Chamber and committees

Yes, I agree that we need to take seriously the financial pressures that students are living under in these very difficult times for many people across the country, and we will do that. We have provided support to students in a range of ways and we will reflect very carefully on the case being made by the NUS at this time. I am proud of the fact that students in Scotland do not have to pay tuition fees. One of the most important things that this Government has done—in the face of opposition at various times from the Conservatives, Labour and others—is to protect that vital principle of free education in Scotland, and we will always do so.

Given the seriousness of the issue, I want to say very clearly, through Christine Grahame, to the parents involved that I will, of course, consider any representations that are made to me.

Although I will not pre-empt consideration of the two specific issues that Christine Grahame has raised, I assure her that we will take them seriously and look closely at them. I am happy to communicate with parents through Christine Grahame as that consideration develops.

Learning from such cases is a vital part of an effective and improving child protection system. That, of course, includes looking at how the criminal law might operate. Alongside Education Scotland, the Scottish Government will seek to work with Scottish Borders Council on actions to address the inquiry’s recommendations, and to consider any learning that can be applied at the national level.

I will look at any further changes, such as those just outlined by Christine Grahame, that could further strengthen our child protection systems and make sure that parents and everyone who needs it has confidence in those arrangements. Few things in our society can be more important than that.

Rarely a day goes by in this chamber—including today—when the Scottish Government is not called on to intervene and take action in relation to agencies or organisations that operate at arm’s length. When we do, we often face the accusation that we are interfering. We continue to try to get that balance right in the interests of the people we serve.

I said in my initial answer that we will reflect carefully on the Public Audit Committee’s report and consider what further action we need to take. It is, of course, important that organisations such as the Crofting Commission understand their roles and responsibilities, including in relation to the Scottish Government. We will reflect on the matter carefully, but we will also continue to support the Crofting Commission to implement the actions that are in its improvement plan.

Today, we woke to the horror of an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and to a reality that we all hoped had become unthinkable: a land war in Europe. Today, literally as we speak, that horror in Ukraine is intensifying.

Much discussion will rightly focus on the geopolitical impact but, as ever when so-called strongman leaders flex their muscles, it is the innocent and most vulnerable who suffer the most. At the sharp end of any conflict are men, women and children—civilians who have the right to go about their daily lives in peace but who will inevitably bear the brunt of this full-scale invasion. Many will be terrified and are fleeing. Our thoughts are with them in this darkest of hours and we must provide them with practical support, aid and refuge.

This is arguably the most serious moment that the world has faced since the end of the cold war and is one of the most dangerous since world war two. By launching this invasion of a sovereign independent nation, Vladimir Putin has committed an illegal act of aggression that has no conceivable justification. His warped rewriting of history underpinning his imperialist delusions is no justification. His claims about the actions of Ukraine’s Government are false and offer no justification. Notwithstanding different opinions here and elsewhere about the role and objectives of NATO, his assertions about its so-called eastern expansion and threat to Russian security lack credibility. They are an excuse, not a reason, and they are certainly not a justification.

Putin’s motives are simpler: imperialist expansion, coupled with a fear of allowing democracy to flourish on his borders in case it finds its way into Russia. If those are his motives, no one should doubt his ultimate intention. He wants to end Ukraine’s very existence as an independent democratic state. This is, therefore, a moment of genuine peril, first and foremost for the people of Ukraine, but also for the world. It is a time for all democracies and all countries that believe in the rule of international law to stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty and to stand against Russian aggression.

That is why I believe that it is important for Parliament today to condemn Russia’s actions unreservedly, to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to support Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. That is the right thing for all countries to do, but I know that, in expressing our solidarity with Ukraine, many of us are mindful of the strong ties between Scotland and Ukraine. As one example, our capital city, Edinburgh, is twinned with Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. There are several thousand Ukrainian citizens living here in Scotland, and they are valued and welcome members of our communities. For all of them, especially those who have family and friends still in Ukraine, this will be an especially anxious time. The Scottish Government will do all that we can to support them, and we will work with the Foreign Office to support inquiries from any in Scotland who may be worried about loved ones in Ukraine.

We are also working with the United Kingdom Government and the other devolved Governments to ensure that support is available if needed to Ukrainian British nationals who are returning to the UK. Yesterday, I discussed the concerns of Ukrainians in Scotland with both the acting consul general and with Linda Allison, the chair of the Ukrainian community here. I made clear to both of them the Scottish Government’s condemnation of Russian actions and our support for, and solidarity with, the people of Ukraine.

