Chamber and committees

The reconsideration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill has been two long years in the making. Before I get into the cut and thrust of the bill, it is important to draw members’ attention to the progress that has been made to improve children’s rights across our United Kingdom.

Although the UNCRC was introduced in Scotland on 1 September 2020, its original journey began in 1991, before the creation of the Scottish Parliament and—without trying to make anyone in the chamber feel old—before I or any of the young people in the public gallery were born.

I will briefly address the wonderful young representatives who are in the chamber this afternoon. Today is for you because, if the bill passes, it will incorporate children’s rights into devolved Scottish law. It is a milestone on Scotland’s journey towards making rights real in practical terms and it will add to the existing protections that are already in place.

However, this momentous occasion has not been an easy process, and this is where I will be critical of the Scottish Government. The Scottish National Party ignore several warnings from the Scottish Conservatives that the original bill would not be lawful. However, the Scottish Government did not heed those warnings, and we found ourselves having to go through the courts to bring through legislation that is within the Parliament’s devolved competence.

That is precisely right. The SNP must reflect on that today, because we are two years behind where we should be with this very important bill. Some of the young people who were involved with the UNCRC process in 2018 will probably no longer consider themselves to be young, because it has taken so long for us to get the bill back to the Scottish Parliament.

That being said, the Scottish Conservatives will be supporting the bill at stage 3 today. We know how much it means to children and young people across Scotland, because it incorporates into Scots law the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, including political, economic, social and cultural rights. It places a legal duty on public authorities to act within UNCRC requirements, and it allows children, young people and their representatives to use the legal system to enforce their rights.

Even if it is passed today, the bill will probably not come without its challenges, and there are some outstanding questions. What happens next is the key one. Together Scotland has urged the Scottish Government to answer key questions that are still outstanding. One of them relates to the continuation of the UNCRC implementation programme. The three-year UNCRC implementation programme is set to conclude in March 2024. Together Scotland, alongside other organisations, has asked for that timeframe to be extended. That would allow time to include resources for children and young people, and for adults, to support them to understand their rights, and other measures to ensure a holistic approach that aligns with the existing policies and structures, such as the Promise and getting it right for every child. If the cabinet secretary could expand on that in her closing statement, it would put organisations’ minds at rest, as there is more to come following the bill. It is not just about the intent of the UNCRC but about the practical elements that will enforce the legislation, because they must also be upheld.

That brings me to my final point today. Time and again, we have heard that the bill will be transformational, and it will be. As a member of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, I heard the story of Shirley-Anne Spider, the cabinet secretary who created the web for the UNCRC to be built on. I am not sure that the cabinet secretary or I would ever have expected that type of imagery to be used, but it sends an important message.

Section 15 refers to the reporting duties of listed authorities, whereby listed authorities must report on the action that they have taken or intend to take to secure or further effect the rights of children. The bill as passed labelled the first reporting period as the period beginning with the date on which the section comes into force and ending on 31 March 2023, with further reporting periods ending after every subsequent three years. However, due to the Government’s incompetence with regard to getting the legislation right the first time, the cabinet secretary has been forced to move that date to 2026, which is three years later than was originally planned. [Interruption.]

Had the Scottish National Party got things right almost three years ago, we would already have known—

Thank you, Presiding Officer. They do not want to hear it, but it is fact.

Had the Scottish National Party got things right almost three years ago, we would already have known what listed authorities are doing and are planning to do to improve the rights of children.

We have not lodged any amendments on this matter, but it is important to highlight that point.

I am not sure that that was the intent. The cabinet secretary was referred to as the spider who was holding the web together. That was in no way meant as an insult; it was actually meant to be complimentary of the evidence that was taken by the committee. If my comment was taken in another way, I think that the member is stretching it, to be perfectly honest.

That brings me back to the point that I was trying to make: the Government holds the web strings for the bill to be a success, but everybody needs to pull together for that to happen. It can be a success only if the Government ensures that young people understand their rights and know how to exercise them.

Local authorities and others have done a power of work already behind the scenes to get ready for the changes that the bill will bring. We need to utilise everyone—not just those who specialise in children’s rights and not just local authorities but our private and charitable organisations that work day in, day out to improve the lives of our young people; our youth work organisations, which will be pillars in the upholding of children’s rights as part of the UNCRC; and parents, who are integral to this journey. I am not sure that we have brought everyone into the UNCRC web yet, but I think that the Government and others can work to do so.

