Chamber and committees

Would any other witness like to come in on the specific point about the impact of policies such as decriminalisation on the number of problem drug users in Scotland—whether it is likely to decrease or increase the numbers or to have no impact? What are the implications for organised crime through the drugs trade?

When I spoke, I referred to the requirement for all organisations that are seeking public sector grants to pay the living wage, and I strongly support that the Scottish Government took that step. Is it looking at what further measures can be used through procurement and the award of grants to ensure that other ethical practices are adhered to, including trade union membership?

I have a clarification query for Kirsten Horsburgh. A lot of the drugs come from places such as Afghanistan and Colombia. What do you mean by regulation?

I direct my question to Paul Traynor, in the first instance. Witnesses have argued that eligibility for the young carer grant should be extended to 19-year-olds. I understand that the Scottish Government is considering that. Is that a change that needs to be prioritised? If so, why?

My question is for Emma Congreve. In your submission, in relation to child poverty, you state:

“we need to see much more focus on delivery of policies that have an evidenced route towards realising the targets, rather small allocations in different pockets which will not make a demonstrable difference.”

Will you explain in more detail how the Scottish Government should do this? Is there a danger that that approach might focus on policies that are easy to measure rather than on potentially more impactful policies that are difficult to measure?

Will you say more on the first part of the question, about focusing more on an “evidenced route”? What does that mean for the Scottish Government?

Thank you.

I am pleased to close the debate on behalf of Scottish Labour. I thank my colleagues on the Criminal Justice Committee for bringing this important issue to the chamber, and I welcome the wide-ranging and cross-party nature of the discussion.

The committee’s convener and many others have outlined the increasing scale of the problem and the levels of online child abuse and grooming. As Audrey Nicoll said, a number of witnesses gave evidence to the committee on the need to develop a sexual harms strategy.

We all know that young people use social and digital media as a part of almost every aspect of their lives, and that has led to predators exploiting and taking advantage of children. For that reason, Scottish Labour included questions on online crime and on young women and sexual harassment as part of our consultation on fighting violence against women and girls. We hope to report on that work later this year.

Sharon Dowey spoke clearly about not just the scale of the problem but the difficulties that parents face in dealing with the wide range of cyberthreats and the many forms that online child abuse takes. She also highlighted the lack of data. Martin Whitfield spoke about the importance of discussions on the issue taking place in both the home and education settings. Pauline McNeill spoke about the ever-changing nature of both the technology involved and the behaviour of predators, which reinforces the point that parents often are not adequately equipped to deal with these difficult challenges. Pauline McNeill also spoke about the scale of self-generated content from very young children, in the age range of seven to 10 years. Ruth Maguire spoke powerfully about how simple steps, such as not allowing certain websites to use financial payment methods such as Mastercard and Visa, can have a massive impact.

The National Crime Agency estimates that, across the UK, there are likely to be between 550,000 and 850,000 people who pose varying degrees of sexual risk to children. That sets out the potential scale of the problem.

Rona Mackay spoke about the Online Safety Bill. I agree with her about its inadequacies, but we need to keep under review how that legislation is used. We need to come to a view on what further legislation is needed as well as do everything that we can to ensure that that legislation is used to its full capacity.

I am pleased that Liam Kerr focused on the role of education in online safety, which can equip children to know the risks and educate adults, whether they are parents, carers or others.

This whole debate links very closely to the debate around violence against women and girls and, indeed, around misogyny and violence in schools. It is clear that the current legislative framework is inadequate, and that the way we are dealing with those problems across government and the public sector is woefully inadequate. I say that on a cross-party basis, as I do not think that anybody has all the answers. It is the nature of the debate that the solutions are far from simple.

In an intervention, Kate Forbes referred to the normalisation of violence against women and girls. Research by the University and College Union and the University of Kent found that the sending and receiving of unsolicited sexual images is becoming “dangerously normalised”. We need a genuinely national, joined-up strategy to address all the points that have been made in the debate, and I think we can genuinely say that there has been a cross-party consensus, both regarding the scale of the problem and regarding the number of actions that are needed to tackle disturbing behaviours from those who are targeting children and that are needed to protect children and young people online. Indeed, those threats do not stop when young people reach an older age; they still exist for many in society. It is also a matter of ensuring that parents and carers are fully educated and informed of the risks and dangers.

Today’s debate must not just be about paying lip service to the issue. I hope that it will form part of a continuing discussion that enables us to develop a strategy to address the scale of the challenge and make the issue a thing of the past.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the procurement process for the upgrade of Ardrossan harbour. (S6O-02548)

As the minister will appreciate, there has already been six years of delay while terms were negotiated with Peel Ports. The decision has a massive impact on Ardrossan and on the Arran ferry route. Will the minister ensure that the Parliament is kept closely advised of developments, and will she use her office to ensure that we can have a full debate in the Parliament as soon as possible on the timetable, the costs and the implications for the local economy?