Chamber and committees

The Supreme Court ruling was clear, and men should not be in women’s prisons. Will the cabinet secretary outline what review mechanisms are in place once an individual is transferred into the female estate? In particular, how are any emerging risks identified and acted on? What criteria would trigger any reassessment or removal from the women’s estate?

This is a subject of considerable importance. When the Government voted down our amendment to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill that would have introduced a grooming gangs inquiry, the cabinet secretary told us that, if we believed that an inquiry into grooming gangs was necessary, we should “go and make the case for one”. We did exactly what she asked. We gathered what evidence we could, and what we found was deeply troubling.

In recent days, the Scottish Information Commissioner has ordered the Scottish Government to release vast amounts of material that it wrongly withheld in relation to the Salmond inquiry. Clearly, the Government has learned nothing from that and is continuing to make the same mistakes—only, now, they touch on the sensitive matter of child sexual exploitation and grooming gangs.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs has repeatedly stated in the chamber that there is no need for an inquiry because the national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group delivers the necessary coverage and oversight. Today’s announcement shows that, in its current format, the strategic group is not up to the job and never was. The Government announced that Alexis Jay will lead a review of complaints—essentially, what we asked for in our amendment that the Government voted down. We need a fresh start. We need a full public inquiry, independent of the Government and of that group. Frankly, we do not believe that anything related to that group will achieve justice for victims.

Our recent freedom of information request on the strategic group and its work on grooming gangs was met with a response that had sweeping redactions and vast sections that were blanked out. Those sections included material that would have shown whether the group ever meaningfully considered grooming gangs and whether it understood how to track them. Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, when the Government chooses to withhold important material from the public, it is legally required to provide a clear and compelling rationale for doing so, especially when there is a strong public interest in disclosure.

What was the Government’s strong justification for withholding key information on its strategic group? It was the impact on marine planning. That is right—marine planning was in official Scottish Government documentation about grooming gangs. That was clearly a lazy copy-and-paste job: a poor, sloppy reason that demonstrates that the Government has still not learned the lessons of the Salmond inquiry. It is continuing the same patterns of excessive secrecy, casual errors and careless redactions. Victims need transparency. What the Government has been producing is not good enough.

The concerns about the group go beyond its scope or the secrecy. They also touch on ministerial oversight, which is probably the most concerning aspect. We saw that the cabinet secretary had to be corrected on vital information that she presented to the Parliament about the views of members of the group. Clearly, ministerial engagement is poor, but we did not realise how bad it was until we submitted parliamentary questions about ministerial involvement with the group. Shockingly, we discovered that no relevant minister had attended any of the key meetings of the strategic group—not the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, not the Minister for Victims and Community Safety and not the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise.

Given the collapse of the inquiry in England and the recent harrowing testimony of victims, it is astonishing that ministers did not think it necessary to attend any meetings of the strategic group to ensure proper oversight. If ministers are not in the room, victims are not represented—it is as simple as that. On the matter of grooming gangs, the group lacks transparency, it lacks leadership and it has given us no reason to believe that it can tackle this sensitive issue head on. We certainly do not have any assurance about the review.

We were challenged to find evidence; we did. We asked for openness; we were blocked. We looked for seriousness; we found errors. We sought ministerial accountability; ministers did not turn up. We do not have confidence in the strategic group or the review to deliver full justice for victims. We need a national inquiry.

The figures from Glasgow alone are shocking—1,247 women were treated for FGM in just five and a half years, and there have been 57 deinfibulation surgeries, with seven more already having been carried out this year. Those figures apply to one health board only, but we know that women across Scotland are affected by the issue. Will the minister tell Parliament how many women have required FGM treatment nationally over the same period and whether the figure is increasing?

I am glad that the Scottish Government has brought to the chamber this debate on the importance of tackling violence against women and girls. Like other females across Scotland, I hope the fact that it has done so signals a new SNP approach to protecting the rights of women and girls, because, up to this point, there has been precious little evidence that the issue is anywhere near the top of the agenda.

In fact, the Scottish Government’s attitude to the protection of women and girls is not at all fairly represented in the text of its motion today. A clearer picture can be seen in the Government’s refusal to launch an inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland, in the on-going and disgraceful situation relating to males being housed in women’s prisons and even in the shocking lack of action on everything from domestic abuse to the shocking year-on-year increases in rape and sexual assault. If SNP ministers were genuinely serious about ending violence towards women and girls in Scotland, they would do more than just offering warm words in this chamber.

