Chamber and committees

Rural crime is a serious issue. It affects individuals, communities and businesses, and the Scottish Government fully supports efforts to tackle it.

The Scottish partnership against rural crime—or SPARC—which is chaired by Police Scotland, brings key justice and rural sector partners together to provide a robust, multi-agency approach to preventing rural crime and to support actions taken at the local level.

The member will be aware of the legislative programme for the rest of the term, and the short time we have left. There are no plans for rural crime legislation in what remains of this session.

I thank the member for her continued interest in equipment theft and the serious issues affecting rural businesses.

For clarity with regard to the LCM, the relevant legislation has not yet come into effect in England and Wales. As the member has alluded to, I wrote to the United Kingdom Government earlier this year regarding the process of its implementation, and it recently published a summary evidence response ahead of planned regulations being introduced. That is an important step towards the legislation being put into effect in England and Wales. I reiterate my willingness to work with the member on legislative options, but it will not be in this parliamentary session.

Ensuring the child’s best interests is central in any contact case and was the key aim of the 2020 act. I believe that implementation will bring big improvements for children in the cases that Ms Maguire referred to—for example, enhancing how their views are heard and ensuring that child welfare reporters who are appointed to hear the child’s views are properly trained in understanding domestic abuse.

The regulation of child contact services will help to ensure that centres are safe, conflict-free places for children. We are also progressing wider work to improve how the civil and criminal courts interact, including how the civil courts get information on domestic abuse.

Although some sections of the act have already been commenced, some areas of that wide-ranging act are outstanding. However, we remain committed to commencing them. I am providing updates to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee on implementation, and did so most recently on 26 September.

Two Scottish statutory instruments on the regulation of child contact services were approved by Parliament earlier this month and will be implemented on 1 April 2027. A further set of commencement regulations is planned relating to hearing the child’s views, additional factors for the court to consider and delay in contact and residence cases.

There is some great work being done in that respect. The three-year strategy for SPARC was published in June, and for the first time, it has adopted the four Ps model of prevent, pursue, protect and prepare. The refreshed strategy includes a number of actions on how perpetrators will be brought to justice, how rural communities can safeguard against such crimes and how individuals can be diverted from being involved with them. Part of SPARC’s work also involves working with other forces in the UK to disrupt the activity of criminals who travel across our border.

Discussions are on-going with Police Scotland about its budgetary requirements, and I hope that Ms Dowey will appreciate that I will not be making any budgetary announcements during general question time today. However, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has confirmed that the Scottish budget will be published on Tuesday 13 January 2026.

The Scottish Government recognises the harm that is caused by retail crime. Our budget for 2025-26 has made an additional £3 million available to tackle the issue as part of our record investment in policing. Police Scotland has used that funding to establish a retail crime task force, which aims to prevent such incidents and pursue those responsible. Police Scotland’s plan includes specific actions to target repeat offenders by using analytical data and intelligence to carry out proactive enforcement activities in areas that are most heavily impacted. Investment is also being used to develop diversionary programmes that are aimed at reducing reoffending.

Rural crime is a serious issue. It affects individuals, communities and businesses, and the Scottish Government fully supports efforts to tackle it.

The Scottish partnership against rural crime—or SPARC—which is chaired by Police Scotland, brings key justice and rural sector partners together to provide a robust, multi-agency approach to preventing rural crime and to support actions taken at the local level.

The member will be aware of the legislative programme for the rest of the term, and the short time we have left. There are no plans for rural crime legislation in what remains of this session.

As I have just said, it is an operational issue for Police Scotland. The Scottish Government protects the right to peaceful public assembly and freedom of expression, which are important rights that the Scottish Government is committed to upholding.

Absolutely. As I said in my opening statement, I thank the emergency services for all the work that they do on operation moonbeam, which goes on for months before bonfire night. Of course, we will engage with Police Scotland about its budgetary requirements.