The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 495 contributions
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 16 March 2022
Katy Clark
All in this chamber know the statistics that say that Scotland has by far the highest drug death rates recorded anywhere in Europe, and that last year there was a record number of deaths for the seventh year in a row. The number of drug-related deaths is now almost three times higher than it was a decade ago, but we discuss the problem as if it is new.
We have been here before. Damning reports are published, strategies are announced, working groups are established and recommendations are made. As Alex Cole-Hamilton said, the problem is implementation.
The cabinet secretary is correct to say that a trauma-informed and person-centred approach is not a soft option and that individuals must be treated with respect. As Claire Baker, Maggie Chapman and many others have said, we need a public health approach.
It is right that we question why Scotland has the highest drug death rate in Europe. It is clear that tackling substance use will require policies that address poverty, deprivation and Scotland’s wider health inequalities, which Carol Mochan spoke about. As Elena Whitham said, we know that people with serious drug addictions often also have mental health issues. More often than not, they have also experienced trauma. Many of them have faced grinding poverty and the knock-on effects of a lack of hope or aspiration for a decent future. Scotland has almost 60,000 people with a drug problem, and every person with a drug problem has many friends and relatives who are also affected by that drug use.
We need to listen to what the experts are saying. Many members have highlighted the action that needs to be taken. Audrey Nicoll spoke about the work of the Criminal Justice Committee and the need for alternatives to custody. Annie Wells spoke about the importance of access to rehabilitation. We simply do not have enough people in treatment. Scotland has only about 40 per cent of people in treatment at any one time, whereas the figure in England, for example, is 60 per cent.
There is a clear link between drug taking and committing offences. In the past 10 years, the percentage of people testing positive for illegal drugs on entering prison has ranged between 70 and 78 per cent. As Michael Marra discussed, new psychoactive substances have become an increasing problem, and many believe that they are now dominant in prisons. We know that drug use continues to be a significant problem in prisons. The latest drugs survey, which Michael Marra also referred to, identified that about two fifths of people had used illicit drugs in prison at some point.
As a number of speakers highlighted, there is a lack of support in prison. Prisoners need support to come off drugs—support that must continue when they are released, as Stuart McMillan said. Back in April 2020, the Drug Deaths Taskforce recommended that there should be
“adequate throughcare provision ... available to prisoners on liberation”.
We all accept that those who leave prison and are relocated in communities are not receiving throughcare in the numbers required. It is important to address not only the risk of death from overdose in prison but the risks in the months after prisoners leave custody.
We know that we face major challenges that will only be addressed with policies that are underpinned by sufficient investment. We also know that prison is more expensive than the alternatives to custody, but Scotland continues to send the highest number of people to prison in western Europe.
I believe that the Scottish Government has many of its policies in this area in the right place, but that it simply has not been implementing those policies. It has the support of Scottish Labour to implement them. If the disconnect between what is said in the chamber and what actually happens in reality in the justice system was addressed, that would make a massive difference to thousands of people in the prison system and to many more in communities up and down Scotland.
16:54Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 16 March 2022
Katy Clark
Will the cabinet secretary explain why Scotland has the highest proportion of prisoners and people on remand in western Europe?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 9 March 2022
Katy Clark
The debate is about the fundamental relationship between the individual and the state and about whether Governments and public institutions have a duty of transparency and honesty to those who are affected when something goes wrong. It is also about whether the families of those who have died have a right to information and to know the truth, and it is about the equality of arms between the individual and the state in any legal proceedings that look at what has gone wrong. The debate is not about undermining front-line staff who provide public services but about the rights of families when there are state-linked deaths, whether that be in the NHS or any other sector.
I will refer to a few recent deaths in custody that are relevant to the debate. Katie Allan was a third-year student at the University of Glasgow from East Renfrewshire who died in Polmont in 2018, and we still await a fatal accident inquiry. She was sentenced for drink driving and died by suicide after a catalogue of failures. Warnings that she was vulnerable were not heeded.
Allan Marshall also died in custody. The sheriff said that his death was entirely preventable and that guards involved in his death were “mutually and consistently dishonest.”
We hope that the fatal accident inquiry in the case of Sheku Bayoh will go ahead later this year. Again, that involves the state and the actions of the police force.
The Parliament has discussed death in custody in the past, and it has made attempts to improve fatal accident inquiries. I was not involved in those discussions, but I know that the average time between death and a fatal accident inquiry was 509 days on average between 2005 and 2008 whereas, since the 2016 legislation, the length of time has actually increased. It is clear that the issues need to be considered again.
The proposal that is before us calls for a charter for families who have been bereaved through public tragedy, which would be binding on all public bodies. It asks for improved access to legal advice and assistance so that bereaved families can take part in public inquiries. It asks for evidence from public inquiries to be taken into account in criminal trials. It asks for an extension of the duty of candour to bodies such as the police.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 9 March 2022
Katy Clark
The member raises an important point, which I do not have time to come back to in detail in this debate, but I hope that we will be able to explore it on another occasion.
The demands are not just being made in Scotland. Recently, Lord Rosser’s amendment to introduce a duty of candour into the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was passed in the House of Lords. Such demands are being campaigned for throughout the UK, partly spearheaded by the Hillsborough campaigners, who have been campaigning for rights because of their treatment. The demands are also being backed by those who have campaigned for nuclear test veterans and victims of the Grenfell fire and of the Manchester arena bombing, and by those involved in many other campaigns.