In addition, I made it clear that Scotland stands with those members of the international community that have opposed Russian aggression by imposing sanctions. After all, expressions of solidarity with Ukraine, welcome though they are, are not sufficient in this moment of great peril. Firm and decisive action is needed, in particular because this week’s atrocities by Russia are not isolated but part of a pattern of this Russian regime’s aggression, which includes the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.

I refer to the Russian regime deliberately, because it is important to be clear that the crimes—I also use that word deliberately—that are now being committed by Putin should be laid at his door and at the doors of his kleptocratic cronies. They should not be laid at the door of the people of Russia wholesale, nor should they be laid at the door of Russians or people of Russian background who are now living here in Scotland.

However, those crimes cannot and must not go unanswered. We cannot have a situation—as arguably happened with Crimea—in which the world expresses shock and outrage for a period of time but then allows the Russian regime to consolidate its gains with relatively few consequences and go on to plan further aggression. If we are to deter Putin this time, sanctions must hit him and his allies hard, with severe and lasting consequences. He must pay a heavy price for aggression.

I therefore welcome the European Union’s intention to impose a package of what it calls “massive and targeted sanctions”, the detail of which we should learn tonight. The UK will, sadly, not now be in the room when those sanctions are being discussed and decided but, as the Estonian Prime Minister said this morning,

“The most effective response to Russia’s aggression is unity,”

so I hope that we will see co-ordinated action across the international community.

We welcome the sanctions that the UK Government announced on Tuesday but, as I said at the time, those measures against just five banks and three individuals were too limited. In my view, there is no case at all to delay tough action now. The experience of recent years has shown that softer action does not encourage better behaviour on the part of Putin; it simply emboldens him in his aggressions.

The UK Government must therefore announce further and much more significant steps as quickly as possible, and I am hopeful that it will do so. We must also address the fact—it is a fact—that the City of London is awash with Russian money. The UK Government’s response must therefore include a ruthless and comprehensive attack on the wealth and assets of the Russian regime and its backers. That demands a serious and systematic approach, and the Scottish Government will strongly support further moves by the UK Government in that direction.

The Scottish Government will also work with the UK Government and other partners, including the UK National Cyber Security Centre, in staying vigilant against any direct threats that Russia might present to Scotland, for example through cyberattacks. The National Cyber Security Centre is closely monitoring the threat to the UK as a priority and, in recent weeks, in addition to receiving briefings from the national security adviser, I have participated in four-nations discussions on how we deal with a range of domestic impacts that we might experience.

The crisis is fundamentally about Russian aggression against Ukraine but there is also a far wider international and moral dimension to it. Putin wants to dismember—essentially, to obliterate—Ukraine as an independent democratic nation. If he is allowed to get away with his aggression, the international community will have failed and that failure will give encouragement to other countries and other so-called strongman leaders who consider acts of aggression in future.

Therefore, the crisis is a test for all nations. It is a test of how prepared we are to support not just the principle but the reality of an international order based on law, rules and peaceful coexistence. It is a test of how prepared we are to protect freedom, peace and democracy. All of us must speak out against Putin’s aggression and stand up for the values of democracy, sovereignty, territorial integrity and peace. We must do so first and foremost as the best chance of deterring aggression against Ukraine and standing in solidarity with its people but we must do it also for the sake of other countries across the world and for the sake of our world.

We must not accept this as a moment that bloody and prolonged war returns to our continent. Today, Parliament can add Scotland’s voice to all of those that are now standing up for peace, freedom and democracy. We can add this Parliament’s and Scotland’s voice to the voice of all those who stand with the people of Ukraine in this darkest of hours. For that reason, with a sombre sense but with pride, I will move the motion in my name and I urge all members to support it with one voice.

I move,

That the Parliament offers its unqualified support for Ukrainian sovereignty, democracy, independence and territorial integrity; condemns unreservedly Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty by recognising the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, and expresses its concern at the disturbing reports of Russian forces beginning a further invasion of Ukraine’s territory, in flagrant violation of international law; acknowledges the response to date of the international community in applying sanctions against the Russian regime and calls on it to redouble such efforts to discourage Russia from further aggression; further acknowledges the limited sanctions announced by the UK Prime Minister and urges that these should go further as soon as possible, with severe sanctions imposed upon Putin’s regime, his oligarch backers and their assets globally; supports efforts to deter Russia from further aggression and efforts to require Russia to reverse its illegal and provocative actions; records its concern about the grave threat to the safety and security of Ukrainian citizens; stands in solidarity with the people, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, and Scotland’s Ukrainian community, and stands ready to support them in any way Scotland can.

