Chamber and committees

I am deeply concerned about the harmful rhetoric that we see across the United Kingdom, which has no place in our society. It is vital that we remain united in the face of division and uncertainty so that that narrative has absolutely no place and gathers no traction.

When our communities tell us that they feel unsafe and that they are under pressure, it is our collective responsibility to listen and respond. I outlined earlier the work that we are doing through our new Scots refugee integration strategy, which has been held up far and wide as a very good example.

We are investing in strengthening our communities, but I call on members—and everyone else—to ensure that we all stand firm against falling for misinformation, check our facts, are mindful of our language and use our platform to ensure that we unite our communities.

We are committed to supporting the integration of refugees and people seeking asylum into our communities through our new Scots strategy, which was developed in partnership with the Scottish Refugee Council and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We are funding the refugee support service to provide advice, information and resources to new Scots to help them to build networks and social connections.

In addition, the £300,000 of funding that I announced earlier will be used by organisations working across Scotland to strengthen community cohesion and ensure that our communities stand together to reject division and build solidarity by forging coalitions across a wide range of communities in Scotland.

The debate has certainly given us the opportunity to reflect on the financial barriers to leaving an abuser. As we have heard, those barriers are complex and multifaceted. They relate to the control that a perpetrator has over the victim/survivor, for whom the systems do not always work. I want to categorically make clear, and reiterate, the Government’s commitment to addressing those issues.

We have heard many contributions regarding the equally safe strategy, which is co-owned with COSLA and provides a framework for action. Of course, I recognise that further improvements can always be made; however, I will respond to some of the points that members have raised.

With regard to same-sex relationships and those working with LGBT survivors, that is funded work and it is in the strategy. It is important that we see and acknowledge the results of the funded services for survivors, and that includes work in schools and work that concerns awareness-raising campaigns such as the forthcoming campaign on misogyny, which is also referenced in the equally safe strategy. There is also a strand of work under the strategy that concerns training, such as the national trauma transformational programme. In order to ensure delivery across portfolios, I chair the equally safe ministerial group, which meets regularly to ensure ministers and cabinet secretaries are following up on their parts of the strategy.

With regard to the fund to leave, the Scottish Government is clear that financial uncertainty should not be a barrier to women leaving an abusive partner. I note Roz McCall’s recognition of the fund’s positive impact. The Government would like to make the fund permanent, and we will set out further details at the forthcoming spending review.

I am grateful to the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing for prioritising and protecting housing rights for women. The Housing (Scotland) Bill, which was passed on 30 September, introduced a number of provisions to protect tenants who are experiencing domestic abuse. Those provisions fully recognise the vital role that social landlords have in keeping their tenants safe. The provisions include measures to ensure that social landlords fully consider domestic abuse through financial control, particularly rent arrears, when supporting their tenants who are experiencing domestic abuse, and that they support women to remain in their homes or to be rehoused, if that is what they wish.

It is vital that women are able to access the support that they need when they need it. Our delivery partners, including local Women’s Aid groups, will work closely with others to ensure that women are fully supported in their decision to leave, and that is why, through the delivering equally safe fund of £21.6 million, we fund a range of organisations to do that. We have also made a considerable investment in vital advice services, such as the economic abuse helpline, Scotland’s domestic abuse and forced marriage helpline and Citizens Advice Scotland. These services make a tangible difference to women’s lives by giving them advice to help them to navigate complex financial systems and rebuild their lives.

On legal aid, the Scottish Government recognises that the legal aid system needs to be reformed. Looking ahead, we will develop a fee review mechanism and explore the fundamental changes that are required to create a legal assistance system that is fit for the 21st century. I am concerned about the lack of availability of solicitors. There are fewer civil solicitors than was the case previously, but they are also more active: in 2014-15, there were 1,067 active solicitors, with an annual average of 12 grants each; by 2023-24, there were 791 active solicitors, with an annual average of 17 grants each. The legal aid system is generally effective in delivering help to those in need, but we recognise that there are challenges in relation to certain types of cases and locations.

I welcome the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee’s inquiry into legal aid. Its report was published on 17 September, and it is only right that we fully consider its recommendations and conclusions.

Solicitors in all parts of Scotland are able to access the fund for work that they have carried out and legal assistance schemes that are flexible enough to allow solicitors to travel to rural and remote parts of the country to carry out work, should it not be possible to have local solicitors for people to instruct. The Scottish Government will continue to press the UK Government on reserved issues, such as the condition of no recourse to public funds and universal credit.

I want to assure the Parliament that my ministerial colleagues and I remain committed to working towards a strong and flourishing Scotland, where all individuals are equally safe and respected and where women and girls live free from all forms of violence and abuse, including financial and economic abuse.

I am pleased to represent the Scottish Government in this important debate. I thank members of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee for undertaking their inquiry into financial considerations when leaving an abuser.

This Government is resolute in the belief that coercive control, including financial abuse, has no place in Scottish society. We are striving to eradicate the financial and structural barriers that victims/survivors face when they leave an abuser. Through equally safe, Scotland’s strategy to address violence against women and girls, we have taken measures to prevent violence, to build the capability and capacity of support services and to strengthen the justice response to victims and perpetrators. For example, we introduced the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, which criminalises coercive control, including aspects of financial abuse.

As a direct result of funding from our annual £21.6 million delivering equally safe fund, the Financially Included project started its work to tackle the economic impact of violence against women. Its impressive work supports women to regain their financial freedom and thrive. This year, we have allocated increased funding to Financially Included to further expand and support the work that it provides and to develop a new Scottish economic abuse helpline.

As a Government, we are committed to doing more. I have asked my policy officials to consider the committee’s report as part of the work to develop the next equally safe delivery plan, which will succeed the current plan at the end of 2026.

