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Jewish Community Safety
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent attack on the Jewish community at Bondi beach, in Australia, what steps are being taken to ensure community safety in Scotland. (S6T-02815)
The Scottish Government stands in solidarity with Jewish communities worldwide who face unimaginable grief following the horrific terror attack on Bondi beach during the first night of Hanukkah. My thoughts are with all who have lost loved ones, and we grieve each loss profoundly.
Antisemitism is an evil that we must confront wherever and whenever it takes place. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that Scotland’s Jewish community is supported, free from fear and able to continue contributing to national life. We are in close contact with Police Scotland and partners in education to ensure that every community feels safe, including at places of worship, schools and universities.
Last night, I was honoured to speak at the Hanukkah celebration at Edinburgh city chambers. Hanukkah is a celebration of light. It reminds us all that light is stronger than darkness. During the rest of Hanukkah, let us remember that, even in the darkest of times, hope and goodness will always endure.
I am glad to hear that the First Minister has shown his solidarity with Jewish people by attending the Hanukkah event that he spoke about. Will he join me in encouraging members and the public to reject all hatred, discrimination and prejudice? Does he agree that language is important and that how we act in our words and deeds, and in standing up to prejudice, is vital in an age of misinformation?
It is absolutely vital that, in all our actions, we do all that we can to reject hatred, discrimination and prejudice in our society. This is a particularly concerning and alarming time for the Jewish community in Scotland. I have heard at first hand—not just last night, at the city chambers in Edinburgh, but on other occasions when I have met with members of the community—about the profound fear and alarm that is felt by members of the community in Scotland. Steps have been taken, and will continue to be taken, to support the community’s safety. However, in a democracy, no individual should fear for their safety. Individuals should be able to live their lives free from prejudice and hatred, and in safety. That will be the outlook and the approach taken by the Scottish Government to support the Jewish community, as we support all communities in Scotland.
The Scottish Government has supported both the STV appeal and the Scottish Trades Union Congress on supporting community cohesion. Can the First Minister outline what that will do to support people to feel safe in their communities?
The Government takes many steps, through a number of our activities, to support community cohesion. Indeed, over the period around St Andrew’s day, we took forward a campaign on the theme that, together, “We are Scotland”. The purpose of the campaign was to encourage and promote a sense of community cohesion. We take that work forward through dialogue directly with the Jewish community in Scotland. I have had a series of meetings with the Jewish community, as have ministers and officials, to encourage and nurture the inclusion and cohesion that must be at the heart of a safe society for all. The particular elements of project funding that Rona Mackay referred to are all taken forward with the objective of encouraging cohesion among our communities in Scotland, because that represents the fundamental approach that the Government takes to encouraging that sentiment in our society.
As it happens, my former parliamentary aide, Euan Waddell, is now working in Australia and lives in the Wentworth constituency, which is at the heart of where this ghastly attack took place. He describes Wentworth as the Eastwood of Sydney. It is a community with a strong Jewish population, which is very familiar to him, to me and to my own Jewish community in Eastwood. It is precisely for that reason that the atmosphere among the Jewish community has changed dramatically. Australia, Sydney and Wentworth were meant to be safe in the way that Scotland, Glasgow and Eastwood are meant to be safe, but, if it can happen there, they now fear that it will happen here.
Yesterday, I was contacted by parents at Calderwood Lodge primary school. They are adults now but were children at the time of the Dunblane tragedy, and it is burned fiercely on their memory. Can the First Minister offer an assurance that he will ensure that Police Scotland looks not just at places of worship but at this incredible, unique school—the only joint Jewish-Catholic campus anywhere in the world—so that Jewish, Muslim and Catholic children who live, work and learn together there can continue to do so safely and so that their parents can know that they will receive the full support of this Parliament and the community in Scotland to ensure that they can? [Applause.]
I pay tribute to Jackson Carlaw for the force with which he expresses the thoughts and aspirations of the community that he has faithfully represented in this Parliament and for the sentiments that he has shared with us from Wentworth. It is powerful testimony that Parliament has to hear and take account of.
I am very familiar with the circumstances at Calderwood Lodge primary school, and I have been looking closely at some of the issues in relation to the security and safety of the school. Our schools have to be safe places in all circumstances, and that must apply to Calderwood Lodge primary school. I am aware of some issues around security, which I am personally addressing. I give Mr Carlaw the assurance that the issue is very much on my desk, that I am looking at it personally and that I will be taking steps to address those issues.
