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The next item of business is consideration of business motion S6M-19921, in the name of Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme.
Motion moved,
That the Parliament agrees—
(a) the following programme of business—
Tuesday 2 December 2025
2.00 pm Time for Reflection
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Topical Questions
followed by Ministerial Statement: Commonwealth Games—Glasgow 2026
followed by Scottish Government Debate: All Together: Uniting Local and National Efforts, Across Sectors to End Violence Against Women and Girls
followed by Committee Announcements
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Wednesday 3 December 2025
2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, and Parliamentary Business;
Justice and Home Affairs
followed by Scottish Labour Party Business
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.10 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 4 December 2025
11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions
11.40 am General Questions
12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions
followed by Members’ Business
2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:
Education and Skills
followed by Education, Children and Young People Committee Debate: Widening Access to Higher Education
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
Tuesday 9 December 2025
2.00 pm Time for Reflection
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Topical Questions
followed by Committee Business
followed by Scottish Government Business
followed by Committee Announcements
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Wednesday 10 December 2025
2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Deputy First Minister Responsibilities, Economy and Gaelic;
Finance and Local Government
followed by Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Business
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.10 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 11 December 2025
11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions
11.40 am General Questions
12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions
followed by Members’ Business
2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:
Climate Action and Energy, and Transport
followed by Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Debate: British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 Inquiry
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
(b) that, for the purposes of Portfolio Questions in the week beginning 1 December 2025, in rule 13.7.3, after the word “except” the words “to the extent to which the Presiding Officer considers that the questions are on the same or similar subject matter or” are inserted.—[Graeme Dey]
18:20
Yesterday’s responses to my urgent question on grooming gangs were nothing short of a farce. Once again, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs passed responsibility on to a junior minister to answer questions on her behalf while she sat in the chamber avoiding any scrutiny.
At a time when Scotland desperately needs leadership on grooming gangs, this Government offers only evasion and silence. Victims are being failed while ministers sit on their hands. I raise the unprecedented intervention by the NSPCC, which has made it clear that Scotland has no real understanding of the true scale or nature of grooming gangs operating in our country. That is an alarming admission from our leading child protection charity.
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs claimed that the national child sexual abuse and exploitation sub-group addresses grooming gangs, but its 27-page report does not mention grooming gangs once. Therefore, I ask again: who is investigating grooming gangs in Scotland? It is certainly not this Government.
The cabinet secretary told me that it is for me and others to present a case for an inquiry. The evidence is already overwhelming. The NSPCC has said that the scale of grooming gang activity is unknown. More victims are coming forward every day with harrowing, life-changing testimony. Families are being torn apart by some of the most appalling crimes imaginable. What more evidence does the cabinet secretary need?
Victims do not need a Government that is merely open to an inquiry; they need a Government that is willing to initiate one, to listen to victims, to act and to confront the failures that have allowed those crimes to continue unchecked. Leadership is not about sitting on the fence. Leadership is about stepping up and doing what is right.
A grooming gangs inquiry is not optional; it is essential. It is the only way to uncover the scale of the problem, to protect children and to ensure that victims’ voices are finally heard and believed. I take no pleasure whatsoever in raising these issues. However, until this Government stops ducking responsibility, I will continue to speak up for the victims who have been ignored for far too long, even if that means that I need to return to the chamber to raise the issue every sitting day.
I, too, had concerns about the fact that the cabinet secretary was not here to answer what has now become a really important national question. The member and I might slightly disagree on the approach, but we agree that the Government’s complacency is a cause for concern to us in the chamber, to victims and to agencies. I called for a case-by-case review, at the very least, but I got no answer to that call.
Does the member share my frustration that we have to try other ways to get answers that we are not getting in the chamber?
That is exactly why I am here this evening: because there is a frustration. We cannot get answers. We cannot seem to find any mechanism afforded to MSPs that allows us to get answers to the questions that we have asked—I know that Pauline McNeill has asked serious questions in relation to Parliament being misled and comments that have been put on the record by the cabinet secretary. That is why I believe that there has to be a statement or another mechanism to allow MSPs in this place to ask questions and finally receive answers from the Government. Better yet, let us have the inquiry now. Victims deserve justice, they deserve to be heard and they deserve an inquiry. That is why we need an inquiry now.
I call the minister to respond on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau.
18:24
I will respond from the perspective of responding to a call for a statement, as I believe was intended, which was covered in the latter part of Meghan Gallacher’s contribution.
There has been on-going engagement with the Parliament on this topic and related child sexual abuse and exploitation issues. An urgent question was answered yesterday on the understanding of the scale and nature of child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland, which included responses on the national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group and its programme of work across workforce data and the consideration of mandatory reporting.
An urgent question from Liam Kerr was also answered on 19 November on Alexis Jay being misrepresented.
Will the minister take an intervention?
