Chamber and committees

Responses to freedom of information requests show that about 45 per cent of the fire service estate is assessed as being in a poor or bad condition, and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chief officer cited a £630 million backlog in the service’s capital budget. Will the Scottish Government commit to an emergency funding package for the fire service?

I welcome this opportunity to raise issues in the chamber relating to women prisoners in Scotland and to express my thanks to members who have signed the motion to enable the debate to take place.

My motion refers to the closure of Cornton Vale women’s prison and the opening of the smaller HMP Stirling for women. Of course, historically, Cornton Vale housed all of Scotland’s women prisoners, but there are now a number of prisons with women’s wings across Scotland. Cornton Vale closed earlier this year, with women’s prisoners being transferred to other establishments.

The 2012 review by former Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini described conditions at Cornton Vale prison as “antediluvian” and “appalling”. Recently, members of the Criminal Justice Committee visited the new Stirling prison and we were impressed by what we saw. The original proposal in the Angiolini review was for there to be a smaller number of units for women across Scotland, with a greater focus on support and rehabilitation. Last year, two custody units were opened—one with 24 places for women, in Maryhill in Glasgow, and one with 16 places for women, in Dundee. We are advised that those new facilities have been occupied, at best, at only 52 per cent capacity since opening, and representations have been made to the Scottish Government to ask that the criteria for admission be expanded. We understand that the Scottish Prison Service is looking at the issue and I would be grateful for an update on that from the minister today. I am sure that the minister will agree that we would wish these new state-of-the-art facilities at Stirling, Dundee and Maryhill to be fully utilised.

I am grateful to Michael Marra for his intervention and welcome the fact that he has already paid a visit to the Bella centre. I agree that we must look closely at what happens there. A huge amount of public money has been invested in those facilities, which have been established as a result of work that has been carried out over many years and as a result of recommendations in the 2012 report that I referred to earlier. Therefore, as well as reviewing what happens in those places, we need to ensure that they are fully utilised and that all the places are made available to the women who can benefit from them.

The Scottish Government’s stated intention is to transition towards a trauma-informed approach to justice, and I support that evidence-based approach, particularly in relation to women offenders. However, I have to say that I am concerned about the gulf between policy and practice.

The closure of Cornton Vale gives us a good opportunity to reflect on women’s offending, how we deal with that as a society and the patterns of sentencing. I have to say that the Scottish Government’s policy on women offenders is very similar to the one that was adopted by Scottish Labour in Government. That was quite a number of years ago, so I think that we need to reflect on why it has been so difficult to deliver in practice the policy that politicians have set out.

We know that women make up a small percentage of the overall prison population, but, proportionally, Scotland has one of the largest female prison populations in Europe. There are approximately 300 women in custody in Scotland, and the numbers seem to be increasing. We also know from Scottish prison statistics that that is not because women in Scotland are committing more violent offences than women in other countries, but because Scotland has a different approach to women’s offending.

It has been announced that fire appliances will be withdrawn temporarily from Greenock fire station and nine other stations across Scotland. The Scottish Fire and Rescue service estimates that it needs to make £36 million in cuts. Surely the current wildfires show that we need to build resilience in our fire service, not cut it.

I will ask about workplace issues. We previously heard a lot of evidence about the difficulties with recruitment and retention that are linked to pay and conditions and, indeed, even to the remuneration of those who are running small—[Inaudible.]. Today, we have heard further evidence on some of the other financial struggles that the sector faces. What do you think the Scottish Government do about that?

On the point that Beverley is making, which she covered in the First 4 Kids submission, does she have any proposals for how some of those ideas could be taken forward—in relation to people who are working in childcare also having roles as classroom assistants, for example? Does she have any practical suggestions about that?

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests.

I thank Mark Ruskell for bringing this debate to the chamber and for highlighting in his motion the role of buses in tackling the climate emergency. We need to deliver a modal shift from cars and planes to public transport such as buses. However, as I am sure Mark Ruskell agrees, our current efforts to do that are inadequate. Graham Simpson has spoken about the limited bus services that are available in many parts of Scotland, and he mentioned the local campaigns throughout the country for better bus services. We need to encourage people to use buses, and the Scottish Government needs to do more to promote the use of the existing bus network.

I fully agree with the spirit of the motion and with Mark Ruskell’s speech. We need an affordable, reliable public bus service that tackles inequalities, supports the economy and helps to deliver Scotland’s climate aims.

The motion focuses on the community transport pilots that have been introduced and on bus passes for young people, which, of course, I warmly welcome, as I welcome all the other initiatives that have been introduced to encourage bus use. However, we need to be more ambitious and we must encourage the use of buses and significantly expand our bus network if we are to make buses the choice that people make.

Our current model is broken. Since the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government deregulated buses, we have been left with an expensive, unreliable, fragmented and dysfunctional bus system that is slowly following apart. The Scottish Government seems to accept that the privatisation of rail did not work—although I note what John Mason said—so it is not clear why it thinks that a privatised model works better for buses. It may well be that the minister agrees with me on that point. I believe that this debate is not just about public interest; it is also about public sector ownership and control.

Between 1995 and 2020, fares rose by 58 per cent in real terms, and, since 2007, we have seen a 52 per cent reduction in bus journeys. Those are long-term trends that we are dealing with. As we all know, private operators throughout Scotland are cutting lifeline bus services—every MSP will know of examples of that in their local area. In North Ayrshire, services have been cut from the Garnock valley to Glasgow and from Irvine and the three towns, with the use of transport hubs at Prestwick, Irvine and Kilmarnock, which is significantly increasing transport times.

We need the Scottish Government to come forward with a plan to significantly expand the bus network. I believe that that includes capping fares to encourage people to use buses, and it also involves bringing buses under local control by enabling the expansion of the municipal provision of bus services—I say to John Mason that I do not believe that it is a coincidence that Lothian Buses is considered to provide the best-value service in Scotland.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 gives the power to local authorities and transport authorities to set up municipal bus companies, but we now need the regulation to enable such municipal bus companies to become a reality.

It is true to say that we need more resources—we need to find a range of ways to increase funding—but I think that the point that has been made about conditionality highlights the fact that the significant investment that the Scottish Government has made in the privatised bus network has not always represented the best use of public funds.

I very much look forward to the further contributions to this debate.

There have now been a number of cases in relation to which there been huge public concern about the sentences given to offenders convicted of rape and in which the judge has said that the sentence was significantly reduced due to the young persons sentencing guideline. Given that the guideline was introduced and has created a significant change without the involvement of Parliament, will the cabinet secretary do what she can to ensure that there is a debate on the impact of the guideline in Government time?

Does the cabinet secretary accept that it is the Scottish Government’s responsibility to clear up this mess? It is not the fault of the excellent workforce at Ferguson Marine or, indeed, that of the people of Inverclyde. Will the cabinet secretary provide a timescale for potential future ferry contracts after 801 and 802?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will initiate an independent review into the use of surgical mesh products within NHS Scotland. (S6O-02306)