Unaccompanied Refugee Children
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding how it could assist in accommodating 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children. (S4T-01299)
Scotland has a proud history of providing refuge to vulnerable people and this group of children is especially vulnerable. The Scottish Government welcomes the interventions by organisations such as Save the Children and Citizens UK to raise awareness of the plight of the 26,000 Syrian children who are estimated to be in Europe.
We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to do more. Action must be taken promptly to avoid further tragedies of the type that we have seen in the past few months. I have raised the matter in conversation with Richard Harrington, who is the minister with responsibility for Syrian refugees, and it has also been discussed by the Scottish refugee task force.
I thank the minister for his response, with which I agree. As Save the Children has pointed out, making it to Europe does not mean that children are safe.
Although the UK Government’s position appears to be softening, so far it has not played its full part in offering shelter. Every day that it waits, 3,000 unaccompanied orphan children sleep rough unnecessarily. Those children are vulnerable to not only deadly winter conditions and disease but trafficking and exploitation.
To demonstrate that Scotland is ready to play its part, have Scottish ministers indicated how many unaccompanied children Scotland could accommodate? Have they made it clear that those 3,000 children should be in addition to the 20,000 whom the UK Government has pledged to take from camps around Syria?
I agree with the sentiments behind Liam McArthur’s question. On his specific points, we have discussed the issue with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities—in fact, I have just come off the phone to it. It is fair to say that local authorities are sympathetic, as all of us are. COSLA has made the valid point that there has to be a well-resourced package for unaccompanied children. We agree with it that this is quite a resource-intensive endeavour to undertake.
We would like the UK Government ultimately to decide to accept unaccompanied Syrian refugee children. That is a decision for it. If it decides to do that, it will be important that it has a discussion with the Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities about a well-resourced package.
I have made it known that we are willing to play a part. I have written to the Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening, to let her know that Scotland is willing to play her part, and I know from speaking to COSLA that it is also willing to do so. Shortly after this discussion, I am to meet Save the Children to discuss the proposal in more detail. The Scottish Government certainly will do anything that we can do, and anything that we can do to make it known to the UK Government that we are willing to play our part.
As the minister will be aware, such children would be among the most vulnerable individuals to arrive in the UK. In fleeing terror and persecution, they need protection and a future.
The minister mentioned resources and I fully accept the point that he made. He will have seen the report in the Sunday Herald at the weekend that suggested that the number of children who have been referred to the Scottish guardianship service has risen by 80 per cent since 2014. Has the Scottish Government discussed that escalation with the service? Will the Government undertake to examine how it can help to ensure that enough guardians are available and that there is sufficient access to supported accommodation and the foster care placements that are required?
I saw the report in the Sunday Herald, which the Scottish Government commented on. Through funding the Scottish guardianship service—that funding has increased—the Scottish Government has enabled separated children to learn about the welfare and immigration processes directly with information that is made relevant to their specific circumstances. Notwithstanding that, I know that the Scottish Government will continue to have discussions with local authorities, as they will be key partners in everything that we do.
The political momentum on unaccompanied refugee children is overwhelming. I know that Tim Farron has been vocal on the matter, as Jeremy Corbyn was on a recent visit, and the Scottish Government certainly has been. It is important that we ensure that, in Scotland as well as across the UK, local authorities are given the resources that they require for that. It is very much a decision for the UK Government.
To give credit to the UK Government, it approached the issue of refugees previously in an open manner. I hope that it will approach the issue in an open-minded manner with local authorities, should it decide to take unaccompanied children.
To answer Liam McArthur’s direct previous question, which I did not, the number should be above and beyond the 20,000 people whom the UK Government has agreed to take.
Will the minister provide any further information on how the Scottish Government assists unaccompanied refugee children in interacting with the care system?
Through our work with the refugee task force, we have worked extensively with local authorities to ensure that Syrian refugee children who have come in through the vulnerable persons relocation scheme have been made to feel settled. Different local authorities have approached the matter in different ways. Some children have been put straight into the school system, while other children have been assessed as being not quite ready, so their entry into the school system has been staggered. Throughout the Christmas period, children were given gifts, such as toys, and were made to feel welcome.