I want to make some progress, because I think that I will answer the member’s question. The answer on 19 November clarified the position regarding Professor Jay’s valued membership of the group, alongside other expert partners, in our continued collective efforts to tackle this horrendous form of child abuse.
An oral portfolio question was answered on Wednesday 12 November, which covered the steps that are being taken to prevent group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland. It covered the prevention-focused approach of the strategic group to collectively improve how harms are identified, reported and responded to by statutory agencies and other partners.
The strategic group met on 25 November. The minutes are being finalised and actions ratified. Based on the advice that will flow from the strategic group to ministers for consideration, we will be able to establish the most effective next steps.
The most effective way to inform Parliament about the work of the strategic group and the response to on-going calls for an inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland will be through a comprehensive statement to the Parliament, which will be undertaken as soon as possible, and before recess. For the benefit of members, I say that that is an undertaking that I gave two weeks ago through the usual bureau process, in which the Conservatives participate. Therefore, I am a little surprised that the Tories are calling for something that they have been told is coming.
[Made a request to intervene.]
Minister, can I confirm that you were about to take the intervention from Ms McNeill?
Sorry, I was not aware of the intervention. I am happy to take it.
I want to draw the minister’s attention to the question that I have now asked twice. It is a serious question. An apology has been made because Professor Jay was quoted in a debate in which we made a decision on whether we would have an inquiry.
I have asked whether the Government has since spoken to the expert on child abuse, Professor Jay, and I cannot seem to get an answer. It might be that that all happened at the meeting of the working group on 25 November. Can the minister give me some clarity now? Is Professor Jay now satisfied that the minster has taken her expert advice?
I will write to Pauline McNeill, having looked into that matter for her.
I clarify for members that this item of business is about members wishing to change forthcoming items of business. That should be the focus.
The question is, that motion S6M-19921, in the name of Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Members: No.
There will be a division. There will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.
18:28 Meeting suspended.
We come to the vote on motion S6M-19921, in the name of Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme. Members should cast their votes now.
For
Adam, George (Paisley) (SNP)
Adam, Karen (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
Adamson, Clare (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)
Allan, Alasdair (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)
Arthur, Tom (Renfrewshire South) (SNP)
Baillie, Jackie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Baker, Claire (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Balfour, Jeremy (Lothian) (Ind)
Beattie, Colin (Midlothian North and Musselburgh) (SNP)
Bibby, Neil (West Scotland) (Lab)
Boyack, Sarah (Lothian) (Lab)
Brown, Keith (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP)
Brown, Siobhian (Ayr) (SNP)
Burgess, Ariane (Highlands and Islands) (Green)
Callaghan, Stephanie (Uddingston and Bellshill) (SNP)
Chapman, Maggie (North East Scotland) (Green)
Choudhury, Foysol (Lothian) (Ind)
Clark, Katy (West Scotland) (Lab)
Coffey, Willie (Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley) (SNP)
Constance, Angela (Almond Valley) (SNP)
Dey, Graeme (Angus South) (SNP)
Don-Innes, Natalie (Renfrewshire North and West) (SNP)
Doris, Bob (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP)
Dornan, James (Glasgow Cathcart) (SNP)
Dunbar, Jackie (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP)
Duncan-Glancy, Pam (Glasgow) (Lab)
Ewing, Annabelle (Cowdenbeath) (SNP)
Ewing, Fergus (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind)
Fairlie, Jim (Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) (SNP)
FitzPatrick, Joe (Dundee City West) (SNP)
Forbes, Kate (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
Gibson, Kenneth (Cunninghame North) (SNP)
Gilruth, Jenny (Mid Fife and Glenrothes) (SNP)
Gougeon, Mairi (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP)
Grahame, Christine (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP)
Grant, Rhoda (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Gray, Neil (Airdrie and Shotts) (SNP)
Greene, Jamie (West Scotland) (LD)
Greer, Ross (West Scotland) (Green)
Griffin, Mark (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Harper, Emma (South Scotland) (SNP)
Harvie, Patrick (Glasgow) (Green)
Haughey, Clare (Rutherglen) (SNP)
Hepburn, Jamie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP)
Hyslop, Fiona (Linlithgow) (SNP)
Kidd, Bill (Glasgow Anniesland) (SNP)
Lennon, Monica (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Leonard, Richard (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lochhead, Richard (Moray) (SNP)
MacDonald, Gordon (Edinburgh Pentlands) (SNP)
MacGregor, Fulton (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)
Mackay, Gillian (Central Scotland) (Green) [Proxy vote cast by Ross Greer]
Mackay, Rona (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP)
Macpherson, Ben (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (SNP)
Maguire, Ruth (Cunninghame South) (SNP)
Marra, Michael (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Martin, Gillian (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
Mason, John (Glasgow Shettleston) (Ind)
Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP)
McArthur, Liam (Orkney Islands) (LD)
McKee, Ivan (Glasgow Provan) (SNP)
McLennan, Paul (East Lothian) (SNP)
McMillan, Stuart (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP)
