Chamber and committees

I would like to congratulate Neil Gray on his new post. We are missing him in the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. I hope that he will do his new job as well as he did his job on the committee.

The United Nations World Food Programme has just communicated that nearly 13 million people in the Horn of Africa are facing severe hunger because of drought conditions, which have affected pastoral and farming populations across southern and south-eastern Ethiopia, south-eastern and northern Kenya, and south-central Somalia. Many people are now becoming climate refugees.

What new engagement has the Scottish Government had with the United Kingdom Government about sharing information and technology for farming adaptations, not just with the Horn of Africa but with our partner countries, such as Zambia and Malawi, which have also suffered from the effects of climate change?

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding how its international development programme can help to support less-developed countries that are at the forefront of climate damage. (S6O-00740)

What steps is the Scottish Government taking to facilitate continued NHS and social care recruitment from European Union countries?

The motion before us looks unremarkable on the surface, but it does not address many of the systemic problems in the justice system.

Two years ago, justice systems worldwide were brought into close focus after the murder of George Floyd in the United States. The question of equality took centre stage. It was a time for introspection and, to its credit, the Scottish Government recognised that.

Here in Scotland, that resulted in the creation of the cross-justice working group on race data and evidence. I applaud its existence, but its output is telling. It tells us that there is a lack of data on the experiences of black, Asian and minority ethnic people of the police and the justice system in general, and a lack of content on lived experience in existing studies of the justice system. One of the community participants said:

“For the number of years that Scotland has had .... a very diverse ethnic population ... that you’re still finding gaps, it’s horrific!”

I agree.

That raises a question about the very basis on which the Scottish Government is approaching its new vision for justice. That vision cannot be complete if we are blind to the lived reality of people like me—black, Asian and minority ethnic people. I say to the Scottish Government that the simple existence of the cross-justice working group is not enough. Its findings must be listened to and addressed if we are to increase trust in the justice system among minority communities. I do not pretend that getting data is a simple task, but it is an essential first step towards seeing the problems that those communities face in accessing justice. Only then can we address those problems fully.

Last year, there was another telling statistic. Hate crime remained stable between 2014 and 2020, with around 7,000 incidents recorded each year. Most of those incidents—62 per cent—had a racial component. There was a welcome increase in the number of hate crime charges in the same period, but justice must include prevention as well as punishment. Surely, as a society, we can hope for more than to maintain a stable level of hate crime.

The motion calls for a whole-Government approach to those problems, but we see very little evidence of that in practice. The approach requires funding for services and areas that have all too often been cut and neglected in recent years.

Hate crime is just one aspect of crime in which poverty and social realities come into play long before someone reaches the criminal justice system. We must address the conditions that allow events to develop, as well as dealing with them promptly once they happen and ensuring that victims are supported.

Social justice and educational questions are involved here, just as much as questions of policing and prosecution. The motion acknowledges that socioeconomic circumstances matter, but that is not a new vision. The Scottish Government has been aware of the problems for more than a decade, yet they continue on its watch.

As our amendment notes, that is an unfortunately common theme across the justice system. HM chief inspector of prisons said that “entrenched problems” in our prison system, including overcrowding, remain unsolved. Those long-standing issues cannot be blamed on the pandemic, and it seems that only good fortune has prevented them from turning into a catastrophe during it.

The pandemic has of course caused additional problems, including by adding significantly to the court backlog. Our amendment rightly sees tackling the backlog as the highest priority, because its impact on remand prisoners and those who are awaiting justice only adds to the entrenched problems that I mentioned a moment ago.

The motion may set out a vision, but it neglects the reality of the justice system as people find it today. The Scottish Government must ensure that justice is accessible to all our communities, and it must act on the priorities that are set out in our amendment. Only then will we be able to restore confidence in our justice system and see that justice is promptly and effectively applied in the wake of the pandemic.

I thank committee members for their time. I am sorry that I did not realise that I could have attended in person—I thought that everything was being done through BlueJeans.

The purpose of the cross-party group on Bangladesh is to promote and enhance understanding between Scotland and Bangladesh at a cultural, social, political and economic level. Our intention is to develop contact with the Bangladesh Parliament and other institutions, including the Bangladesh consulate in Edinburgh and the embassy in London, to progress such dialogue.

The group will also advance the mutual interests of Scotland and Bangladesh by representing the interests of citizen organisations with a Bangladeshi background in Scotland and acting as a forum for the Bangladeshi community. In the Bangladeshi community, there is a keen interest to know about the Scottish Parliament’s procedures, be part of Scottish democracy and learn what could be used for future elections in Bangladesh. We will do that along with our friends in Westminster. With the all-party parliamentary group on Bangladesh, we will work on research and develop a work plan for the growing Bangladeshi community in Scotland.

The CPG would be a new group focused on Bangladesh and would not overlap with any current CPGs. The topics that were discussed at our initial meeting and that will form our work plan include investment, trade, tourism, travel, the environment and education.

We want to build on the momentum that we have from the 26th UN climate change conference of the parties—COP26—when we made history by having the Bangladeshi Prime Minister in Parliament. We heard about the challenges that the country faces with the threat of climate change. COP26 has shown that we can deliver genuine changes only if we are united. I know that the United Kingdom, Scotland and Bangladesh will work shoulder to shoulder to tackle climate change.

Thank you for listening to me.

Yes, of course. We just want to share the APPG’s ideas, find out how it does things and gain information. Our CPG is mainly based on the community in Scotland.

Thank you very much, convener and committee members. I hope to see you soon.

Good morning, David; it is nice to see you in your new role. I have only one question for you.

The National Records of Scotland publication, “Homeless Deaths 2020”, showed that more than half those deaths were drug related. There were 151 homeless drug-related deaths, which was up from 68 in 2017. In 2020, homeless drug-related deaths accounted for 10 per cent of all drug-related deaths. Can you confirm what action has been taken to reduce homeless drug-related deaths and ensure that people who are homeless and suffer from drug-related harms can access key support services, including drug treatment services? What is being done to reach out to that population?

It does. Thank you.

Good morning, minister. In November, the Scottish Government published “Pathways into, through and out of Residential Rehabilitation in Scotland: Results from the Residential Rehabilitation Providers Survey”.

One concern that was raised in the survey was that homelessness services are under pressure to reduce figures, and those who are homeless but in residential treatment are still classed as homeless. That means that they might need to leave residential treatment earlier than advised, due to the pressure on the homelessness sector to reduce the figures. It is unclear from the survey whether that is a localised issue or a wider problem. Has the Scottish Government investigated that concern in more detail? If so, what were its findings, and has any action been taken to address those concerns, given the potential adverse impact on those who are receiving care?