Chamber and committees

Pam Duncan-Glancy just asked a question about the cycle of debt. How can we best break the cycle of debt and mental health problems? Is there any evidence that some policy approaches work better than others? I put that question to Hannah Brisbane.

Sarah-Jayne Dunn.

Good morning. I have a very short question for the panel. Do you find any variation in the issues that are faced by people from black and minority ethnic communities when compared with the rest of the population? Do such groups face multiple disadvantages?

The programme that the Scottish Government has set up is important, and I applaud the work that has been done so far. However, we cannot afford to miss the opportunity to ensure that the curriculum itself is inclusive and representative. Will the cabinet secretary reassure me that curriculum reform will be given equal weight to other considerations?

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected timetable is for the race equality and anti-racism in education programme to report. (S6O-01071)

In the latest available statistics for reconviction rates, although the baseline rate is 28.3 per cent, the reconviction rate for those with a custodial sentence is a staggering 43.8 per cent. What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that prison gates are not revolving doors?

It is a pleasure to close the debate for Scottish Labour. I join all those who have thanked the committee members for their hard work on the report, which is a considered and valuable look at the Scottish Government’s approach to external affairs and international development.

I appreciate the committee’s overall view that the Scottish Government needs a more strategic vision of external affairs. The convener of the committee emphasised the reasons why that is important. We have heard from my colleague Sarah Boyack about the Scottish Government’s moral duty to engage in international development in a cohesive and transformative way, particularly in the current situation.

Martin Whitfield and Willie Rennie highlighted what more needs to be done after the withdrawal from the Erasmus scheme. That is just one area where Scotland’s soft power can be used to try to bolster international relationships and opportunities for our young people.

Maurice Golden made the point that the Scottish Government should not duplicate the resources of the UK Foreign Office but should instead leverage its own advantages. I note that the committee’s report recommends that new international offices should be justified against strategic objectives. The Scottish people and the Scottish Parliament need transparency to see that money is being well spent and that the international offices are achieving objectives rather than existing for their own sake.

Several witnesses to the inquiry called for more scrutiny by the Parliament, commensurate with the Scottish Government’s greater emphasis on external affairs, and the committee encourages the Scottish Government to assess the impact of its external affairs work. I suggest that that should be a matter of urgency.

Sarah Boyack highlighted the point about transparency. The Parliament, including the committee, must have confidence that the Scottish Government knows what it is seeking to achieve and is providing the level of transparency that will allow us to measure progress towards those achievements.

Several members raised the issue of soft power, and Jenni Minto highlighted the importance of the Scottish diaspora as one source of that soft power. It is certainly one area on which any strategic vision should focus, to promote Scottish interests and values across the world.

Bill Kidd spoke powerfully about the importance of Scotland maintaining a role in international security structures, particularly in relation to protecting women and girls against abuse and human trafficking. Several members have highlighted the issue of Scotland having a feminist foreign policy. Emma Roddick spoke to the value of that as a symbol of Scotland’s values.

Many of us have heard about or seen at first hand the value of the empowerment of women when it comes to international development. The committee highlights that there needs to be a coherent policy approach that is based on human rights and not just a brand—and we agree.

International development is an issue dear to my heart and I thank the committee for again highlighting the issue of policy coherence in that regard. I last raised that issue in the debate on the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill, noting the absence of policy coherence in the bill. It remains a loose thread in the Scottish Government’s programme. The Scottish Government rightly makes sustainable development prominent in its rhetoric. However, although the committee’s report noted the importance given to the matter by the OECD and the UN, it highlighted the lack of coherence in tying that together across policy areas. The Scottish Government’s actions on sustainable development must match its warm words, and the apparent lack of a strategy for implementing it coherently across government needs addressing with some urgency.

In conclusion, I again thank the committee for bringing the report to the Parliament and for its on-going scrutiny of this increasingly important aspect of the Scottish Government’s work. Since devolution, Scottish Labour has been in favour of the Scottish Government having a role in the world and we continue to be in favour of that. However, we agree with the committee that that must be part of a strategic vision and be backed up with the openness and transparency needed to see whether that vision is being realised.

I hope that the Scottish Government pays close attention to the committee’s report and its recommendations, as many members have done in the debate.

One problem that we repeatedly hear that refugees are facing—not just Ukrainian but Afghan and Syrian refugees, too—is a lack of translation and interpretation resources, which can be a huge roadblock to settling into the new country. What more can the Scottish Government do to ensure that those resources are available to the refugees we welcome into Scotland?

Does the First Minister agree with a number of my constituents that waiting lists for national health service audiology appointments remain unacceptably long and that one thing that the Scottish Government could do in the spirit of deaf awareness week would be to commit to addressing those waiting lists?

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is putting in place to ensure that Ukrainian families understand the conditions of its supersponsor scheme. (S6T-00671)