Chamber and committees

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I offer my apologies to you and members for being late to the debate.

I welcome the Parliament’s gender-sensitive audit report, I thank those who contributed to its findings, and I am delighted to lead for the Scottish Conservatives in the debate.

Since I entered the world of politics at the age of 21, the political landscape has changed significantly. We have had our first female First Minister and our second and third female Prime Ministers, and, at one point, the three largest parties in Scotland were led by women. I even managed to achieve a first in North Lanarkshire Council when I became the first female group leader of a political group since the council’s creation. Regardless of our political persuasion, those are achievements of which we should all be proud.

However, as I said, the political landscape has changed, but not always for the better. As a young woman who entered politics at the peak of the Scottish independence referendum campaign, I quickly learned that politics is not for the faint-hearted. I will admit that I was not prepared for the online abuse that I would receive. It was personal, sexual in nature and grim. That was before I was even elected as a councillor in North Lanarkshire. After my election, the abuse escalated, and the sad reality is that not a day goes by in which I do not receive some form of abuse. I am sure that colleagues across the chamber share similar experiences.

I have had to get the police involved on not one but two separate occasions because of other people’s inappropriate behaviours. It is regrettable that the abuse that I have received has heightened again in recent months because of debates that we have had in the chamber. As I said, I know that I am not the only person in the chamber who has been wrongly stereotyped or labelled, all for standing up for what she thinks is right and for what her constituents want her to fight for.

I am not sharing that story with members as a “Woe is always me” story, but because I know that we can and must do better. Parliament needs to understand why women do not want to stand for election: abuse on social media is one of those reasons. Until we provide better support to women who enter politics, I am afraid that we will prevent talent from entering the chamber.

I turn to the report’s findings. There appears to be a lot of focus on the number of men and women on committees not always reflecting the balance of MSPs in Parliament. I am less concerned about that, because I feel that people in Parliament will naturally gravitate towards issues that they care about. For example, I am passionate about education-related issues, but that does not mean that I do not have interests in other areas of devolved government. I am not entirely sold on the recommendation of not having single-sex committees, because I do not think that Parliament should dictate to political parties who would best be representatives on various boards and committees. I hope that Parliament would prefer to have on committees people who have a genuine interest.

The report states, too, that

“women tend to make fewer contributions during“

Parliament business, including First Minister’s questions and debates. I am afraid that that comes down to behaviours—a point that has been mentioned previously. We, as women, are often accused of being shouty or mouthy when we are being robust, although comments such as those spur me on a bit because I like to prove people wrong. I am sure that other MSPs feel the same.

I have a question for the chamber today: is Holyrood family friendly? I have pondered that question since my election to Parliament and following the birth of my daughter, Charlotte. The conclusion that I have reached is that, as it stands, Parliament is not family or life friendly. For balance, I appreciate and commend Parliament for introducing proxy voting, for which previous MSPs had called for quite some time. However, I am often drawn to the article that Holyrood Magazine published in 2021, when it interviewed four MSPs—Aileen Campbell, Ruth Davidson, Gail Ross and Jenny Marra. I read the article for the first time before I went on maternity leave last year. All those talented women politicians decided not to seek re-election because it was difficult to balance being an MSP with their family lives. They shared their feelings of guilt at not being able to spend time with family and mentioned the mental impact that it had on them. They also shared the reasons why Parliament is not family friendly, which relate to the working day and voting times being moved “at the last minute”, which puts pressure on the MSP and their family. I have lost count of the number of times that I have had to phone a family member because I would not be home when expected.

Travel is another factor to consider. Whether we rely on public transport or battle the M8 every morning, if we do not have accommodation in Edinburgh, we are up at the crack of dawn and usually do not get home until very late in the evening.

That point is really interesting. That is a discussion that we should have. This is the beginning. It is certainly the first discussion on the subject in which I have been involved in Parliament. We need to crack down and define that. I really like “life friendly”, which is the phrase that Emma Roddick used, because the matter is not just about MSPs with children; it is also about MSPs with various things going on in their lives.

I appreciate that I am pushing it, Presiding Officer.

Thank you very much; I will continue, then.

There is the crèche to consider. We have a facility in Parliament that is suitable for childcare that one can use for a maximum of four hours. Although that is great for people who are visiting Parliament—please, do not get me wrong on that—I have to ask what use the crèche is to MSPs, MSP staff and Parliament staff because, as Bob Doris mentioned earlier, the vast majority of them work longer than four hours.

Will the member give way?

I am sure that all political parties have a female organisation in them to nurture, help and support women. We have Women2Win, and I am sure that other political parties have similar organisations. Do they need to be more robust with the political parties to try to encourage more women to stand for election? Should we all, as elected members, be pushing for that in our respective parties?

