Chamber and committees

I will have a go. If anything is left unanswered, I am also happy to follow up with you on it.

Cat McMeeken was correct, and I have reinforced what she said. One of the services that is provided is advocacy work. Often, the most marginalised people are not in a place to be able to represent themselves, so they need somebody advocating for them. For instance, the Scottish Refugee Council has just been awarded a contract to assist migrants—they are some of the most vulnerable people, as they are not able to access their rights on issues such as housing, benefits or healthcare. It is important to remember that the principle applies across all protected characteristics. Being trans is a protected characteristic, so trans people would and should be entitled to the same services as anyone with any other protected characteristic.

We will continue to work with our partners in Inspiring Scotland, with whom we have a well-established relationship. In response to Tess White’s question, on the budget that comes out of my portfolio and the equality and human rights fund, it might be helpful for you to be aware that 31 per cent of my total budget is spent on disability organisations and supporting people with disabilities. Twenty-two per cent of the budget is spent on advancing race equality and in the wider field. Twenty per cent of the budget is spent on women and girls. Fourteen per cent, which is the least amount, is spent on supporting organisations that work in the LGBTQI arena. I hope that that gives you an indication of the proportions of the money that is spent.

Thank you, cabinet secretary, for that introduction, and I thank the committee for giving us the welcome opportunity to appear jointly, demonstrating our shared commitment to collaboration and to advancing equality, inclusion and human rights across the whole Government. Our shared ambition is to ensure that equality and human rights are central to budget decisions, and we continue to build on our partnership, meeting regularly to maintain a consistent and embedded focus on equality in budgeting, while taking advice directly from the equality and human rights budget advisory group.

As I have previously said, my personal and visible leadership is critical to that. I have actively engaged with colleagues across portfolios, supporting and challenging them to identify meaningful actions to address inequality in Scotland. To date, I have held more than 14 meetings with ministerial colleagues, focusing on identifying practical steps that each portfolio can take to improve equality and human rights outcomes. For example, earlier this year, I worked in collaboration with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport to launch a pilot scheme that will provide free rail travel for the companions of blind and partially sighted people. Those conversations have been constructive and forward looking, and I am encouraged by the shared commitment across Government.

We all have a responsibility to tackle inequality and to uphold human rights, and I am determined that that will be reflected in our actions. One example of that is the pre-budget ministerial equality workshop, which was first held in 2023. Since then, we have scheduled that workshop earlier in the budget process, and I have taken a more substantive role in the workshop, which enables ministers to discuss the impacts of potential budget allocations on equality groups before decisions are taken and is a powerful tool for embedding equality and human rights principles in our policy and budgetary thinking.

The budget does not, of course, exist in isolation, and the quality of analysis for the budget depends on how well equality and human rights are mainstreamed across Government. That is why, when we published our long-term equality outcomes this year, we focused on those that would act as enablers of system-wide change, improving the awareness and use of equality evidence, improving how we are informed by lived experience and participation and strengthening the relevant impact assessments. To support that, each outcome is backed by short-term and long-term actions over a four-year period. We will regularly report on those actions, further increasing transparency and accountability. Those improvements directly support the work that Ms Robison and her team deliver through the budget.

We hope that the committee recognises the Government’s continued dedication to advancing equality and human rights budgeting and the tangible actions that we are taking to drive improvement. There is, of course, more to do and we will continue listening, engaging and acting on feedback from this committee and other stakeholders.

I want to thank the EHRBAG members for their valuable support and input, and I extend special thanks to Emma Congreve for her thoughtful leadership as the interim chair.

I think that we wrote to the committee on 19 February to update you on the Scottish Government’s progress against the group’s recommendations. At the time, I was confident that we were making good progress on the actions and that we were broadly on track to meet those within the proposed timeframes.

At that point, of the 22 actions, nine had been completed, 12 were in progress and one was yet to get under way because it was contingent on the completion of another action. The completed actions include agreeing in partnership with EHRBAG the continued improvements to the equality and fairer Scotland budget statement—EFSBS—and taking a more integrated approach to the equality analysis of the programme for government and the budget. We have also been establishing a senior leadership group to scrutinise and bring challenge to our approach to embed equality and human rights and enable cultural change, and we have published an easy-read version of the EFSBS.

Since February, there has been further progress to support our commitment in Scotland to equality-led budgeting. The Scottish Government is hosting its first international knowledge exchange event in October, which will bring together experts from across government and civic society to explore how integrated impact assessments can advance equality and human rights in budgeting. That should foster a more collaborative approach, embedding inclusive evidence-based practices into future budget processes.

At its meeting on 11 June, EHRBAG members agreed that reporting on the action plan will be paused while further consideration is given to the group’s terms of reference. However, work continues during this time, so our focus will shift to the two strategic objectives for this year, which are achieving an integrated budget impact assessment and proposals to improve budget transparency and accessibility.