McNair, Marie (Clydebank and Milngavie) (SNP)
McNeill, Pauline (Glasgow) (Lab)
Minto, Jenni (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
Mochan, Carol (South Scotland) (Lab)
Nicoll, Audrey (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
O’Kane, Paul (West Scotland) (Lab) [Proxy vote cast by Michael Marra]
Regan, Ash (Edinburgh Eastern) (Ind)
Rennie, Willie (North East Fife) (LD)
Robertson, Angus (Edinburgh Central) (SNP)
Robison, Shona (Dundee City East) (SNP)
Ruskell, Mark (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Russell, Davy (Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) (Lab)
Simpson, Graham (Central Scotland) (Reform)
Slater, Lorna (Lothian) (Green)
Somerville, Shirley-Anne (Dunfermline) (SNP)
Stevenson, Collette (East Kilbride) (SNP) [Proxy vote cast by Fulton MacGregor]
Stewart, Kaukab (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP)
Stewart, Kevin (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
Sturgeon, Nicola (Glasgow Southside) (SNP)
Sweeney, Paul (Glasgow) (Lab)
Thomson, Michelle (Falkirk East) (SNP)
Todd, Maree (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP)
Torrance, David (Kirkcaldy) (SNP)
Tweed, Evelyn (Stirling) (SNP)
Villalba, Mercedes (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Whitfield, Martin (South Scotland) (Lab)
Whitham, Elena (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (SNP)
Wishart, Beatrice (Shetland Islands) (LD)
Yousaf, Humza (Glasgow Pollok) (SNP)
Against
Briggs, Miles (Lothian) (Con)
Carlaw, Jackson (Eastwood) (Con)
Carson, Finlay (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con)
Dowey, Sharon (South Scotland) (Con)
Eagle, Tim (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Findlay, Russell (West Scotland) (Con)
Fraser, Murdo (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Gallacher, Meghan (Central Scotland) (Con)
Golden, Maurice (North East Scotland) (Con)
Gosal, Pam (West Scotland) (Con)
Hamilton, Rachael (Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con)
Hoy, Craig (South Scotland) (Con)
Halcro Johnston, Jamie (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Kerr, Liam (North East Scotland) (Con)
Kerr, Stephen (Central Scotland) (Con)
Lumsden, Douglas (North East Scotland) (Con)
McCall, Roz (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Mountain, Edward (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Mundell, Oliver (Dumfriesshire) (Con)
Ross, Douglas (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Smith, Liz (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Stewart, Alexander (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Webber, Sue (Lothian) (Con)
Wells, Annie (Glasgow) (Con)
White, Tess (North East Scotland) (Con)
Whittle, Brian (South Scotland) (Con)
The result of the division on motion S6M-19921, in the name of Graeme Dey, is: For 92, Against 26, Abstentions 0.
Motion agreed to,
That the Parliament agrees—
(a) the following programme of business—
Tuesday 2 December 2025
2.00 pm Time for Reflection
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Topical Questions
followed by Ministerial Statement: Commonwealth Games—Glasgow 2026
followed by Scottish Government Debate: All Together: Uniting Local and National Efforts, Across Sectors to End Violence Against Women and Girls
followed by Committee Announcements
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Wednesday 3 December 2025
2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, and Parliamentary Business;
Justice and Home Affairs
followed by Scottish Labour Party Business
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.10 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 4 December 2025
11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions
11.40 am General Questions
12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions
followed by Members’ Business
2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:
Education and Skills
followed by Education, Children and Young People Committee Debate: Widening Access to Higher Education
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
Tuesday 9 December 2025
2.00 pm Time for Reflection
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Topical Questions
followed by Committee Business
followed by Scottish Government Business
followed by Committee Announcements
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Wednesday 10 December 2025
2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Deputy First Minister Responsibilities, Economy and Gaelic;
Finance and Local Government
followed by Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Business
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.10 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 11 December 2025
11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions
11.40 am General Questions
12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions
followed by Members’ Business
2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:
Climate Action and Energy, and Transport
followed by Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Debate: British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 Inquiry
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
(b) that, for the purposes of Portfolio Questions in the week beginning 1 December 2025, in rule 13.7.3, after the word “except” the words “to the extent to which the Presiding Officer considers that the questions are on the same or similar subject matter or” are inserted.
The next item of business is consideration of business motions S6M-19922 and S6M-19923, on stage 1 timetables for bills, and S6M-19924, on a stage 2 timetable for a bill.
Motions moved,
That the Parliament agrees that consideration of the Greyhound Racing (Offences) (Scotland) Bill at stage 1 be completed by 30 January 2026.
That the Parliament agrees that consideration of the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill at stage 1 be completed by 16 January 2026.
That the Parliament agrees that consideration of the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill at stage 2 be completed by 5 December 2025.—[Graeme Dey]
Motions agreed to.