Chamber and committees

I hear the concern that the member puts across about men accessing women’s spaces and causing harm, but I seek some clarity from members on the Conservative benches. We heard from Murdo Fraser the idea that trans people should have a third, separate space rather than using the single-sex space that aligns with their gender. He seems to be suggesting that that should apply even if the person has a gender recognition certificate. Can I get some clarity from Roz McCall on whether she supports trans people accessing single-sex spaces?

Will the member take an intervention?

I thank Audrey Nicoll for lodging tonight’s motion on international women’s day and note this year’s theme, which is accelerate action to address the barriers that women face.

The barrier that I will speak about is the current postcode lottery regarding paid maternity leave in UK fire and rescue services. Members will be aware that I recently lodged a motion in Parliament to commend the Fire Brigades Union for its fight for 52 campaign to extend maternity leave across the service to 12 months on full pay. Arrangements across the UK are inconsistent at the moment, with different services offering different arrangements. I ask all members to add their support to that motion.

I note the FBU’s strong history of campaigning on maternity rights, which did not begin just with the launch of that campaign a few years ago. As far back as 1981, the union was resisting efforts to reduce maternity leave, pay and rights and has continued campaigning and fighting for those rights since then, culminating in that important campaign for 52 weeks of mat leave on full pay. If we are serious about women in the workplace—including those in the fire service—that campaign is important and the issue must be addressed.

In its campaign, the union highlights a number of reasons why the campaign is so important, including occupational hazards in the workplace and issues with recruitment, retention and inclusion. Members will be well aware of the occupational hazards and the risks to firefighters, and might also be aware that the FBU commissioned a report into the risks from contaminants. Maggie Chapman has been a strong and vocal advocate in Parliament on that issue.

Exposure to those hazards carries additional risks for a woman who is pregnant. One study showed that almost a quarter of first pregnancies for female firefighters in the United States ended in miscarriage, compared with just 10 per cent of pregnancies in the wider US population. The research suggests that exposing a pregnant woman to contaminants affects the health of the fetus and that the risk continues after birth, during nursing, when contaminants have an impact via breast milk.

On those grounds, it is important that women in the fire service are granted 52 weeks of paid paternity leave, which will also deal with issues in recruitment, retention and inclusion. Women have been working as operational firefighters since the early 1980s. The numbers who are employed have improved slowly, but they are still a minority. Tackling the issue of paid maternity leave would go a long way. The Fire Brigades Union believes, and I believe, in tackling recruitment, retention and inclusion.

I can see that my time is up—four minutes goes quickly. To conclude, I am sure that the minister will agree and accept that a lack of maternity provision is a barrier to work, and that includes working in the fire service. I therefore ask whether she will raise the FBU’s campaign for full pay for 52 weeks of maternity leave with her shadow cabinet colleagues.

Ash Regan referred to a number of today’s speeches that she said were good—one of which was Murdo Fraser’s. Murdo Fraser proposed that transgender people be asked to use a new alternative third space, rather than using the single-sex space that aligns to their gender. Does she support that proposal?

New renewable energy developments across north-east Scotland are crucial for Scotland and for the UK if we want to decarbonise our energy supply and ensure that we meet Labour’s goal of making the UK a clean energy superpower by 2030.

However, the developments must have the informed consent and support of the communities in which they are built. A best-case example is Aberdeen Community Energy’s Donside hydro, which was established and is owned and run by the local community to generate clean electricity for nearby homes. How is the Scottish Government working to promote community ownership and control of new renewable energy?

Protecting our environment and communities from pollution and waste should be a priority of the Scottish Government. The waste management hierarchy lays out how waste should be prevented first of all, then reused, recycled, recovered and only then disposed of. Energy from waste incinerators should be the last step before disposal. During the passage of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Labour fought for a legal requirement to adhere to the waste management hierarchy, but how is the Scottish Government working to ensure that that hierarchy is followed in managing Scotland’s waste?

According to NatureScot, an objective of deer management is to provide

“a valuable and sustainable food source”.

It is therefore welcome news that, on Jura, Argyll and Bute Council has announced a new initiative to put wild venison on the school menu. What action is the Scottish Government taking to normalise the consumption of venison in Scotland and to bring to Scotland’s food supply chain more of the culled deer?

When the Scottish Government consulted on its proposals for land reform, we were told:

“The Bill will be ambitious. It will address long-standing concerns about the highly concentrated pattern of land ownership in rural areas of Scotland.”

However, the Government’s bill defines large landholdings as those of more than 3,000 hectares, which is nearly three and a half times the size of Glasgow city. Even then, that land will be subject to only a transfer test, not a public interest test. My proposed bill would have set a presumed limit of 500 hectares on sales and transfers and would have made transfers over that limit subject to a public interest test. With that in mind, is the cabinet secretary open to reducing the area of land that is defined as a large landholding in the Government’s bill?

Good evening, Presiding Officer, and thank you for calling me to speak in tonight’s debate on compensation for the WASPI women.

I am privileged to represent the North East Scotland region, which is home to Linda Carmichael, who is the WASPI Scotland chair. I am grateful to Linda and the other WASPI delegates for travelling to the Parliament last month and for speaking to me about their campaign for pension justice. I heard from them at first hand about the hardship of needing to find unexpected work to make ends meet and the impact that seeing the retirement for which they had worked so hard slip further and further away has had on their faith in the system. Of course, that has not affected only them. It has meant that they have had less time to spend with their grandchildren and on volunteering, and it has imposed restrictions on their spending, all of which has had an impact on their communities and the local economy.

However, those women to whom I spoke also had hope, and it was clear that, through their work on the campaign, they had found kindred spirits, a strengthened belief in what they could achieve together and a contagious confidence in their cause. That is the power of collective organising, which is a power that is available to us all, whatever our circumstance. I put on record my thanks to every member of the campaign in Scotland and across the UK for their determination and persistence in the face of injustice. I welcome the women in the gallery and say to them how glad we are that they are here.

I know that the WASPI campaigners will not give up, and neither will we, because, as we have heard, women who were born in the 1950s were not properly informed of the rise in their state pension age. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigation found that the Department for Work and Pensions failed to communicate the changes accurately, adequately and in a timely manner, and it concluded that the women affected are owed compensation on the grounds of maladministration by the DWP. That is why it was right for the UK Government to recognise the injustice suffered by those women and to apologise for that maladministration, which has affected hundreds of thousands of women in Scotland and across the UK.

Although the steps that the Government has set out to ensure that that does not happen again are welcome, an apology is simply not enough. That is why I support the motion that my colleague Katy Clark has lodged, which calls on the UK Government to reconsider its decision not to award compensation for women against state pension inequality and to look at options to provide those women with a compensation award. When we speak about the WASPI campaign or the WASPI injustice, we are not talking only about an injustice to 1950s women; we are talking about an injustice to all of us, to our communities and to our society, because the issue is one that affects us all. When the WASPI women win, we will all win.

A number of my constituents in North East Scotland, including in Banff and Buchan, have contacted me with concerns about the impact of local government funding changes on local services. In particular, the issue of library closures in Aberdeenshire has been raised repeatedly with me in response to reports that branches may close due to supposed reduced footfall.

I cannot stress enough to the minister how crucial public libraries are to our communities, and that they must be protected. Does the minister agree that meaningful public consultation is vital before any decisions are taken on library closures?