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.

It is believed that almost 800 Iranians have been killed because of the missile and air strikes undertaken by the United States and Israel. Those strikes are clearly in defiance of international law. They have inflamed regional tensions and there has been loss of life and damage in other countries across the middle east. Will the cabinet secretary outline whether the Scottish Government has made any representations to the US consulate in Edinburgh in relation to concerns that international law has not been followed by the US? Does he think that that kind of action would be appropriate?

After a strong local campaign, in 2017, the Scottish Government announced that the Ardrossan to Brodick route would continue and that a redevelopment of Ardrossan harbour was needed. I welcome the announcement today but, given that we are nine years on, the cabinet secretary will appreciate that local people want to know when the port will be fully operational again. Can the cabinet secretary therefore advise when the work that is needed to start a tendering process is likely to start and be completed, when redevelopment work is likely to start and when the harbour redevelopment could be finished to allow the new ferries to operate?

I am pleased to speak in the debate on behalf of Scottish Labour. As a member of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, I was involved in the bill’s scrutiny. I thank my colleagues on the committee for their work throughout the process and the stakeholders who engaged with us during our evidence sessions.

The bill seeks to modernise Scots contract law by introducing a statutory set of default rules on contract formation and remedies for breach. Its provisions came in response to recommendations from the Scottish Law Commission, which concluded that certain parts of the current regime may be unclear for many people in that no single piece of legislation covers the topic.

The bill aims to improve certainty and accessibility in this area of law, and it is hoped that there will be no unintended consequences. As has been mentioned by those who have spoken so far, the vast majority of those who have given evidence, supported the bill on the grounds that it would make things simpler for laypeople.

Among the bill’s provisions is the abolition of the postal acceptance rule, which provides that a contract is formed when an acceptance of an offer is put in the post, as opposed to when it is received. When I spoke in support of the bill at stage 1, I welcomed that this change would allow the law to reflect the role that current communication technologies play. However, I must also say that—the committee discussed this—we simply cannot rely on the Royal Mail as perhaps we once could in previous decades, particularly before it was privatised.

The bill also allows far greater flexibility by allowing parties to contract out of the proposed rules that are set out in it. The bill does not represent a radical departure from, or a total transformation of, the current common law regime. It simply aims to codify what is believed to be the current law.

The bill does not deal with various aspects of contract law, including the law on the interpretation of contracts or the law on penalty clauses.

At stage 1, I highlighted that there had been a great deal of consensus on the bill’s provisions, and its proposals continue to receive broad support from legal academics and business groups. As has been said, the Law Society of Scotland has welcomed the bill and believes that it will improve the law’s accessibility for a range of users. The reforms are expected to improve access to justice by enabling users who might lack a high degree of familiarity with contractual agreements to set terms that are best suited to their needs with relative ease and without reference to case law or commentary. It was also said in the discussion around the bill that it might mean that Scots law is more attractive internationally.

The main substantive amendment to the bill at stage 2 was the insertion of a section on contractual retention, which clarified when and on what terms a party to a contract can utilise retention as a remedy. The bill as amended confirms that a party to a contract can

“temporarily withhold or suspend performance of an obligation that is due to be performed under the contract”

in the event of a breach by the other party, in anticipation of such a breach or

“in relation to an obligation subsisting when the contract is ended ... as a result of”

either a

“breach or an anticipatory breach.”

We welcome that change to the bill, as we believe that it serves to make general provisions of the law more accessible to individuals and small businesses. As the Law Society of Scotland has stated, such a remedy should be

“available in a flexible manner to facilitate more complex transactions and contractual arrangements that Scottish financial institutions (and other large Scottish business entities) are routinely party to.”

Scottish Labour will support the bill at stage 3, as we believe that it represents a careful, considered and proportionate step towards modernising Scots contract law. We hope that the Scottish Government will work closely with legal practitioners, businesses and advice services to ensure that the new statutory framework is well understood and smoothly implemented, with clear guidance, effective communications and on-going review. I thank everybody who has been involved in what has been a very uncontroversial piece of legislation, which I hope is successful in passing today.

::In the past decade, North Ayrshire Council has made cuts of more than £90 million to local services. Last week, residents were notified that the local health and social care partnership is consulting on cuts to social care, with one option being to restrict social care to people who are assessed as being at critical risk. Will the cabinet secretary intervene to provide fair and sustainable funding for North Ayrshire Council so that social care and other local services are protected from further cuts?

::To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that local authorities receive fair and sustainable funding settlements. (S6O-05561)