Refugee children’s specific needs, including their care needs, will be worked through the care system at a local authority level, much as with Scottish children, but with the additional understanding that refugee children might have complex needs beforehand. The complex needs that any such children have are assessed pre-arrival in Scotland by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the UK Government.
I thank all the members who have signed my motion on the issue. As the minister has acknowledged, unaccompanied children already come to Scotland. Many members would like that number to increase, as has been discussed.
In spite of our recognition of the burden that that would place on services in local areas and Scotland as a whole, I wonder whether we should demonstrate our willingness by putting in place mechanisms that would allow us to have the foster carers who will be needed to look after those young people and children and the other mechanisms that will be needed to support them. By the time such children come here, we must have in place those mechanisms, so that the children can be supported not just adequately but in an appropriate way for their complex needs, as the minister said, because they are often the most vulnerable children in the camps where they are located.
The member makes a valid point. The Scottish Government works closely with local authorities to ensure that we have in place as many foster carers as possible. She is right that there is a need to do that, particularly in the big cities, including Glasgow, which she and I represent.
My extended family are foster carers. I know that foster carers from black and minority ethnic communities will be particularly important because of the profile of the refugees who will be coming here. That is another issue that we must look at.
Although we have unaccompanied asylum seekers, they are very different from the unaccompanied refugees who will be arriving. If child refugees are to be taken, their profile and complex health needs should be known. In that way, the situation should be able to be slightly more controlled and managed.
Of course, we must work with local authorities. If the UK Government decides to accept such children, it must immediately enter into discussions, as it has done in the past, with local authorities, through COSLA or bilaterally with my Government—whatever suits it best. It must then come to an agreement on a suitable package, because local authorities will have to deal with the burden—if that is the right word—and with the financial costs and the implications of taking unaccompanied refugee children.
It is helpful that the minister sounds positive about discussions with the UK Government. However, if the UK Government decides not to go ahead with accepting unaccompanied children, has the Scottish Government given any thought to what support it could offer to UK and European charities that are supporting such children in Europe?
That will be part of the discussions that I have with Save the Children later today. The member will know that the Scottish Government cannot unilaterally accept refugees; ultimately, that is a decision for the UK Government. We have given a fair amount of funding to non-governmental organisations that are working in, for example, Lesbos, where a number of unaccompanied refugee children are arriving. When I was on the island of Lesbos, a dinghy came into shore. A number of young children on it were accompanied not by their parents or even their blood aunties or uncles but by their neighbours and so on. They were in a vulnerable position indeed.
If the Scottish Government can do more, we will always look to do that. That will be part of my discussions with Save the Children. As I said, the decision is for the UK Government, but the noises from it in the past few days have been positive. Let us hope that a decision is made soon, because the crisis is going on right here, right now.
North Sea Oil and Gas Industry
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent research by Pinsent Masons regarding the North Sea oil and gas industry. (S4T-01294)
We welcome the optimism that the report indicates for the medium and long-term future of the oilfield services sector, despite the challenge of the low price of oil. With 22 billion barrels of oil and gas remaining, there are still many opportunities in the North Sea, but maximising them will require a concerted effort from everyone—industry, Governments and the new regulator.
We continue to stand alongside the oil and gas industry in Scotland, doing all that we can to improve collaboration, co-operation and innovation, creating a more competitive sector and further developing Scotland’s status as a global centre of oil and gas expertise.
In order to encourage investment and further merger and acquisition activity in North Sea operations, we urge the UK Government in its spring budget to bring in a series of tax measures, including clarification of decommissioning liabilities, refinement of the investment allowance to include operating expenditure—OPEX—and further fiscal measures to incentivise exploration in order to increase the international competitiveness of the United Kingdom continental shelf.
I welcome the Scottish Government’s action via the energy jobs task force to minimise redundancies where possible and to assist those who face redundancy where that situation arises. The minister has outlined a number of sensible measures that have been put to the UK Government. In his discussions with UK ministers, has the minister received any indication of their openness to those approaches, given the support that is required for the industry and its wider supply chain?