In 2017, the Angiolini review of serious incidents and deaths in custody called for non-means-tested funding for families immediately after a state-related—
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 9 March 2022
Katy Clark
I very much hope that the Parliament will look sympathetically on the motion.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 8 March 2022
Katy Clark
It is a pleasure to make this closing speech on behalf of the Scottish Labour Party and associate myself with the solidarity with women and girls around the world that the First Minister and other members have expressed.
This is a day to celebrate the achievements of women against the backdrop of centuries of oppression. It is a day for sisterhood. I welcome the speeches from women MSPs who have spoken of the systematic discrimination against women in Scotland and throughout the world. I also welcome the speeches from men who spoke of the actions that men must take.
My colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy highlighted the specific challenges for disabled women. Kaukab Stewart, Foysol Choudhury and Pam Gosal spoke of the challenges that women from black and ethnic minority backgrounds face. Ruth Maguire and Gillian Martin spoke eloquently of the horrific situation of women in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen and many other countries. Rona Mackay and Christine Grahame spoke of the struggles and strength of women in working-class communities over many generations and confirmed again that education will be the liberation for women.
International women’s day was created by working-class women fighting for their rights. In 1908, women in the needle trades demonstrated in New York to form their own trade union for better pay, shorter working hours and the right to vote. The fights of women in the United States reached Europe and inspired socialist women, such as Clara Zetkin, who suggested the creation of an international day for women. In 1975, the United Nations made that an official day, and this year’s theme, #BreakTheBias, asks us to imagine a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.
This Parliament has a good record when it comes to improving women’s representation in Scotland, although, as we all know, there is still a long way to go. More women have been elected to this Parliament since 1999 than have been elected to Westminster since 1918. Forty five per cent of members of the Scottish Parliament are women, which of course means that women are still underrepresented in this chamber. Even more needs to be done at council level, for example.
We have heard from members of all political parties, who talked about many aspects of women’s lives. We heard about women’s health and women’s achievements in sport and many other fields.
There were many expressions of solidarity with women in Ukraine. Of course, it is women who bear the brunt of violence, including sexual violence, in war. It is right that we also express solidarity with the people in Russia who are protesting against the war, many thousands of whom have been arrested—even children have been arrested.
The challenges for women are challenges for humanity. We have to recognise that the position of women in the UK has worsened, due to the pandemic. The World Economic Forum says that the time that is needed to close the global gender gap has increased from 99.5 years to 135.6 years, due to the pandemic. It is not necessarily the case that the position of women and girls in society continues to get better. What we heard about Afghanistan reinforces that.
Austerity, too, has had a disproportionate impact on women. I ask politicians in all political parties to think about that when they make the political decisions that have an impact on communities.
We know that there is a growing rape culture in schools and that new technology has created a new range of pressures on girls and young women. In Scotland, 40 per cent of the sexual crimes that are recorded by the police relate to a victim who is under 18 years old. The Labour Party has strongly welcomed the report from Helena Kennedy and the proposal that misogyny be made an aggravating factor in criminal cases.
I am a member of the Criminal Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament, which has heard repeatedly from victims about the retraumatising effect on women of going through the criminal justice system in cases of rape, attempted rape and other forms of sexual violence. We look forward to the recommendations in Lady Dorrian’s report being implemented during this parliamentary session.
International women’s day was created as a day on which to fight for women’s rights. It has changed over the years, with a far greater range of organisations involved and a far greater range of events taking place. The fact that a whole afternoon is dedicated to this debate, with speeches from members of all political parties, demonstrates that change.
Fundamentally, this is a day on which to celebrate the struggles of women and the fight of women and girls against the challenges and discrimination that we face. It is a day on which we can refocus ourselves, not just on the massive challenges that women and girls face but, more important, on what we all need to do as we fight collectively to ensure that historical oppressions become a matter for history, so that we go forward, united as sisters, with the rights that mean that such oppression is discussed in history classes but does not need to be discussed weekly in chambers such as this one.
16:34Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 3 March 2022
Katy Clark
Has the cabinet secretary been provided with a breakdown of the kind of offences that those who are involved have been convicted of? For example, does he know how many sexual offenders are involved in the cases, and has he been advised of the potential implications of the errors in those cases?
It sounds as though the work will be resource intensive at a time when the legal system is already under massive pressure. What information has the cabinet secretary been provided with by the various agencies about the work that will likely be involved?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 23 February 2022
Katy Clark
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent reports of the third successful civil damages case for rape, whether it will review the reasons why these cases were not prosecuted in the criminal courts. (S6O-00760)
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 23 February 2022
Katy Clark
The standard of proof is obviously different in civil cases, but does the Solicitor General agree that, as a matter of policy, there should be a review of all case papers where a civil case is successful? Could she outline the policy on allowing private prosecutions? According to media reports, one of the women who is concerned is considering that course of action.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Meeting date: 9 February 2022
Katy Clark
I, too, welcome the Scottish Government’s announcement that it will consult women on their safety on public transport. Last week, the Scottish Women’s Convention and Inclusion Scotland wrote to the First Minister expressing “grave concerns” about the proposals to close three station booking offices completely and cut hours in 117 further stations.
In a recent survey, 45 per cent of women transport workers said that they had prevented the sexual harassment of passengers in the past five years. Does the minister agree that cutting staff in train stations will deter women from using the railways? Will she agree to a full debate in the Parliament on women’s safety on public transport?