Chamber and committees

Last Wednesday was international mother language day, which raised awareness of the opportunity to learn foreign languages at school and also of the importance of preserving languages. Will the cabinet secretary provide an update on work to revitalise Gaelic language education in primary and secondary schools?

I, too, welcome Kaukab Stewart to her new post. Congratulations.

The Scottish Government’s programme for government in September 2023 made commitments to renew culture by focusing on empowering communities. What update can the minister give on actions that the Scottish Government has taken since the publication of the programme for government to improve opportunities for community asset transfers for arts and culture organisations in Scotland’s most deprived areas?

Since the motion was lodged, the situation in Gaza has worsened significantly. The daily death rate in Gaza is higher than in any other major 21st century conflict. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 12,300 children, and 69,000 have been injured since 7 October 2023. Those numbers do not include the thousands of people who are still missing under the rubble and collapsed buildings.

The Israeli air force has reported that it has struck 30,000 of what it has identified as Hamas targets in Gaza since its offensive began. Those strikes have completely destroyed 70,000 housing units and damaged 290,000 more, with 392 education facilities, 11 bakeries, 123 ambulances, three churches and 184 mosques reported to have been completely or partially destroyed.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that not a single hospital in the Gaza strip is fully functioning. As a result of the lack of functioning healthcare, more than 200,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and more than 500,000 cases of communicable diseases have been recorded. Supplies of food, proper sanitation and clean water are now seriously insufficient.

Just last month, the IPC warned about serious food security concerns. It said that 2.2 million people are now at imminent risk of famine, with 378,000 of them designated at phase 5, which means an extreme lack of food, starvation and the exhaustion of coping capabilities.

Israel has the right to protect its citizens, but it also has a responsibility to abide by international law and to minimise the number of civilian casualties. The situation in Gaza has gone far beyond a justifiable response to the attacks on 7 October.

The collective punishment of civilians is never the answer. Israel’s war cabinet has now warned that, if the remaining hostages are not released by the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, it will broaden its offensive in southern Gaza and push into the city of Rafah.

The Rafah crossing to Egypt remains one of the only possible routes out of Gaza. Rafah is currently home to more than a million Gazan civilians who have been displaced and have fled there to seek shelter. If a ground invasion takes place, the death toll could be unimaginable.

An immediate and lasting ceasefire is now imperative. That means diplomatic mediation to ensure a lasting agreement and a permanent two-state solution, an end to rocket fire both in and out of Gaza, immediate humanitarian aid into Gaza and the immediate release of all hostages.

The fighting must stop now, before we are looking at the complete annihilation of Gaza and its civilians. Ceasefire now.

Good morning, panel. I have a couple of questions. I want to stick with social media first.

So many fake accounts have been opened. If an account has been opened in my name and I report that to the police, the response from the police is, “Sorry, we cannot do anything,” but that fake account can put up loads of stuff. Recently, I have been getting quite a lot of complaints from ethnic minority people that fake accounts have been opened for young people but, when it has been reported to the police, the police have just walked away. Do you have anything to say about that? The police say that you have to write to the social media company. Do you think that social media companies are not taking responsibility, as it is quite easy to open an account in anybody’s name without any background checks?

Thank you.

I will ask about another thing. I have a lot of constituents, mostly from Leith, who have shops or education centres that have been targeted by youngsters—12, 13, 14-year-olds—kicking at the windows and the doors all the time. It is the same people. When the police have been called, they have said that the young people are under age and that they cannot do anything. If the shopkeepers or the business owners go out and talk to the kids, their parents will come and start jumping on them. What response should I give to my constituents who are going through that sort of trouble? Those things are happening more or less every single day in Leith—on Ocean Drive and so on. I constantly get emails from the shop owners.

This is my last question. There has been an announcement about police stations closing. Local gurdwaras and mosques and communities feel more comfortable when they know that there is a police station nearby. Do you think that closing down police stations in the area will make people feel worried that there will be a lot of trouble? That is probably for Mr Watters to answer.

Should we ask the councils, too? After all, I think that they, too, are under pressure. When we did the round table with local communities, we found that—

Yes. Good morning, cabinet secretary. Following on from the question that my colleague Maurice Golden asked, at what point were Scottish ministers first aware that the completion date could potentially be missed?

I have just one more question.

Yes.

At the previous session, Transport Scotland advised the committee that it was 92 per cent through the statutory process back in 2011. When the original timetable for the project was set out, the estimated time required to complete the statutory process was six years. We are now at double that time. What engagement have ministers had with Transport Scotland during that time?