As far as I am aware, we have not yet received any indication of what the UK Government plans to do in its spring budget. However, when I attended the oil and gas day on 17 December, I took the opportunity to urge upon the UK Government the need for action in the spring budget. I can confirm that at a meeting this morning the Scottish Government Cabinet discussed the matter and confirmed that we will be looking for the UK Government to step in and take a series of necessary fiscal steps, to assist the oil and gas industry at its time of greatest need.
I thank the minister and I hope that the UK Government will approach the matter in an open manner and will listen to his constructive suggestions.
Offshore workers have expressed to me concern about the impact on the offshore safety culture of the current belt tightening in the industry. Does the minister agree that the industry’s engagement in a drive to cut costs must not lead to the cutting of corners?
I absolutely agree with Mark McDonald; he is absolutely right. I am pleased to say that when I meet operators and service companies, they always say that safety is and must remain paramount. Indeed, that was the case yesterday in Aberdeen when I met two major operators in the North Sea.
It is also encouraging that many operators, who I think it is fair to say are facing the toughest challenges ever faced in the oil and gas industry, are seeking to meet the challenge of achieving greater efficiency by consulting and engaging with the workforce and asking proactively how things might be done more efficiently without jeopardising safety. That willingness to reach out to and involve the workforce as full partners in meeting the challenge that the industry faces is very welcome; it is absolutely the correct approach.
Pinsent Masons correctly highlighted the important role of the Oil and Gas Authority if there is to be a recovery. At a time when the tax that companies are paying is not even 1 per cent of what they were paying five years ago, does the minister accept the urgent need to go beyond tax reliefs and to support further direct investment by the OGA in exploration, to ensure recovery?
We have good relations with the OGA and work closely with Andy Samuel. I have impressed on him and the UK Government the point that measures need to be taken to encourage more exploration. I have to say that I am not yet convinced that the UK Government has taken that on board—I hope that it will now do so. We have called repeatedly for more exploration, which has dropped to a parlously low level. If the teams of people who have expertise in exploration are to be maintained, there needs to be more work for them to do. I agree that that is necessary.
It is not a matter of dismissing tax reliefs, although perhaps Mr Macdonald was not seeking to do so. Although tax is not the industry’s main focus at the moment—to be frank, the main focus is survival—tax is a necessary tool in the box, which can contribute towards meeting the objective of surviving and thriving thereafter. In particular, many of the operators I have met over the past few weeks—I will not name them—during a period of fairly intensive engagement with the industry, said the same thing: there must be clarity on decommissioning liabilities.
The lack of clarity is impeding investment and blocking deals that could secure the future of Mr Macdonald’s constituents. Therefore, I urge the UK Government to include in its spring budget the necessary steps—on which I know that it is obtaining advice—to allow deals and investment, which will considerably assist the industry in meeting its toughest challenge.
Last week, the minister welcomed the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee’s report, “Future prospects for oil and gas in Scotland”. Will he say whether, with the co-operation and collaboration of the trade union movement and the oil and gas companies, he is able to look carefully at the supply chain in the industry? There are many people with many skills in the supply chain who feel that they are being forgotten.
Mr Robertson is absolutely right. It is recognised in the industry that, in the past, it has perhaps not used the supply chain to best effect. It has not adopted the available technology—there is a fear of being first in adopting new technology—nor has there been, in some cases, a willingness to listen to the supply chain on how to meet operators’ needs in the most cost-efficient fashion. However, there are signs that, in drives towards standardisation, that is now happening.
On the other matter that Mr Robertson raises, we regularly meet representatives of the trade unions in all sectors, and that includes the oil and gas sector. I have made it my business to ensure that we are in touch with what they say, and we value their advice, particularly as many of them have been in the industry for several decades. We work in close partnership with not only the industry but the trade unions, especially to take account of the very real issue of safety for those who work offshore. We will continue to work very closely with our trade union colleagues.