The issue of social security was raised by Bob Doris, and I recognise the importance of social security issues to this agenda. In Scotland, we have deliberately built a radically different social security system that provides vital support to those who need it, including women and children who are experiencing domestic abuse. Social security staff, including a dedicated safeguarding team, are trained to identify and support those experiencing abuse. However, as the Parliament is aware, much of the social security in Scotland, particularly universal credit, remains reserved to the UK Government. We remain keen to work with the DWP on areas where we have limited power—for example, on the splitting of single-household universal credit payments, which stakeholders have told us is essential to remove a potential enabler of domestic abuse.

Nobody should have to face additional financial hardship as a result of domestic abuse. We recognise that enforcement practices, such as the way in which liability is shared for council tax or having longer debt expiration periods, can create very difficult circumstances for those who are experiencing or have experienced abuse. That is why, during consideration of the Housing (Scotland) Bill, we supported an amendment to require a review of how council tax arrears affect those in that situation—and that was included in the bill. We also committed to consult on the council tax debt expiration period. The outcome of the review and consultation will be reported to the Parliament, and that will give us a much clearer understanding of the issues and of how best to respond. This year, we have allocated £2.2 million to roll out a national council tax debt project, delivered by Citizens Advice Scotland, to increase the support available to those who need advice and support on any aspect of council tax, including arrears.

As part of the housing emergency action plan, and as Bob Doris mentioned, we have established a new national fund to leave, which supports women and their children to leave an abusive partner and aims to improve their housing outcomes. As Bob Doris also mentioned, the evaluation of last year’s pilot showed that more than 500 women were provided with financial support. The national fund could improve housing outcomes and could assist with the transition to a more stable and independent future for up to 1,800 women and their children.

The Scottish Government recognises the demands on the legal aid system. I listened carefully to Karen Adam’s speech, and I recognise that the needs of those who depend on the legal aid system have changed significantly since the model was developed nearly 75 years ago. Change is needed to ensure that we have an adaptable, flexible, affordable and sustainable legal aid system that supports people who are facing challenging issues and problems. The Scottish Government welcomes the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee’s inquiry into what changes could be made to the civil legal aid system. We are considering that committee’s report, and we will respond to the Parliament in due course. We will continue to work closely with our stakeholders to support women to get the access that they need. Listening to them is vitally important.

Regarding the application of no recourse to public funds, the conditions create significant barriers to leaving abusive relationships. Through the ending destitution together strategy, we seek to mitigate and prevent destitution for people with no recourse to public funds.

I see that I am running out of time, Presiding Officer—thank you for your patience. I finish by assuring the Parliament that we are listening and that we will continue to address this blight on Scottish society.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app did not work in time, but I would have voted yes.

As we have heard in the debate, language is incredibly important. We need to ensure that we are talking about the same issues and that we are using the correct terminology. Not doing so perpetuates the misinformation that some seek to weaponise against individuals and communities.

Presiding Officer, can I clarify that Meghan Gallacher is taking my intervention from earlier?

My intervention was to ask whether you could give an indication of any constructive proposals that you have put forward to ensure that regular and safe routes are provided.

I will press on. I will take the intervention later if I have time.

I would like to remind members of a few facts. People who are seeking asylum cannot access local authority housing. The asylum system and its operation are the responsibility of the UK Government. The UK has international legal obligations to recognise refugees who are in the UK, and the purpose of the UK asylum system is to determine whether someone who is in the UK needs protection in line with those obligations. It is only once the UK Government has made a determination to grant asylum that newly recognised refugees have the right to access housing, work and other publicly funded support. As the cabinet secretary made clear, using the term “illegal migrant” is not only divisive and dehumanising but inaccurate.

I will now turn to some of the contributions and reflect on as many of them as I can. First of all, I emphatically reject the use of the term “assimilation”. That has connotations of people having either to mask themselves or to mimic in order to fit in, instead of enabling cohesive multicultural communities. The days of ethnic minorities with strange names having to change their name in order to anglicise and disguise themselves, and of young Asian and black girls having to bleach their skin in order to fit in with white communities, should be condemned and put into the history books. I reject the term “assimilation”.

We also heard about the willingness to tear up the ECHR in order to demonise further an already vulnerable group. It seems that there are members among us who would willingly throw away the rights of every citizen and person in this country in order to demonise further people who are already vulnerable. The ECHR is a fundamental principle of this Scottish Parliament, and any MSP who is worth their salt will resist derogation from it in the strongest possible terms.

I will also look at the facts. In 2024, the UK had around 948,000 long-term immigrants, primarily through work and study visas. Of those, 108,138 claimed asylum, of which 35,000 arrived via small boats. That is just 3.7 per cent of the total number of long-term immigrants in 2024. It is important to remember those numbers.

We recognise that the current UK Government inherited a broken asylum system, a backlog in decision making and large asylum accommodation estates. People are stuck in that system, which reduces their ability to integrate and to be able to work.

The bottleneck in decision making is the direct result of the UK Illegal Migration Act 2023, which is a totally unworkable and unconscionable piece of legislation. It was never supposed to work; it was an attempt to control the headlines in an election year. In the same way, these debates in the Scottish Parliament are not supposed to improve homelessness; rather, they are an attempt to lower the bar of what is considered acceptable rhetoric in the run-up to next year’s elections. The Scottish electorate can see right through that. People are organising in their communities to stand up to the demonisation of people seeking asylum, and I have every faith that they will overwhelmingly reject that premise at the ballot box.

I urge the chamber to reject this inaccurate and disgraceful motion. This Government will uphold Scotland’s values of compassion, dignity and respect, and it will protect all our communities.

No—

Has Meghan Gallacher or her party engaged with the UK Government to release the resources that are required to support everybody?