Chamber and committees

Good morning. I share the pain that Micheleine Kane has spoken about. I have one question for her. What could we do with the social security powers that we have in Scotland to help kinship carers?

My second question is for all the panel members. What barriers exist to kinship carers gaining the benefits to which they are entitled, and what problems exist with the current system of entitlements?

I raise the case of my constituent Anne Sinclair, who, last October, after waiting seven months for diagnostic procedures, was told that she has an aggressive form of endometrial cancer, for which she is still awaiting treatment, due to the omicron wave.

The First Minister will be aware of the importance of early diagnosis in the successful treatment of cancer. Does she agree that Mrs Sinclair’s situation is not good enough? What assurance can she give to my other constituents who are waiting for a cancer diagnosis that they will not be left in a similar position?

What discussions has the Scottish Government had with the Lothians and Scottish Borders police regarding their capacity to deal with reports of violent crime in the area?

Good morning. I will make my questions short.

What is the impact of the known lack of data on people with NRPF on the third sector in particular? Given the time constraints, I will ask my second question too. How would you assess the role of the third sector in cities with a large number of people with NRPF? COSLA has highlighted the financial pressures in those cities in particular.

Whoever feels comfortable answering it. Perhaps Andy Sirel can start.

After the powerful statement from Pinar Aksu, I have a small question. Given the squeeze on local authorities, do the witnesses think that the current level of third sector support is sustainable?

That question is for Pinar Aksu or Hassan Darasi.

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.