Chamber and committees

To ask the First Minister, in light of the theme of this year’s international women’s day being equal rights and equal justice, what action the Scottish Government is taking to improve the legal rights of women and girls. (S6F-04731)

A number of women members have raised with the First Minister the financial problems being faced by rape crisis centres, which provide a range of practical and legal services to women. Three rape crisis centres, including the STAR Centre, which provides services in Ayrshire, have highlighted significant real-terms cuts, and Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis has closed two of its waiting lists.

The First Minister has talked about active discussions with ministers. As we approach international women’s day, will he give a commitment that there will be no cuts, so that services provided by rape crisis centres can continue?

I understand that the save Ardrossan harbour campaign has been involved in discussions with the cabinet secretary about support for businesses over the past few years. It tells me that the cabinet secretary said that that issue could be looked at when the harbour closes for redevelopment. Will the cabinet secretary ensure that campaign groups such as save Ardrossan harbour and Arran for Ardrossan harbour are at the forefront of decisions that are made? Will she outline when compensation discussions can take place?

I agree with the member that the private owner has been extremely unreasonable—indeed, I have made that point many times. However, that has been clear for many decades, as there have been other issues with that private owner. The issue was very clear a decade ago, which is why, over that decade, North Ayrshire Labour group has been campaigning for municipal ownership or some form of public ownership. As I said, previous transport ministers did not think that the move was possible and quite often ridiculed people such as me who argued for it.

I strongly welcome and support the decision that the cabinet secretary has taken and I hope that whoever is in that role after the election will have the same drive to ensure that progress is made to redevelop Ardrossan, which I am sure will not be straightforward. I think that the cabinet secretary said that there was an Ardrossan task force meeting last night or this morning. It would be helpful to get more details on what decisions have been taken, because there is a great deal of concern that, despite the announcement, which has been made just before an election, there might not be speedy progress and it might be many years before we have a fully operational ferry service at Ardrossan again. Anything that the cabinet secretary can say to give comfort and more detail on that would be appreciated.

16:49

I am pleased to close this debate on Scotland’s vital ferry services on behalf of Scottish Labour. I thank the Liberal Democrats for bringing the motion to Parliament. As many members have highlighted, our ferry network has become increasingly unreliable and inaccessible in recent years. Delays and cancellations have become a regular occurrence, with an ageing ferry fleet and decisions about the ferry network that often fail to take the views of islanders and workers into account.

Jamie Greene and Kenneth Gibson referred to the significant disruption on the Ardrossan to Brodick route in recent years. That has been to the extent that islanders and tourists have not been able to rely on the service, which has been a massive problem for Arran and Ardrossan. Indeed, some islanders have moved away from the island. As Sue Webber said, the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa were chosen to service that route, at an original estimated cost of £97 million yet, as of last year, the cost was estimated to stand at £380 million. As she also pointed out, unofficial estimates now put the cost nearer £500 million.

The Glen Rosa has still not come into service on the route and is not expected to do so until the end of the year at the earliest. Although the Glen Sannox came into service last year, it has been plagued with problems and is now being repaired with parts stripped from the Glen Rosa. That led to the unacceptable situation in which there were no ferries running on the route for several months last year. Services were also temporarily transferred to Troon, and anyone who has used the service there will be aware of the accessibility issues for disabled passengers and anyone with mobility issues. Of course, there are also longer journey times for all passengers. Just this week, there were no crossings on the route because of an issue with MV Caledonian Isles.

Despite all the disruption to the people of Ardrossan and Arran, there has been a failure to adequately compensate communities. It would be helpful to hear more from the cabinet secretary on some of the comments that she made today in relation to compensation.

I warmly welcome the work that has been done on public ownership of Ardrossan harbour. It has been more than a decade since a strong local campaign forced the Scottish Government to commit to the redevelopment of the harbour, but successive transport ministers had previously resisted the call to take the harbour into public ownership. It is clear to me that the cabinet secretary has undertaken a significant amount of work. She took the decision in principle that it was acceptable to bring the harbour into public ownership and has ensured that negotiations have got to this point.

I appreciate that we are coming to the end of the parliamentary session, but it would be helpful if you could provide us with more information about that, because we know from previous experience that that support is often not in place.

I also have a question about victim notification, which relates to some of the issues that Pauline McNeill explored with regard to the complexity of the system and the fact that victims—and others who have been impacted by the offender’s behaviour—need to rely on the information that they have. They are often very aware of what they understand is going to happen. The proposed releases will move the goalposts, because the release dates are changing. I understand your point that people do not understand how sentencing works, but what work is being done to ensure that not only victims, but others who might be impacted, will be aware of the changes?

I understand all the points that you are making, but there were very few notifications about the previous early releases, because very few of the victims were registered. From the figures that you have given, it looks as though we will be in a similar position again. I do not know whether Linda Pollock wants to come in.

I welcome that.

Is it fair to say that, again, that is work for the future? With regard to the proposed releases that we are considering today, from the figures that you have given, the reality is that most of the victims will not be registered. Is that a fair point?

The figures that have been provided suggest that there is currently a very low level of registration. Is that a fair point?