Chamber and committees

My question is in line with those that my colleagues Donald Cameron and Mark Ruskell have already asked. How do we measure the impact of international offices on trade in comparison with places where we do not have international offices, such as Bangladesh and Brazil? I am thinking of measurable outcomes.

My last question is about the Westminster Government’s current immigration measures. Do you think that those will affect your negotiations with Ukrainians or with any other refugees who want to come to Scotland?

Do you believe that there is a need for the location of the Scottish Government’s international offices to be reviewed?

I also express my sorrow at the distressing news of the death of an individual on the Bibby Stockholm earlier today. My prayers are with their family and friends.

Scotland should be a welcoming and safe place for asylum seekers. In the past few years, the UK Tory Government has created a hostile environment for those who come here seeking asylum. As my colleague Paul O’Kane noted, the UK Government is, as we speak, debating an inhumane bill that seeks to ship those seeking asylum in the UK off to a third country. We also have the Illegal Migration Act, which may force many vulnerable asylum seekers into the hands of human traffickers and criminal gangs. That goes hand in hand with the newly announced salary threshold for skilled workers visas, which Alex Cole-Hamilton, John Swinney and others rightly condemned. As Fulton MacGregor said, the UK Government’s hostile legislation has led to the UK being painted as a country that does not welcome those who most need our help.

I have a lot to get through.

That is why Scottish Labour supports the conclusions that were reached by the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee’s inquiry. That inquiry sent a strong message that we should be using the powers within our devolved competence to improve the lives of asylum seekers in Scotland.

Integration is important to that. As Kaukab Stewart said, the Scottish Government must use its devolved powers to ensure that asylum seekers are able to integrate fully into Scottish society. I look forward to the Scottish Government’s plan on how asylum seekers can be included in concessionary travel schemes, which is something that my colleague Paul Sweeney has been working on.

The Illegal Migration Act 2023 can amend the powers and duties of the Scottish ministers to help victims of human trafficking under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. Miles Briggs commented that asylum seekers are among those who are most vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation.

In October this year, I hosted a round table on the impact that the Illegal Migration Act 2023 may have on human trafficking and how it will interact with the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. We heard from representatives of the Scottish Refugee Council, JustRight Scotland, Maryhill Integration Network and many more organisations about how the Illegal Migration Act has made life harder for survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery.

Under the act, survivors of trafficking who have received an initial reasonable grounds decision can be removed. Unaccompanied children arriving in Scotland can be subjected to mandatory scientific testing, including MRI scanning, to try to determine their age. If they refuse that, they will be processed as adults. The committee’s investigation makes clear that the Scottish Government can act within its devolved powers to mitigate that impact of the cruel Illegal Migration Act 2023—as it must. We need to concentrate action on that to protect victims of human trafficking and uphold, wherever possible, the right to seek asylum in Scotland.

The latest Home Office data shows that 662 asylum seekers were housed in hotels across 10 Scottish local authorities. In addition, 4,558 asylum seekers were living in dispersal accommodation. We must not forget the Ukrainian refugees hosted on temporary boats because suitable accommodation could not be found for them.

Those are not solutions. Currently, we face a housing crisis. The Scottish Refugee Council has warned that Home Office policies, such as giving people just seven days to leave asylum accommodation, mean that it could be a matter of time before someone dies on the streets due to a lack of housing. Let us be clear: that is not the fault of asylum seekers but is caused by a housing system that is not fit for purpose. The Scottish Government must provide a long-term housing plan. It must act on the conclusion of the inquiry to mitigate the damage of those inhumane Tory policies and ensure that asylum seekers are protected and welcomed in Scotland.

I mean at the point of reporting. What I have heard in our discussion is that the petitioners want the person’s biological sex and gender identity to be recorded, but if the police are not recording that on the database, should a third party be involved?

Do you believe that, instead of the police, there should be a third party involved in recording or determining the sex of the person committing the rape?

Post-mortem scanners, which have been trialled in Lancashire, have been reported to decrease the time that is taken to receive post-mortem results and, in certain cases, to remove the need for an invasive post-mortem and the removal of organs. What discussion has the Scottish Government had with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service regarding the potential time-saving qualities of post-mortem scanners in Scotland?

The future of the Edinburgh deaf festival is at threat following the rejection of two successive bids for Creative Scotland funding. The festival has been highly praised for its success in showcasing deaf performers’ art, culture and heritage, along with Edinburgh’s festival fringe. Can the cabinet secretary outline how the Scottish Government plans to encourage both British Sign Language and deaf communities in the culture and arts sector in Scotland, to ensure that our vast cultural landscape is inclusive and accessible to all?

Nature can be used as a first line of defence against the impacts of the global climate crisis, but we must not only look at protecting the existing nature and species that we have; we must also make targeted moves towards restoring what has been lost. That means ensuring that there are green spaces in urban areas. It means investing in our rural lands and nature reserves, and it means taking an integrated, targeted and cross-portfolio approach.

Scottish peatlands contain unique carbon-catching properties. In its 2023-24 programme for government, the Scottish Government made a commitment to restore 10,700 hectares of degraded peatlands over the course of the next year. I welcome that investment in nature and climate restoration and hope to see the targets achieved this year. In the fight against climate change, we need to focus on that just as much as on prevention.

The climate and nature emergencies are deeply connected and must be tackled together. We are at a crucial turning point for nature restoration in Scotland. Investment in nature and our natural spaces is vital to reduce biodiversity decline. Scotland’s native species inspire and sustain our health and culture. However, one in nine wildlife species in Scotland is at risk of extinction. We need to evaluate the abundance and distribution of species in our natural spaces and monitor the extinction risk to ensure that we are taking the right course of preventative action.

We must also monitor whether the extent and quality of habitats for those species is up to standard. Targets for nature restoration must drive ambitious action across Scotland across multiple levels and portfolios, similarly to the successful mainstreaming of climate change targets.

We must pair this great investment in Scottish nature with efforts to tackle climate change around the globe. A recent report on climate inequality by Oxfam outlined that the richest 1 per cent of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66 per cent.

This week, I returned from a cross-party group visit to Bangladesh. There, we can see at first hand the impact that climate inequality is having in the global south. Going into COP28, we must ensure that climate justice is at the forefront of our minds. Nature restoration targets should involve helping countries that are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis to adapt to long-term climate-related changes.

Scotland needs to engage in multifaceted responses. That means climate mitigation, adaptation and support to ensure that climate justice for all countries can be realised on our global path to net zero and nature restoration.