I discussed the security of the Jewish community, and of places of worship and education, with the chief constable yesterday. I was assured last night by members of the Jewish community that, sadly, in the aftermath of the Manchester attack and again, sadly, in the aftermath of the Bondi beach attack, Police Scotland, which already has very strong connections with the Jewish community, increased that engagement as a consequence, as I would have expected to be the case.
Specifically in relation to Calderwood Lodge primary school, I assure Mr Carlaw of my direct personal attention in relation to that question. We may well have more to say about that in due course.
I associate myself and the whole of the Scottish Labour Party with the First Minister’s remarks and with all those who have offered their condolences to the families and friends of those who were murdered in the horrific antisemitic terror attack that occurred over the weekend in Australia. Such vile acts of terror and antisemitic hate shock us at any time, but it is all the more painful for those within our Jewish community as Hanukkah gets under way.
I also associate myself with the remarks that Jackson Carlaw has just made. He and I know the community in Eastwood well, and we know that there is a real sense of fear and horror about what has occurred in Australia and about the potential that something may happen here, at home.
I very much associate myself with the exchange on Calderwood Lodge primary school, which is a symbol of hope and a beacon of the resilience of the Jewish community in Scotland. Over the past few days, none of us could have been unmoved by the displays of resilience in the Jewish community as people came together to light their menorahs and to stand together against hate.
Tomorrow, at Calderwood Lodge primary school, the children will be taking part in their Hanukkah play. I do not think that there is any greater way that they could show their resilience, defiance and desire to go on than to stand and join in singing the songs of Hanukkah. I ask the First Minister not only to give his support to those children and young people and their teachers—of course he will, I know—but to say what consideration has been given to the security of the buildings over the holiday period, when there may be fewer people around and fewer people in the community, to ensure that nothing happens to those buildings in that time.
I am grateful to Mr O’Kane for his remarks. I very much associate myself with his comment that Calderwood Lodge primary school is a symbol of hope in a world that has an awful lot of darkness about it just now.
In relation to the forthcoming holiday period, those are some of the issues that we are considering, to make sure that Calderwood Lodge primary school is properly supported at all times. However, Mr O’Kane raises a reasonable and important point about the holiday period that is coming up, and, of course, the engagement and presence of Police Scotland are important in that respect. I assure him, as I assured Mr Carlaw, that the issue is getting my personal attention at the present moment and that I will take forward the issues that he has put to me.
Many more members of Sydney’s Jewish community might have perished had it not been for the unbelievably selfless and brave actions of 43-year-old Muslim man Ahmed al-Ahmed—a moving reminder of the common humanity that is shared by so many across all the religions of our world. Hatred exists only in the minds and hearts of a tiny minority, yet those small few may have the capacity for sudden and devastating acts of violence, as we saw in Manchester.
Incredible work is taking place across the lines of faith in our communities to combat hate and intolerance. What will the First Minister’s Government do to support those cross-community endeavours?
Mr Cole-Hamilton puts to me the extraordinary example of Mr al-Ahmed and the heroism that he deployed to save lives. It is an example of light among all the darkness as a result of the service and the sacrifice that individuals are prepared to undertake.
As I set out in my earlier answers, the Scottish Government actively works to support interfaith dialogue and community cohesion in Scotland. Some of the materials for the St Andrew’s day campaign that I talked about were designed to have the exact purpose of bringing communities together, reflecting our diversity but also our togetherness as a consequence.
The Government has been closely involved in—and I have taken a personal interest and been involved in—the Drumlanrig accords, which have been supported to encourage greater dialogue between the Muslim and Jewish communities. Those accords are now viewed around the world as seminal agreements that are about bringing faiths together and promoting the understanding and tolerance that are necessary in our society, and I give Mr Cole-Hamilton an assurance that the Government will sustain its interest and attention in that work.
I condemn the horrific antisemitic attack on the Jewish community at Bondi beach, in Australia.
England uses a digital general practitioner marker in firearms licensing, which means that doctors get an automatic flag if a patient with a mental health illness has access to firearms. Can the First Minister explain why Scotland does not currently have an equivalent digital system, and can he say whether that has been considered?
I do not know the specific answer to that question, but I will find it out.
We have very significant constraints in relation to access to firearms, and we have very restrictive licensing arrangements in that respect. However, that does not exclude the possibility of firearms getting into the hands of individuals who do not handle them responsibly or appropriately. I will find out the detailed answer to the question that Sharon Dowey has put to me, and I will write to her accordingly.
I, too, associate myself with the First Minister’s remarks. I am sure that all of us in the chamber stand with the Jewish community in Scotland and beyond.
