That includes developing the systems and legislation to increase the Scottish child payment to £40 for children under one year old. We are also investing more than £100 million across the spending review to support the delivery of a universal breakfast club offer for primary school-aged children, alongside increased investment in wraparound activity clubs. Through an annual £50 million package of whole-family support, we will ensure that families receive the support they need when they need it.
I welcome the Government’s commitment to putting the best cost of living support package anywhere in the United Kingdom front and centre of its approach. I particularly welcome the boost to the Scottish child payment, raising it to £40 for families with a baby from 2027, which the United Nations Children’s Fund—UNICEF—has welcomed. Save the Children Scotland has said that it is a “bold action” and that
“This is a moment of hope for families, and for all of us.”
Will the cabinet secretary say what analysis the Government has undertaken of the impact of the policy on child poverty?
The new premium will undoubtedly assist and deliver increased support for families with children under the age of one. The Scottish Fiscal Commission estimates that around 12,000 children will receive that increased support when the payment begins, in the financial year 2027-28.
That support will make a real difference. Only this morning I heard from mums in Pilton about the difference that the Scottish child payment makes and how they think that the premium will make even more of a difference. As Save the Children Scotland has said,
“Investing in the tiniest members of our society ... is how we sow the seeds of a brighter future.”