Chamber and committees

Duties relating to the maintenance of appliances that are applicable to landlords are set out in United Kingdom legislation. Through our partners, RoSPA, we have promoted via social media and newsletters the Gas Safe Register’s advice to check gas appliances every year and to check that an engineer is Gas Safe registered.

Going forward, RoSPA is developing two surveys aimed at private landlords and the general public respectively to assess their awareness of carbon monoxide poisoning and what they should do to prevent it. The web hub will be developed to address the shortfall of information covering safety and responsibility.

It is for the Scottish Law Commission to establish a timetable for its work, but I expect the commission to publish its recommendations by mid-2024. The Scottish Government will, of course, give careful consideration to those recommendations, and I will be happy to meet Marie McNair and the Clydebank Asbestos Group to discuss them when we receive them.

The Scottish Law Commission’s “Discussion Paper on Damages for Personal Injury” was published on 23 February 2022, and the consultation period ended on 30 June 2022. The commission is currently in the process of analysing the consultee views that were submitted in response to the discussion paper, and formulating policy with the aim of publishing its findings and its report, which will include an accompanying draft bill, by mid-2024.

Siobhian Brown has identified an error in her contribution and provided the following correction.

At col 90, paragraph 7—

Original text—

I have been advised that the Barnett consequentials to which he referred have been added to the local authority funding block.

Corrected text—

I have been advised that the Barnett consequentials to which he referred have been added to the Scottish Government block.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.

I said that the Barnett consequentials have been added to the local authority block and we are currently engaging on how we can work with swimming pools—

I thank Clare Adamson for lodging the motion to draw attention to drowning prevention week 2023, which helps to raise awareness of how people can stay safe in and around water and what to do in an emergency. In her speech, she highlighted some of the stark figures on drowning. With summer and the school holidays upon us, it is timely to raise the profile of water safety and remind people of the steps that they can take to keep themselves and others safe in and around water and what to do in an emergency.

The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to work closely with all relevant organisations to explore opportunities to collaborate and help to reduce incidents. We particularly want to raise awareness among those who are most at risk. Water Safety Scotland is a key partner in that work, and I thank the water safety partners for their strategic approach, their work and their commitment to making our waters safer.

We recognise that, given the extent, nature and appeal of our seas, lochs and rivers, water safety will always be a challenge and a priority. It is important to be aware that 90 per cent of standing freshwater in the UK is in Scotland, which has more than 27,000 lochs and more than 120,000km of rivers and streams. Mainland Scotland has 9,910km of coastline, which increases to some 16,500km if we include many of our islands, which make up 52 per cent of the UK coastline. However, it is not just the extent of our waters that poses a challenge, but their nature. Sudden changes in depth, which Pam Gosal mentioned; deceptively cold temperatures; and hidden currents can all mean that even good swimmers can get into difficulty very quickly.

Activities in and around water are enjoyed safely and responsibly by the majority of people. However, in Scotland, we have an average of 92 water-related fatalities per year, of which around 50 are accidental drowning fatalities. The latest figures from the water incident database indicate that, in 2022, accidental drowning fatalities decreased in Scotland in comparison with 2021, which was a particularly difficult year. Those figures highlight the crucial collaborative work that our water safety partners are doing to help to reduce the risk of drowning in Scotland, and their commitment to achieve the aim in “Scotland’s Drowning Prevention Strategy 2018-2026” to

“Reduce accidental drowning ... by 50 per cent by 2026”.

I am very aware of the devastating impact that drowning has had on friends and family, and I will continue to use my role as Minister for Victims and Community Safety, as my predecessors did before me, to make it a priority to help to reduce the numbers of drowning incidents in Scotland.

In response to terrible tragedies in Scotland’s waterways during the summer of 2021, the Scottish Government brought together key water safety organisations to collaboratively develop an action plan that promoted and aimed to improve partnership working, intelligence gathering and sharing, awareness raising, skills training and responses to incidents.

The water safety action plan, which complements the important work of Water Safety Scotland, outlines the key initiatives to improve education, data, local area water safety planning and incident reviews. The co-designed action plan was published in March 2022, and the annual review and update on progress a year on was published last week, on Wednesday 21 June. That is now on the Scottish Government website. The key highlights include the fact that the membership of Water Safety Scotland has increased to 56 organisations, which are now working collaboratively to actively take forward water safety initiatives.

Water Safety Scotland’s innovative drowning incident review procedure was launched earlier this year. The review, which has been endorsed by all the front-line rescue organisations, means that, for the first time, partners are working together to review fatal drownings and gather relevant data and intelligence that will help to develop measures to prevent future incidents and identify high-risk locations. That pioneering work has been recognised as a world first and it has attracted attention from Administrations in countries as far away as New Zealand.

Age-appropriate educational resources have also been developed for each level from the ages of three to 18. That initiative, which has been completed jointly with Education Scotland and Water Safety Scotland, is the first of its kind in the UK, and it provides teachers with simple and effective tools to help to educate children on how to keep themselves and others safe around water.

No—I am moving on to other members’ contributions.

I turn to Ivan McKee and Clare Adamson, who mentioned the inspirational campaign by Duncan and Margaret Spiers in memory of Christopher. I had the honour of meeting Duncan several weeks ago to find out about their work, and I look forward to working together with the campaign and writing to all local authorities on Duncan’s behalf to see what further work can be done.

Christine Grahame gave her personal account of the dangers of rivers. I echo the condolences that Jackie Baillie expressed to the families who have lost people to drowning, and I also echo her tribute to all the great work that has been done at Loch Lomond with the rescue boat.

To finish, I express my sincere thanks to all the partners that are involved, and particularly Water Safety Scotland, for driving this important work forward. Their continued efforts to work collaboratively, providing time and resource, are greatly appreciated and they are making a real difference. I very much look forward to meeting many of the water safety partners when I attend the upcoming water safety open day at Helix Park on 25 July to support United Nations world drowning prevention day.

With that, I close the last debate of the term.

I will come to the member’s point in a moment.

There is a particular emphasis on the dangers of cold water shock and the importance of how to float to live. With summer upon us, and people wanting to enjoy the good weather, it is important to remind the public to stay safe and follow the three-part water safety code:

“Stop and Think, Spot the Dangers; Stay Together, Stay Close; and In an Emergency, Call 999.”

I will reflect on some of the contributions from members, starting with Douglas Lumsden. I have been advised that the Barnett consequentials to which he referred have been added to the local authority funding block. [Siobhian Brown has corrected this contribution. See end of report.] The Scottish Government is working with sportscotland, local authorities, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Scottish Swimming to understand the challenges that are currently faced with regard to swimming pools and leisure facilities. Although it is important to know how to swim—

I will.

We have now spoken to around 25 organisations representing a number of interests including ending forced marriage and violence against women and girls. There is a range of views. Increasing the minimum age could be argued to increase safeguards, but it could also be seen as removing young people’s right to marry or to enter into a civil partnership. We also need to consider the fact that young people acquire a number of important rights at the age of 16. I am meeting Pauline Latham MP after the summer. As Claire Baker may know, she promoted legislation at Westminster to raise the age of marriage in England and Wales.