Victims of child grooming gangs in Scotland cannot enjoy even warm words from this Scottish Government. From the First Minister down, senior ministers have repeatedly refused this much-needed investigation. Victims in other parts of the UK are finally getting the chance of justice and answers, but in Scotland—yet again—things just have to be different.

On the Conservatives’ side of the chamber, we have tried for quite some time to persuade the Scottish Government to change its mind, but attempt after attempt has been thwarted. When the Scottish Conservatives recently tried to put in a freedom of information request to find out more about the mysterious national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group, we were met with a bizarre rejection. In obstructing the publication of information, the response used policy language about marine planning as justification for the secrecy—marine planning, on the matter of grooming gangs! That was clearly a mistake at Scottish Government headquarters, but that sloppiness and negligence summed up rather well the SNP’s attitude to the matter.

What is more, further research by my colleague Liam Kerr found a complete absence of interest in the strategic group. We should remember that the Scottish Government claims that the establishment of the group negates the need for an inquiry, so we would think that attending its meetings would be rather important for senior Government ministers, yet the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs has never been, the Minister for Victims and Community Safety has not turned up either, and even the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise has yet to grace a meeting with her presence. Victims and members of the wider public will find it incredible that, on the one hand, the SNP cites the group as evidence of its tough response to child exploitation yet, on the other hand, no senior minister has seen fit to even show up to the meetings.

The continued refusal of this Government to hold a grooming gangs inquiry is a national disgrace. There is evidence of grooming in every part of Scotland, yet every part of the Government would rather close its eyes and pretend that it has not happened. It is a blinkered and shameful approach and it must change now.

We often hear ministers lament the number of women who are incarcerated in Scotland’s prisons. They are rightly described as being among the most vulnerable females in society and we know that, far from being feared and notorious criminals, many of them are victims of crime and abuse themselves. Despite all of that, however, the SNP is refusing to change its policy of allowing dangerous male criminals who happen to just think or say that they are females to be housed in women’s prisons. We know that those men do that because they are arrogant and abusive, because they want to pose a threat to women and because they think that they will have an easier life than they would have in a male prison. They are taking the system for a ride. The Supreme Court’s ruling on sex was abundantly clear and it is a disgrace that the Scottish Government has not heeded it. There should be no men in women’s prisons. It really is as simple as that.

Women and girls across Scotland are frightened for their safety. Domestic abuse is on a constant increasing trajectory and we know that it is females who bear the brunt of that. They are also usually the victims when it comes to rape—another crime that is on an alarmingly rising trend. In the current session of Parliament alone, 39 women in Scotland have lost their lives to male violence. There are so many things that our Government could be embarking upon to help to turn the tide on this. It could back my colleague and friend Pam Gosal’s Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, which would create a domestic abuse register. It could get serious about misogyny laws. It could properly resource a justice system that gets tough on perpetrators, punishes and then rehabilitates properly, and serves up a robust deterrent to would-be and repeat criminals. Only then will the women and girls of Scotland really believe that this Government is on their side.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would have voted yes.

I will follow on from Liam Kerr’s line of questioning. Police Scotland has a clear budget ask for 2026-27. We are hearing reports of increasing wait times for 101 calls, a lack of response to 999 calls, a lack of road traffic officers, and of officers spending a full shift taking those in custody to various police stations due to some stations or custody suites being closed.

Do you believe that the figures that Police Scotland has asked for will be sufficient to meet the increasing pressure and complexity of work that the police are dealing with?

I want to go back to some of the previous questions that you have been asked. Regardless of the legislation in various countries, there is still a sex trade, and we have heard from sex workers who are concerned that criminalising the buyer will lead to more violence against them. They will not be able to do safety checks or identity verifications, and more of the work will take place at the buyer’s location of choice. You have said that you had discussions with some of those groups. What concerns were raised by those sex workers? You said earlier that there is no evidence that they have genuine concerns. What are your thoughts about their genuine concerns about the unintended consequences of the bill?

In relation to indoor prostitution, the Crown Office has said that people involved in prostitution might be required to give evidence to prove the offence. What are your views on that?

That brings us back to the previous point about people who choose to be sex workers having concerns about safety. They will not choose to give evidence against a buyer.

How will the bill result in more prosecutions?