Chamber and committees

We welcome the announcement of regulations to enable GPS technology for home detention curfew, but regulations have been in place for a number of years to allow GPS when an accused is on bail and the systems are still not in place to enable that to happen. Has the cabinet secretary now given instructions for the private company to carry out the work that is needed for GPS to be used, which we have for some time been calling for?

We welcome the extra £14 million for community justice, but the Criminal Justice Committee was told yesterday that that covers only the effect of inflation.

We now know that only five victims were informed in relation to the 477 releases over the summer, and the reoffending rate was 12 per cent. When the cabinet secretary announced the early release scheme, I asked her to exclude violent offenders, given the lack of appropriate systems of support and planning, the lack of victim notification and the higher risk from that particular group of prisoners. What lessons has she learned, and what consideration is she giving to prioritising offenders who have been convicted of non-violent offences?

On a number of occasions, the Parliament has been persuaded to extend the time limits in criminal cases—which means that many accused spend longer on remand. With regard to the emergency provisions, is the Lord Advocate confident that such longer time limits will be required in all cases? For the longer term, how confident is she that we can reduce the length of time that individuals spend on remand? What can the prosecution services do to support that by speedily preparing cases?

Yes, I would be happy to—I can imagine what it might concern.

I understand that there is work going on regarding that issue, but I would point out to the member that I am not the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I make representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, however, and I know that Scottish Labour is fighting to ensure that as much as possible is done to make progress as quickly as possible.

Colleagues will be aware that Unite the union has launched its no ban without a plan campaign, which calls for new jobs to be commensurate with current workers’ roles. We need pay protection and training to allow workers to transition to the jobs of the future.

The experience of working people in the past has been of unjust transitions, and they have no reason to believe that it will be different this time. If we allow Grangemouth to close, the situation will be looked at again by working people to see whether warm words have become a reality. In many ways, the closure of Grangemouth is not just about climate change—there are far wider issues there—but we need to build support for the actions that are needed to reduce our carbon emissions. That has cost implications, and such actions need the support of all the community.

We cannot continue with the economy being at the mercy of corporate profiteering, which dramatically increases people’s energy bills. We need to move to a system of greener, cleaner energy at a price that we can all afford, and we need a strategy that gets the support of the whole population for the changes that we need to make. We are seeing the devastating effects of climate change across the world and, increasingly, we are beginning to see that in our own country. We must do more, we must do it collectively, and we cannot wait longer for real action to be taken.

The opening of the new women’s custody units was very welcome. Last year, the Bella centre was at 50 per cent occupancy, and the Lilias centre was at 33 per cent occupancy. However, in February this year, the cabinet secretary told me that the assessment criteria had been reviewed and that there had been an increase to two thirds occupancy. Are those units now being fully used? Does the cabinet secretary agree that it is important that those facilities are fully utilised?

[Made a request to intervene.]

I am grateful to all the members who signed the motion to enable the debate to take place.

Ardrossan has been the main ferry port for services to Arran for 190 years, because the Ardrossan to Brodick route is the shortest, quickest and most convenient way to get to and from Arran for most people. Infrastructure has been built around the port at Ardrossan, including transport infrastructure such as railway links, and the town’s economy is heavily dependent on the ferry route.

Eight years ago next month, MSPs and local councillors from various political parties joined members of the public and businesses to demonstrate fierce backing for retaining the Ardrossan to Brodick ferry route. The keep it A to B campaign was launched in response to the announcement by Humza Yousaf, then the Minister for Transport and the Islands, that there would be a wide-ranging feasibility study to examine the future of the Arran route, following a bid to remove the service from Ardrossan and give it to Troon. The study looked at the options under four broad pillars: connectivity, reliability, overall operational cost and socioeconomic considerations. After all the evidence was considered, the decision was taken to retain Ardrossan as the main land port for the Arran ferry service, as that was clearly the best option.

Fast forward to now, eight years after the launch of the keep it A to B campaign, and local residents, businesses and groups in Arran and Ardrossan still do not have any certainty that their lifeline ferry service will continue from Ardrossan harbour, due to the disastrous failure to commence the work at Ardrossan.

The two new ferries, the MV Glen Sannox and the MV Glen Rosa, should have come into service in 2018 and 2019. Despite both ferries being delayed for more than five years, the harbour work has not started and there has been no tender process to ascertain costs. The Scottish Government decided to commission the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa with a design that required the reconfiguration and upgrading of Ardrossan harbour to enable the vessels to berth. It knew that the infrastructure in terms of ports and fuel was not in place. The commissioning decision meant that decisions had to be made about the future of the port. The port is owned by Peel Ports, and it was obvious to those with experience of that owner that there might be problems with coming to a decision that it would agree with. Now, despite the ferries being more than five years late, no work has started at Ardrossan.

The delay of the two ferries has already cost the local economy millions of pounds on the island of Arran, which is heavily dependent on tourism. In Ardrossan, which has some of the most beautiful beaches and views along our coast, we suffer from some of the worst deprivation in North Ayrshire, and moving the ferry service would surely tear the heart out of the town.

The Glen Sannox started berthing trials at Brodick this week, and I hope that a service from there will start later this year, but it will not be going to Ardrossan—it has been rerouted to Troon—and there is real concern that the ferry service will never come back to Ardrossan.

Last night, more than 340 people—residents, those in businesses and other supporters—met in the Ardrossan civic centre for the inaugural meeting to launch the save Ardrossan harbour campaign. Many more were unable to get into the room. It feels like groundhog day. Eight years on from the keep it A to B campaign and eight years on from the argument being won on Ardrossan, local people still cannot get a cast-iron commitment from the Scottish Government that the Arran ferry service will keep operating out of Ardrossan in the future.

It has also been six years since Transport Scotland approved proposals to redevelop Ardrossan harbour. Constituents rightly feel angry and frustrated. You could not make this up. We have had enough time wasting and enough excuses. I have no doubt that the work would have been completed by now if the port had been brought into public ownership, which is why Labour has been calling for that to happen for a number of years. The future of Ardrossan as a ferry port, with integrated ScotRail train services, must be preserved. We must get that commitment from the Scottish Government.

I am glad to take an intervention from the local member.

As the member is well aware, this is a devolved matter. As he also knows, the Labour group in North Ayrshire Council asked for a number of years to be allowed to take the port into municipal ownership because of the horrific impact on the local economy of the delay to the redevelopment of Ardrossan harbour.

The lack of investment in Ardrossan harbour and in our ageing ferry fleet is a national emergency. It has been a national embarrassment for the Scottish Government, and it has been a disaster for businesses and residents in Ardrossan and on Arran.

My constituents in Ardrossan and Arran deserve an apology. They deserve a Scottish Government commitment to provide an adequate support package to cover the cost of the delays. They deserve a reliable ferry service on the fastest route—one that they can count on. Most of all, they deserve a cast-iron commitment from the Scottish Government that Ardrossan is the preferred route for the Arran service and a guarantee that the much-needed works to the harbour will get under way as soon as possible. I sincerely hope that the minister can give my constituents that commitment and guarantee today.

I hope that the minister is going to come on to the issue that we are debating today, which is Ardrossan harbour. We are in a position where Ardrossan harbour is going to lose its ferry service completely. I hope that the minister will have time to respond fully to the issues that have been raised about that.