We need to go back to the mess that the Government created at the start of the legislation, because we are not at the stage—

We voted in favour of the principles of the bill, but we also warned the Government—[Interruption.] We also warned the Government on more than one occasion, but those warnings were not heeded. That is on the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Conservatives will be voting in favour of the bill at decision time. I said from the start that the bill is for Scotland’s children and young people, and I look forward to voting in favour of it at stage 3.

We already know the many existing dangers that women face in everyday life. Violence against women and girls is never acceptable, but do we, as women, really understand the dangers that we face?

Online violence against women and girls has escalated rapidly in recent years and it poses a major threat to safety and wellbeing. Technology is not something to be feared—we should embrace it—but we need to be mindful of it, as it constitutes a space where harm can be perpetrated.

The development of artificial intelligence brings a new discussion about the protection and promotion of women’s rights. Biased attitudes linked to gender roles and identities are programmed into social media platforms through automated decision making. Therefore, algorithms and devices have the potential to spread and reinforce unwanted and harmful gender stereotypes, particularly when it comes to younger men.

Research by the Open University found that 17 per cent of women in Scotland have experienced online threats, trolling, unwanted sexual remarks and other forms of abuse. The 2022 Girlguiding “Girls’ Attitudes Survey” found that 80 per cent of girls and young women between the ages of seven and 21 have seen or experienced sexism online, which is an increase from 68 per cent in 2018.

Therefore, there is a need for the Government to be proactive when it comes to technology-facilitated gender-based violence, because it takes many sinister forms. There is sextortion, image-based abuse, doxxing and cyberbullying. Those are all examples of how women can fall victim to gender-based violence. The same Open University survey showed that almost three quarters, or 73 per cent, of women in Scotland and more than half, or 55 per cent, of men want online violence to be made a crime.

The part that should concern us all is that many women and girls do not realise that they are a victim until it is too late. Sometimes, those who commit the crime are people whom women and girls should trust. Ex-teacher James Donoghue was jailed for predatory crimes after threatening two young women into having sex with him. He then posed as a modelling scout called Debzie and threatened to share unconsented filmed sexual content if the victims did not keep in contact with him or arrange to meet up. He even hijacked and hacked into a computer of one of his targets during the horrific sextortion plot.

It was Donoghue’s own girlfriend who helped the police to catch him in the act, to get him to confess to what he had done. He was handed only an eight-year prison sentence, which is not long enough in my view. The predatory behaviour shown by that vile individual will have caused unimaginable harm to the young women involved, but they are not alone. That one case shows the danger of access to filming devices and the rise of social media platforms, should someone wish to use them to inflict unimaginable harm on women and girls. Therefore, we need to get ahead of the curve when it comes to AI, because AI can impersonate and, in the wrong hands, manipulate.

I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to strengthening the AI ecosystem, because we need to ensure that the right safeguards are in place and that we invest in technology to ensure that women and girls cannot be exploited through that growing technology.

We have been unable to eradicate revenge porn or the online abuse that women receive, as is evidenced by the statistics. Last year alone, there were 140 domestic abuse charges relating to those offences—and those are only the ones that were reported. Underreporting of violence against women and girls has long been a concern, and I encourage anyone who has been a victim of those vile crimes to come forward and speak out. Accurate data means that we are better placed to understand. As technology advances, so do the number of risks to vulnerable people.

Today is about 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Everyone has a duty to ensure that we improve the lives of women and girls by doing everything that we can to protect them from the advancements in new technology.

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support children with long Covid. (S6O-02808)

The Scottish Covid inquiry has heard that children with long Covid have been dismissed and ignored by those who are supposed to support them. The charity Long Covid Kids told the inquiry that healthcare professionals were not appropriately trained, that there is a postcode lottery of care and that healthcare professionals had been given no education regarding the condition. Does the minister agree that the Covid inquiry should be an opportunity to learn lessons from the poor treatment of people with long Covid? What training is being provided to healthcare professionals now so that they can adequately support children who are living with long Covid?