Chamber and committees

We support Police Scotland and local authorities to invest in prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities to reduce antisocial behaviour. In 2025-26, we have increased police funding to a record £1.62 billion. Our budget makes an additional £3 million available for Police Scotland to work alongside the retail sector to tackle shoplifting and other retail crime.

At national level, we fund initiatives and local multi-agency response work to target issues relating to violence reduction; such issues are also tackled through our cashback for communities programme.

I commissioned the independent working group on antisocial behaviour because I am committed to ensuring that there is a strong response to antisocial behaviour that puts victims and communities at the centre of support. Yesterday, the group published a wide-ranging report, and I am considering its recommendations along with our lead partners, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Police Scotland.

During the current phase 6 of the programme, which runs to March 2026, we are providing funding of up to £20 million to 29 partner organisations, with the projects aiming to reach around 34,000 children and young people.

In 2023-24, we supported more than 15,000 young people to reduce their involvement in the criminal justice system and improve their wellbeing or move towards a positive destination.

The annual impact report, which was published last December, shows that the programme exceeded all its targets. Key outcomes included 4,300 young people reporting reduced involvement in antisocial or criminal activity; more than 8,300 reporting improved health and wellbeing; and more than 64,000 volunteering hours to support local communities.

We are working with stakeholders to consider a seventh phase of the cashback for communities programme, and we will announce plans for that later this year.

As I said, the current phase of the programme is set to end next March, so the plans will be in place by then. Through various projects, the programme supports young people who are at risk of entering the criminal justice system and the communities that are most affected by crime. Since its inception, the programme has committed £130 million to supporting around 1.3 million young people across all 32 local authorities in Scotland.

The misuse of pyrotechnics is a serious issue that will require collective and concerted effort to eradicate. Police Scotland, football authorities and Scottish Government officials have been working in partnership to develop a cohesive response to the issue. That includes joint participation in the pyrotechnics at football short-life working group that was established by Police Scotland and me. I look forward to hearing about the progress that the group makes.

In addition, we provided stop and search powers under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnics Articles (Scotland) Act 2022. We are exploring options, including for how existing available measures such as football banning orders could be utilised to greater effect, and whether further measures are needed.

The Scottish Professional Football League Trust is developing a pyrotechnics education programme to be delivered through clubs to those with football banning orders or club bans for pyrotechnics misuse.

The stop and search powers came into effect in relation to possession in June 2023. We have asked Police Scotland and the pyrotechnics working group to give full consideration to the matter and to establish the effectiveness of the powers under the legislation. However, it is important to recognise that no single action will provide an easy resolution to the problem of pyrotechnic misuse at football matches.

A range of legislation is in place in Scotland to address crimes involving animals. That allows for relevant police and prosecutorial action to be taken, and it provides significant sentencing powers to the court. When sentencing, courts have wide discretion to consider the facts and circumstances. For example, that includes taking into account the harm arising from a dog theft such as the impact on the dog’s health and wellbeing as well as the distress caused to the owner.

Under the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020, the Scottish Government is progressing a review of the requirement for any additional animal welfare, animal health or wildlife offences.

Yes—I have engaged with MSPs and the police on the issue this week.

The issue that the member raises is a deeply concerning one. We are raising awareness of how to stay safe online and are providing support to help young people to navigate online spaces and use screen time in a safe way and to help parents and carers to ensure that they have the information that they need to guide young people and recognise risks.

The Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise and I have formed a new online safety task force to operate alongside the strategic group, which will identify actions to address online harm. As part of that work, last month we wrote to the United Kingdom Government to urge it take more action to protect children. We also supported the establishment of the national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group to increase cross-sectoral working to address the risk of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

I recognise the concerns that have been raised about the increase in crimes related to indecent images of children. It may be helpful for me to highlight some of the things that Police Scotland is doing in relation to the recommendations from a strategic review of its response to online child sexual abuse, which was published in February 2020.

Progress has been made; the key achievements include the introduction of a single corporate name for online child sexual abuse and its use as a standard flag on common computer applications and databases, alongside the introduction of a national crime recording system. Dedicated analytical capacity has also been provided to examine online child sexual abuse. Clearer internal strategic governance has been put in place, and strategic threat assessments of online sexual abuse have been produced, increasing responses to investigation.

We have not yet received a response to our letter to the UK Government ministers. I hope that we will receive one soon and that we can meet to discuss the issues outlined in our letter.

Keeping our children safe online is an issue that both Governments have concerns about. We want to work constructively with the UK Government to tackle this growing threat to our children’s wellbeing. One issue raised in our letter was the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which provides increased protection—more than is provided by the UK-wide Online Safety Act 2023.

In the meantime, Scottish Government and UK Government officials have met to discuss the issues raised in the letter.