Does the First Minister agree that words matter, that what people put on social media can sometimes lead to the type of event that happened on Sunday, and that all of us who have influence should be careful about what we post, particularly with regard to faith communities?
I had a briefing yesterday from the chief constable of Police Scotland, which concentrated significantly on the dangers to which individuals in our society are exposed by online activity. The detail of that briefing was truly chilling. I acknowledge and appreciate the point that Mr Balfour has put to me, because that represents a live and present threat and it can result in changes in behaviours and in actions that can have catastrophic implications in our society. It is important and essential that all of us—including the technology companies—are vigilant about the material that is posted online, to provide as much protection as possible from the changes in behaviour that can result in the kind of atrocity that happened at Bondi beach.
National Speed Limits
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has decided not to take forward changes in relation to national speed limits on single carriageways. (S6T-02809)
A report that summarised the findings from the national speed management review was published yesterday. After careful consideration of more than 19,500 responses and of the need to ensure that speed limit changes can be delivered and enforced with the support of the public—in order to secure behaviour change and effective compliance—ministers have determined not to take forward the proposal to reduce the national speed limit on single carriageway roads from 60mph to 50mph.
Work is, however, progressing to increase speed limits for heavy goods vehicles from 40mph to 50mph on single carriageways and from 50mph to 60mph on dual carriageways. Those changes aim to improve journey time reliability, reduce driver frustration and enhance safety across Scotland’s road network.
That is a victory for common sense. From the start, the Scottish Conservatives campaigned against these unevidenced proposals and, unlike the Scottish National Party Government, we were on the side of most Scots, who did not want a change to the national speed limit.
Although it is good that, as outlined in the cabinet secretary’s response, work will continue to raise the speed limit for HGVs, will she now guarantee that plans to reduce the speed limit to 50mph for cars and other vehicles will be permanently shelved? Will she ensure that she will not seek to punish motorists with any other damaging policies?
First, we have to be mindful that this is about road safety and tackling deaths on our roads. Sixty-nine per cent of car fatalities in Scotland in 2024 occurred on single carriageway roads with a national speed limit of 60mph. We will continue to use a range of road safety measures to tackle the issue. The Government is not pursuing a reduction in the national speed limit from 60mph to 50mph for cars, but we will monitor the situation. There are different speed limits in different parts of the country, and we know that that can make a difference.
I refer the member to the example of France, which reduced the speed limit from 56mph to 50mph and saw a 10 per cent decrease in road deaths. We will continue to monitor and analyse different road speeds on different types of roads, but we are not pursuing that reduction in the speed limit. As I announced and wrote to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee to make clear, ministers have determined that the Government is not pursuing that reduction.
Motorists have had enough of this Government. After frequently being egged on by Green members to penalise motorists, ministers should focus on delivering the long-overdue upgrades to vital routes. I have not driven on French roads recently, but I doubt that they are as pothole-ridden as ours. [Interruption.]
Let us hear Ms Webber.
We are desperate for the A9, the A75, the A77, the A96 and the A90 to be dualled. Instead, we have had this daft proposal, along with other anti-car ideas that are in the pipeline, such as local authority congestion charges, punitive low-emission zones and the extrapolation of controlled parking zones, as well as roads that continue to deteriorate. Although I welcome the move to drop this foolish idea to reduce the speed limit to 50mph, can the cabinet secretary guarantee that she will finally end—for good—the war on our motorists?
That extreme language betrays a lack of understanding of the need to tackle road safety. I chair the national road safety strategic partnership board, and we met just last week. The partnership includes Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, which have to deal with the deaths on our roads, and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We all work together to drive forward improvements on our roads. That should be the focus of our attention.
On the A9, is Ms Webber not aware that work is already happening on the third section? Work on the fourth section is already commencing, and we are procuring for the fifth section. [Interruption.]
Let us hear the cabinet secretary.
If Ms Webber wants to look at our figures on maintenance and improvements, in 2023-24, £633 million was spent, and, last year, £872 million was spent. When we put forward budgets that include money to improve our road maintenance and trunk roads, as well as funding for the A9, guess what? Just like the questions—or lack of—that Sue Webber has ever asked on speed limits, the Conservatives are missing in action.
I represent communities that are served by both the A75 and the A77, so I welcome the cabinet secretary’s announcement that work will progress to adjust speed limits for HGVs on single and dual carriageways. I have raised that issue previously with transport ministers. Will the cabinet secretary outline an indicative timescale for that work? Does she anticipate any changes being implemented on the trunk roads?