I have some sympathy with your line of questioning. However, in my previous answer, I gave a clear indication of the extensive work that we are undertaking. It is not a shelving; it is a delay in order to be able to advance that work and get it right. There are many treaties that are being incorporated, and getting all those different things to align is a hefty piece of work. There are treaties that have not been adopted by other countries, so, in that sense, some of this work is groundbreaking.

It requires time to take everybody with us—to make sure that duty bearers know what they are doing and how they are doing their work, and to find out what implications there will be for future legislative change in many different portfolio areas. It also requires time for rights holders to be able to take up their rights. Therefore, it is absolutely not a shelving; it is a reasonable delay to make sure that that work can be undertaken in full consultation with all the civic organisations, including stakeholders. The SHRC is a very valued partner in that.

In relation to the SHRC’s enforcement powers, it does an amazing amount of work, and its spotlights really home in on particular areas—those are really valuable. I have absolute sympathy for that point, and it will come out as the bill advances. Enforcement powers are absolutely not off the table.

We also need to bear in mind that, due to circumstances, some women may not be able to work. It is important that they get access to the benefits that they are entitled to. I am aware of the intersectionalities around women and girls.

I cannot speak on behalf of other portfolios, but I can give you an indication of what is being done in mine. In order for women and girls to feel empowered to access equal opportunities in relation to the right to work, for instance, given the disadvantages and detriment that they face, they need equitable access to economic resources and decision making and to be able to live their lives free from violence, abuse and harassment. In 2025-26, we are providing more than £2 million to 10 gender equality organisations. Of that, £1.8 million is being provided through the equality and human rights fund. The money that we are putting towards women and girls in my portfolio area makes up 22 per cent of the equality and human rights fund. Both of the figures that I mentioned are in addition to the £21 million that is being provided to organisations via the delivering equally safe fund, which is for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. I hope that that provides you with some examples.

Absolutely. The current equality evidence strategy seeks to make improvements to the availability and analysis of equality data across the Scottish Government. That is running until December 2025 and work is under way to develop its next iteration.

The equality evidence finder is a web-based platform that was established to disseminate equality data to analysts, policy makers and the general public. Work is under way to advance the data that is included in that tool and to improve its accessibility and usability. Just because the data is there does not mean that everybody is able to access it equally. We are working on that and we have seen good progress.

Obviously, there is always more to do to refine it. However, an evaluation of the current evidence strategy, which runs from 2023 to December 2025 will, alongside the collaboration with analysts, policy makers and external bodies, directly inform the next iteration about which I was talking. That is happening in real time. I hope that that gives you an answer.

It is always strange when your words are quoted back to you, and I stand by them. I gave an outline in my opening statement of the work that I have been doing. That kind of infrastructural work of doing cultural change, enabling conversations and increasing knowledge, competence and capability, does not grab the headlines, but it makes the foundations for future decisions more robust and connected, as you say. That all feeds into some of the remarks that you said came out of the first evidence session this morning.

In that sense, none of that surprises me. Thanks for the opportunity to reinforce what the role of an equalities minister is. I take very seriously the right demand for mainstreaming. With my support and challenge to colleagues, I can say that, yes, they are speaking to one another, and they always have done.

I think that what sometimes gets lost, with the best will in the world, because we referred to it earlier, is that everybody has their different portfolios and people are very keen on getting on with their job. Having somebody who can take a wider view and see all the connections and then offer that view has been very well received by my colleagues. One massive demonstration of that is the fact that the cabinet secretary and I are both here during a pre-budget scrutiny evidence session. That is another indication that we are coming out of our silos.

I always say that everybody wants everybody else to come out of their silos until I turn around and say, “You come out of yours.” That is always a bit more challenging.

There is also the annual ministerial budget workshop, which is a great opportunity when everybody is in the room at the same time. It means that clear connections can be made between portfolio decisions in the room in real time, and I am able to add my voice to that as well. The focus on protected characteristics, socioeconomic disadvantage and children’s rights, for instance, embeds equality and human rights into decisions that ministers make.

The new equality outcomes were published in April this year. We have taken a new approach to the equality outcome-setting process, so that it provides the consistency that Pam Gosal asks for and leadership across Government.

The three key outcomes that act as enablers of that system-wide change, which is what we all want, focus on improving the use and awareness of equality evidence, improving how we are informed by lived experience and participation and strengthening the relevant impact assessments. Each outcome is underpinned by short-term and long-term actions over a four-year period.

I hope that that gives you a clear indication of our commitment to drive meaningful, long-term change by addressing the structural barriers that impact equality across all of the Scottish Government, as we are very much aware. I hope that that is enough information.

I open this debate on the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill at a time of growing global instability. That instability can result in people having to flee their homes to seek safety in another country. Scotland has a proud history of welcoming those who are fleeing war and persecution, and the debate needs to be seen in that wider context.

Border security is central to the UK Government’s plan for change. The Border Security Command aims to co-ordinate efforts to dismantle criminal gangs, which prey on the desperation of those who are seeking a safe haven. At the time of the previous general election, more than 122 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as they fled persecution and conflict, violence and human rights violations.

