Chamber and committees

What the member eloquently describes is absolutely pivotal to where we need to go in relation to safety in the home in Scotland. I simply wanted to flag up the fact that there are fantastic resources on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection website, particularly for parents, which I had a look at yesterday. However, I think that the member is indicating that we need to go much further on parent education.

I will stay on the theme of Rishi Sunak’s plan to ditch the UK Government’s key net zero targets. What initial assessment can the Scottish Government provide on the impact that that will have on the commitment and consistency that industry requires from the Government in order to ensure a just energy transition?

I am grateful that the Criminal Justice Committee has been given time to debate the issue of online child sexual exploitation. The committee has taken evidence on the issue on two occasions, and I thank all the witnesses who shared their expertise and knowledge with members.

We heard about the increasing rate at which incidents of online child sexual exploitation are being reported and that the response must go

“beyond one of law enforcement”,

involving justice, health, education, social work and third sector services working together.

Miles Bonfield of the National Crime Agency stated:

“We should be clear that our assessment is that the threat, complexity and severity of offending continue to grow. The challenge is really out there”. —[Official Report, Criminal Justice Committee, 18 May 2022; c 50.]

NSPCC Scotland told the committee that, across the United Kingdom, online child sexual exploitation has

“rapidly increased over the last decade”,

and Police Scotland confirmed that it is dealing with enduring increases in reporting.

The NSPCC provided sobering statistics showing that there has been an 84 per cent rise in online grooming offences recorded since 2017-18 and that girls aged 12 to 15 were most likely to be victims of online grooming. In 2021-22, freedom of information data from the United Kingdom police showed that four out of five grooming cases involved girls. In internet-facilitated abuse, the trend has been towards more serious sexual offences against children.

Alison Penman of Social Work Scotland highlighted the emerging issue of children behaving harmfully towards others and the need to deploy different approaches so that those children receive appropriate support to recover from trauma, while addressing their own offending.

Will the member take an intervention?

I congratulate my friend and colleague Jackie Dunbar on having brought to the chamber the motion on marking world rivers day 2023. As Jackie Dunbar alluded to earlier, as north-east members of the Scottish Parliament, we can both boast that we have two magnificent rivers, the Dee and the Don, running through our respective constituencies.

The motion is comprehensive and it rightly reflects why Scotland is renowned for its fresh waters. They provide our drinking water, they are used to generate electricity, they are essential for the production of our whisky, and they provide a home for iconic species, including the Atlantic salmon and the freshwater pearl mussel.

Free-flowing rivers mean that water can move downstream freely, thereby allowing fish to migrate without restriction, and invertebrates such as the freshwater pearl mussel to thrive. I have vivid and lasting memories of my granny wearing a simple string of pearls from the magnificent River Tay, where I spent much of my childhood. Their significance passed me by at the time, but, in later life, they have taken on a whole new meaning. It will therefore come as no surprise to members to hear that I am delighted to be the nature champion for the freshwater pearl mussel.

Freshwater pearl mussels are one of the United Kingdom’s most threatened species. Scotland holds almost half the global population. They are fully protected, which makes it illegal to take them from a river. This summer, I had the pleasure of joining Craig Macadam of Buglife, Susan Cooksley of the James Hutton Institute and Edwin Third of the River Dee Trust, on the River Dee, where I was so lucky to see freshwater pearl mussels in situ in their natural environment, thriving and safe. It was truly remarkable and an absolute privilege to hold a mussel that was estimated to be around 68 years old.

This might be the one and only time that I agree with Alexander Burnett. Sadly, through various threats, including poaching, water pollution, loss of habitat and climate change, the freshwater pearl mussel is now classified as endangered. How can we preserve not only that vulnerable species but other wildlife species that are reliant on our rivers?

During my day out, I had the pleasure of visiting the restoration project of Easter Beltie burn, near Torphins, which has been returned, from being a straightened agricultural stream, to a natural meandering course, thereby improving habitats for nature and boosting climate resilience. The project has created a stretch of meandering river corridor of more than 2km flowing through 10 hectares of flood plain that is rich in habitats where nature can thrive. I encourage all members to visit it at some point, because it is truly beautiful. That is an example of why nature-based solutions will be crucial in recovering not only Scotland’s freshwater pearl mussel population but our wider wildlife populations.

The Scottish Government has enacted additional measures to improve freshwater pearl mussel population levels, supported by the commitment of organisations such as the James Hutton Institute, the River Dee Trust and many others. The aim is to reintroduce mussels to rivers where they once were and to outlaw disturbance, injury, theft or killing of freshwater pearl mussels. I hope that, with the aid of such measures, there will soon be growing numbers of the pearl mussel.

It is imperative that we maintain the biodiversity of Scottish rivers. I welcome the efforts that are being made by the Scottish Government and all stakeholders to achieve that.

I again thank Jackie Dunbar for lodging the motion and for securing this members’ business debate. I look forward to celebrating world rivers day this weekend with a walk by the River Dee.

Will the member take an intervention?

John Swinney rose—

I am fascinated by the member’s contribution. On the matter of technology, an issue that flagged itself to me during the committee’s evidence-taking sessions was the idea of the profile of a perpetrator as being, for example, someone who is considered to be a paedophile. However, organisations such as Stop It Now! find that many offenders simply drift into more extreme and transgressive materials. Would the member agree with that organisation that technology provides huge opportunities for more deterrence and disruption by tech companies, which they really must address?

We are just about up to time. I will stay with the key recommendation on an additional independent review process. I note in the review report the context around the needs of families, which we have discussed robustly this morning. I noticed in the review that there was reference to the fact that that change—creating another independent process—

“would bring Scotland into line with practice in other jurisdictions including England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.”

I know that it is not just a case of taking a model from somewhere else and slotting it into our policies and processes, but I wonder whether any work was done to look at that practice and whether there was a feeling that there was good learning from that that could realistically form part of a new process in Scotland—bearing in mind what we have discussed about the other option of, potentially, looking at the existing processes and making some changes to them?

Your question is about the broader issue of implementation of the legislation; we know that there have been challenges in and delays to the timescales. I understand that the minister is aware that we maintain an interest in that and has undertaken to keep the committee informed—specifically about the issues that you have raised, of firework control zones and the licensing scheme. I know that members are very interested in those matters but, for today, I am interested in ensuring that members are content with the response that we have received on the specific points that we raised in connection with football banning orders and the actions of an individual on release from being detained by police after being found to be in possession of a pyrotechnic device.

I am quite keen to maintain that focus, but I absolutely understand the points that Russell Findlay has made, which are, I think, reflected around the room.

I cannot answer that off the top of my head.