I could not agree more. I have been in exactly the same position as Bob Doris. It is getting to the stage at which we need to be bold in what we do. If we are telling people—especially young people who are starting a family, people with a disability and people from various walks of life—that this is the Parliament for them, we need to ensure that we mean it. I think that we are not there yet.

In contrasting the Scottish Parliament with Westminster, I note that it has a full-time nursery, which we could consider. I do not fully buy into the idea that the hybrid system is making the MSP role easier for people with young children. I can give an example: I ask colleagues to imagine trying to concentrate during stage 3 of a bill with a baby in one arm while voting on amendments with the other. One can make mistakes, and we do not want to make mistakes because we are trying to do our job. That happened to me in December last year, when I broke my maternity leave to vote on legislation. I feel that members who participate remotely do not get the same experience as MSPs who are physically in the chamber or a committee room.

More work needs to be undertaken to make the Parliament more life friendly; otherwise history will, unfortunately, continue to repeat itself. We will lose talented MSPs, and I do not want to tell any more young women that it is difficult to balance being a mum and a parliamentarian.

To conclude, Presiding Officer—I feel as though I have pushed it today—I agree with the principle of the gender-sensitive audit and the majority of the recommendations that are set out in the report. I applaud the continuation of events taking place in Holyrood to ensure that Parliament reflects our society. Data is key to monitoring progress. However, we need to address the culture of and behaviours in the chamber, to support our MSPs who receive online abuse and to finally make the Parliament family friendly and—I like this phrase better—life friendly. Only then will we see more women enter the world of politics.

The Scottish Government claims that it has one hand tied around its back, yet it is one of the most powerful devolved Governments in the world, if not the most powerful. This is the same Scottish National Party Government that claimed that it could set up an independent country in 18 months, yet it will take nearly nine years for it to fully use devolved welfare powers, after handing responsibility back to the UK Government.

Turning to children in temporary accommodation, organisations such as Shelter Scotland, Poverty Alliance and Crisis have warned ministers about the record number of children in Scotland who are trapped in temporary accommodation. That number is up 120 per cent since 2014. The SNP-Green record on the issue is shameful.

The Scottish Government always tries to pat itself on the back when it comes to tackling child poverty and inequality, but Shelter has said:

“We cannot tolerate inaction any longer. Too many children are paying the price.”

What is the cabinet secretary’s response to that comment, and why has her Government not done enough to support children who are trapped in temporary and emergency accommodation?

That is a bold claim from a minister of the Scottish Government, I have to say.

To add to the woes that the education sector across Lanarkshire faces, it was announced that nurseries at the Coatbridge and Cumbernauld campuses of New College Lanarkshire were also to close. Thirty members of childcare staff were impacted, mostly women, and I was gobsmacked. We face a childcare crisis in Scotland and nearly 30 early years practitioners were told that their place of work was shutting its doors.

I completely agree, but then again, as I said, it was bold of the minister to talk to the Conservatives about financial mismanagement. [Interruption.] SNP members need only look at their own Government.

I turn back to the real concerns. The minister laughing about the serious issues that I am trying to raise is completely disrespectful to the people they are affecting. Staff are devastated by the announcement of the closure of the nurseries, not just because they are going to lose their jobs, but also for the children and their parents who might not be able to continue with their college courses. Those are the real impacts that cuts have on our college estates.

Regretfully, those are not the only local challenges that I will share today. Back in April, it was announced that New College Lanarkshire will leave the Hamilton campus when the lease expires in July. That will be another blow to Hamilton town centre, following the closure of the University of the West of Scotland on Almada Street some years earlier. All the recent discussions at New College Lanarkshire resulted in a reduction in staff. Unison has launched an online petition calling on the education secretary to intervene in the crisis that is engulfing the further education sector in Scotland.

There is a crisis in our nurseries, a crisis in our schools and a crisis in our universities and colleges. The SNP will try to give itself a pat on the back today because of the positive messaging in the committee report, but the state of Scottish education in general is bleak. That is a symptom, as Stephen Kerr rightly pointed out, but there is a cure. The cure has to be worked on together through cross-party policy working. If Stephen Kerr had had the time today, I am sure that he would have been able to share some of the policies that we propose.

I will close with a plea to the Scottish Government and the minister. Stop squandering money by making bad choices in voting through bad law. Make good choices by investing in our higher and further education, so that young people, such as the young person from a rural community whom I mentioned, can go to a college of their choice to study a course that will give them the foundations to succeed.

Will the minister take an intervention?