First, we have record numbers of staff working in our national health service and, of course, those numbers do not include vacancies; they are staff in post. However, we recognise the recruitment challenges and, as Audit Scotland recognises, we are investing in the wellbeing of staff as well as investing heavily in recruitment. Douglas Ross suggested that I had selectively quoted Audit Scotland’s report. I am absolutely clear that it is a very challenging report and that it has real lessons for the Scottish Government, but it recognises fairly the work that we have been doing. On the topic of selective quoting, I note that the Audit Scotland report says about staffing that

“the UK’s departure from the EU ”

will

“further reduce the pool of workers available in future years”.

That is another reality that is exacerbating the recruitment challenge, and Douglas Ross might want to reflect on that when he next gets to his feet.

These are big challenges, so we are meeting them with investment and support for staff. With regard to the detail in the recovery plan, the plan sets out our ambitions and the broad plans that we will implement to meet those ambitions. Of course, we have also asked health boards to produce detailed implementation plans, which they will deliver next month, so that the detail of implementation is there and we can scrutinise that and hold them to account.

Nobody should underplay the scale of the challenge that countries everywhere face in getting their health services back on track, but we are supporting the health service with investment, we are supporting staff and we will focus on ensuring that our health service recovers and is firmly on a path to sustainability for the future.

I will write to the member or ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to write to her, with more detail of what I am about to say, because I will say it only in summary now.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advises further boosters for people who are immunosuppressed or immunocompromised, which might be helpful in this case.

I set out in my statement earlier in the week some of the new developments around treatment and the work that the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that those treatments get to people who need them most. Treatments have already been delivered to people who need hospital care, and they are now being delivered to people who do not need hospital care but might be at risk of it. New oral therapies are being trialled and I am sure that the point about antibodies is an important part of that process.

My last point is one that I sought to make on Tuesday in my statement. We cannot, and should not, tolerate a situation in which the majority of us can get back to normal but a minority feel that they need to continue to shield. That is why I say to people that, as we get back to normal, we have to show collective responsibility and solidarity. Those of us who might be frustrated with the situation might choose, for example, still to wear face coverings to make it more possible for those who are most vulnerable to get back to normal, too.

We must not allow the creation of a two-tier society as we recover from Covid. However, that requires all of us to take responsibility and to make sacrifices, and I hope that everybody across the country will take that seriously.

We should come together to make it clear that harassment or abuse of any form, whether in the workplace, in schools, in the home or in society generally, is completely reprehensible and unacceptable. It is the conduct and behaviour of perpetrators that need to change if we are to end the culture of harassment and abuse.

We want all children and young people to learn tolerance, respect, equality and good citizenship to address and prevent prejudice as well as develop healthy relationships. The gender-based violence working group will consider that report in detail at future meetings. We also provide funding to Rape Crisis Scotland to help deliver its secondary school programmes that aim to tackle sexual harassment and violence.

Tuesday.

I am happy to look at the issue because it is important, and I will come back to Willie Rennie when I have the opportunity to do so.

In principle, however, I believe that all of us in Government, local government, and Government agencies, as well as all of us as individual citizens, have an obligation and responsibility around child protection and we should consider that we are all in the front line of that, to a greater or lesser extent. The GTCS obviously has particular responsibilities.

I will consider the comments that Willie Rennie has attributed to the GTCS in the chamber today, and any difficulties with getting information out of the GTCS, and I will then be happy to come back with more detail when I have the chance to do so.

I agree that action is needed, which is why we are taking forward the establishment of a national care service. That will help to end the postcode lottery of adult care in this country. A key aspect of that will be ensuring that it is designed with service users, so that the barriers to care that they too often face are taken down.

At this point, it would probably be helpful to quote Derek Feeley, who undertook the review of adult social care. He said:

“We won’t achieve the potential of social care support in Scotland without a new delivery system. We need a National Care Service to achieve the consistency that people deserve, to drive national improvements where they are required, to ensure strategic integration with the National Health Service, to set national standards, terms and conditions, and to bring national oversight and accountability to a vital part of Scotland’s social fabric.”

That is what we are seeking to achieve.