Emma Harper has previously pursued the issue, particularly regarding the frustrations that speed limits can cause on the A75 and the A77, including in relation to ferry traffic. Other members have also made such representations. Work is progressing on the necessary legislative steps to increase HGV speed limits, and that increase is expected to be implemented following the next Scottish Parliament election.
The cabinet secretary will be aware that I have raised on many occasions with the First Minister the need for speed awareness courses. Progress has been extremely slow. However, I thank the cabinet secretary for her recent letter to me that outlined the steps that she has taken.
I understand that there was a meeting yesterday between officials from the Scottish Government and from the Home Office to discuss the matter. I assume that the Home Office has raised no objections to rolling out speed awareness courses in Scotland, given that they have been operating in England for nearly 20 years. When does the cabinet secretary expect speed awareness courses to be rolled out in Scotland?
A number of players are involved in that—not only Police Scotland but the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Neil Bibby is correct that Scottish Government officials met those from the Home Office just yesterday to discuss the issue. He will also be aware that we will need to work with the United Kingdom Government to bring forward legislative change as soon as possible. I hope and anticipate that there may be a piece of UK legislation on transport that will help to take matters forward.
I recognise that a large number of people responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation. However, to be honest, I am more concerned about the 1,978 people who were seriously injured on our roads last year and the 146 people who lost their lives. The Government raised expectations that it would deliver a measure—dropping the speed limit to 50mph—that would have saved lives. What will the cabinet secretary now say to people in Blair Drummond, Dunkeld and the many other rural communities that have campaigned for commonsense safer speed limits around their communities? What will the Government do to pick up the delivery of safer speed limits and save lives?
Part of our discussions at the national road safety strategic partnership board meeting is about Road Safety Scotland’s speed management activity. There is new technology that helps with monitoring and enforcement, which we are using and deploying. The “Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2024” report, which was published in October 2024, showed that, in relation to the key aspects of and contributory factors to collisions, behaviour and inexperience were involved in 78 per cent of collisions, speed-related factors were involved in 34 per cent and distraction or impairment was involved in 28 per cent.
We must tackle the issue in a variety of areas, but speed makes a difference. Mark Ruskell will know from his pursuit of 20mph speed limits in our towns and villages across Scotland that, once communities have that speed limit, they do not want it to go back. We are also starting to see evidence from the Borders and the Highlands about the impact that those speed limits are having.
I say to Sue Webber that the Government did the right thing. It consulted and, more important, it listened. Having experienced decades of driving on roads in the Borders and Midlothian—for example, the twisting A7 and A701 roads—I am pleased that the Scottish Government is not pursuing the 50mph speed limit.
The cabinet secretary will be aware of the welcome introduction of variable limits—for example, a limit of 40mph on the approach to a village that reduces to 20mph as vehicles pass through the village. Does she agree that reducing the national speed limit might have caused more problems than it would have solved—for example, by causing even more unsafe overtaking—and that, as all drivers should know, the 60mph limit is a limit, not a recommendation?
I agree with Christine Grahame that this Government consults and that it responds to consultations. I do not think that that is the position of the Conservatives, who would have the Government consult on what it already wanted to do. This is a responsive Government. However, when we are considering road safety, we have to take people with us.
The member is right that some roads in the Borders already have staggered speed limits. We are taking steps to increase HGV speed limits precisely because of issues with frustration and overtaking. We will work with Scottish Borders Council and others to consider the impacts that different types of roads and different standards of single carriageways have on road casualties. That engagement will include local authorities, Police Scotland and others to look at differences between variable speeds and at different rural areas, where there are already some roads whose limit is 50mph and some whose limit is 60mph.
I welcome the increase in the speed limit for HGVs from 40mph to 50mph, as will all my constituents in Galloway, who regularly get held behind lorries on the A75 and A77. It is almost six years since I started the campaign to get the speed increased by writing to Michael Matheson in 2020. That is one step to improve our roads. Will the cabinet secretary set out a timetable for other improvements to the A75 and A77 that will further reduce deaths on those roads?
For brevity, I will refer the member to the answer that I gave him at portfolio question time last week, when I set out a range of improvements that have been made. We are working on the Crocketford and Springholm bypass scheme. As I have written to him about it, Finlay Carson will also be familiar with some of the issues to do with speed awareness. Earlier, I went through the list of the issues that cause collisions. We are systematically working through every single one of them. Road safety is paramount, whether we are talking about the A75, the A77 or other roads.
That concludes topical question time.
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