Many people risk dangerous Channel crossings out of desperation and rely on smugglers and criminal networks. These are not journeys of choice; they are journeys of desperation by men, women and children who are seeking safer shores.

In 2024, 73 people died attempting the crossing—more than in the previous six years combined. The boats are now more crowded, with an average of 53 people per vessel, which is up from 13 per vessel in 2020. The Scottish Government does not condone illegal activity and supports efforts to disrupt criminal networks. Measures such as enhanced data sharing and new offences can help, but they must be implemented with care. Strong oversight, safeguards and respect for privacy and due process are essential.

Strengthening border security is legitimate, but it must not criminalise those who are fleeing war and persecution. While we support sanctions for serious crimes, such as human trafficking, breaching immigration rules alone should not result in criminalisation. Many people who arrive in small boats are vulnerable individuals who are seeking safety. Detention and prosecution should always be a last resort.

The bill must be matched by the expansion of safe and legal routes, such as refugee resettlement, family reunion and humanitarian pathways. Amnesty has said that safe routes save lives, and the Scottish Refugee Council has called the bill a “missed opportunity”. Enforcement alone will not resolve the crisis. We must address the root cause and protect the most vulnerable. As a founding signatory to the refugee convention, the UK has a moral and legal duty to uphold its principles.

I welcome the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee’s report on the legislative consent memorandum and its recommendation that the Parliament should consent to the relevant provisions in the bill. The committee highlighted stakeholder concerns about age declaration forms and called for the reassurance that we are working with the UK Government to mitigate the risks for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. We have engaged with the UK Government and we understand that those forms are used in Kent, not Scotland. We will continue to monitor the issue.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting those who come to Scotland in search of safety and to ensuring that the implementation of the bill reflects our values and respect for human rights. As head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Lord Advocate has published instructions for prosecutors when considering the prosecution of a person who is, or appears to be, the victim of human trafficking and exploitation.

The Scottish Government introduced what became the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, which provides support when there are reasonable grounds to believe that an adult is a victim of human trafficking. That support can include accommodation, medical care, legal services and psychological support.

Alongside support services that local authorities provide to child victims, the Scottish Government funds the guardianship Scotland service to support unaccompanied children in Scotland who have been trafficked or who are vulnerable to being exploited.

We facilitate refugee integration through the new Scots refugee integration strategy, which is delivered in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Refugee Council. We also provide tailored support through Scotland’s migration service, which helps people to navigate our complex immigration system, understand their rights, access services and build stable lives.

In moving the motion, I recommend the Parliament’s consent to the relevant provisions in the bill as amended. While recognising the UK Government’s efforts to combat organised immigration crime, the Scottish Government reaffirms its commitment to those who are fleeing persecution and urges the UK Government to expand the availability of safe and legal routes to sanctuary.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that the relevant provisions in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, introduced in the House of Commons on 30 January 2025, relating to the provision and sharing of trailer registration information (amended clauses 30 to 33), the provision of biometric information at ports in Scotland (clause 36), the repeal of certain provisions of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (clause 38), the detention and exercise of functions pending deportation (clause 41), powers to take biometric information at detention centres (clause 44), offences relating to articles for use in serious crime (clauses 49 and 50), applicants for making of orders and interim orders (clause 54), and the validation of fees charged in relation to qualifications (clause 57), so far as these matters fall within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and alter the executive competence of the Scottish Ministers, should be considered by the UK Parliament.

I thank colleagues for their thoughtful and considered contributions to the debate, although the speeches have been varied and possibly a little polarised, which is not unexpected. I ask the chamber to support the Scottish Government’s motion to grant legislative consent to the relevant provisions of the UK Government’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. I emphasise again that this is not a blanket endorsement of the UK Government’s immigration and asylum policy; indeed, just the other week, I stood here and expressed serious concerns about its approach to migration.

We welcome many of the intended benefits of the provisions of the bill, especially through the repeal of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 and the repeal of parts of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 that removed the duty on Scottish ministers to protect trafficking victims. That is a necessary step towards addressing the legacy of fear, uncertainty and hostility that was left in the wake of those deeply concerning measures, which were initiated by the UK Conservative Government.

The provisions on which we seek consent—particularly those concerning data sharing, enforcement, co-operation and safeguarding—demand our active engagement. Through that active engagement, we can ensure that they are implemented in a way that respects devolved responsibilities and upholds fundamental human rights. In an interconnected world, challenges such as migration, climate change and global security demand co-operation and not isolation. By working across Governments, we respond more effectively to shared crises.

We recognise the serious challenges in the current system, but the bill must come with a commitment to improving access to safe and legal routes for those who seek protection. Without such measures, we risk perpetuating the very vulnerabilities that the bill seeks to resolve.

I say on the record that I have much sympathy with Maggie Chapman’s contribution on section 29 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023. Of course, that matter is wholly reserved and today we are talking about the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

I close with the message that Scotland stands—and will always stand—for dignity, fairness and respect and will remain a place of refuge for those fleeing persecution and conflict.