Chamber and committees

That is critical. Let us work together. Let us not be here in the same place next year. Let us make progress together.

I am just about to reference Sue Webber. The criticism of the Scottish Government is about the speed and the range of actions. We are not saying that nothing has happened, but not enough has happened.

I thought that the tone of the cabinet secretary’s opening remarks was constructive, but, to go back to the reality, as Sue Webber commented, in the Lothians, we have seen buses cancelled, bus drivers threatened and passengers intimidated. There have been thousands of incidents. That is not acceptable.

We are having this debate for a second time, because we debated the issue last year, and it has been the subject of parliamentary questions over the past year. There is cross-party support for faster action.

I praise colleagues across the chamber who have made valuable contributions. Claire Baker, Mark Ruskell, Alex Rowley and Monica Lennon all pointed out the impact on bus drivers. It is horrific. We need to recruit bus drivers, not see them being intimidated. The lack of reporting that Mark Ruskell and others mentioned is key. We need to make sure that every incident is reported, so that bus drivers know that there will be a consequence—that the matter will be investigated and something will happen and will not be ignored.

Unite the union’s 15 action points are absolutely critical. Again, there is cross-party support for the physical changes that are needed in our buses, including CCTV and safe doors, and the infrastructure that is needed in our bus stations, as well as the social changes that need to be made. The solutions that we have called for in our motion would be an important step towards protecting bus drivers and helping young people to realise the consequences of their actions.

The cross-party support has been critical. The point that I make to the cabinet secretary and the minister is that we need action. We need the leadership of the Scottish Government to implement this stuff, because Unite has sent us a clear message. Resources need to be invested to support bus drivers and we need to see action by the bus companies. We need to see policing where there are incidents. There has not been a lot of reference to that, but there is an idea that it is not worth reporting incidents, because nobody will investigate. We need to up the scale so that people understand that action will be taken.

Maurice Golden, Christine Grahame and Alex Rowley spoke about what is happening locally to them, but this is an issue across Scotland, and we need to act now.

I also commend the briefing by the CPT, because it mentions tackling bad behaviour on buses and the positive messaging that we need to see in our schools and communities, so that young people understand the incredibly negative impact of such behaviour. What might start off as a joke becomes serious and brutal antisocial behaviour. That can impact on young people’s families, too, because they cannot get on a bus to get out to work.

We need to end the debate on a broader point. Why are young people turning to such behaviour in the first place? A lot of the time, they do not have anything else to do. There is a lack of youth clubs, poor provision of sport and culture facilities for young people and a lack of community spaces. As Ben Macpherson said in the debate last year:

“there are wider and deeper questions that we need to ask ourselves about support for our young people, ensuring that there is adequate youth work provision, helping our young people to engage in better behaviour”.—[Official Report, 14 December 2023; c 31.]

In concluding, I will mention that, this week, my colleague Martin Whitfield launched his bill, which would place a legal obligation on local authorities to ensure provision of and access to youth work, which is key. Young people have to feel invested in and cared for and to feel some pride in their communities. We must take important steps today, but to truly tackle antisocial behaviour, we need a longer-term, bigger-picture approach and a transformation in our communities.

If we debate this matter at the same time next year, we want to have seen a reduction in antisocial behaviour on our buses and an investment in our bus services and bus stations. Young people across the country should feel that they can use those buses, but there must be consequences for those who do not abide by the rules.

I want to join colleagues in sending my sincere condolences to the family of Keith Rollinson, his friends and his colleagues.

The survey that was carried out by Unite reinforces the fact that antisocial behaviour on buses needs to be addressed urgently. Its members reported an 84 per cent increase in reports of verbal or physical abuse over the past year, and that is not acceptable. I hope that bus drivers and Unite members will take strength from our debate, because they have heard support from across the chamber. That does not happen very often in this place, but it is because of the nature of the issue and the appetite for solutions to be identified and implemented. There is also very strong support for the under-22 bus scheme.

The tone of Jim Fairlie’s concluding remarks did not really help us, because people do support the scheme. Some 150 million journeys have been made with under-22 bus passes. That is fantastic, and we can all be proud of that. The problem is the very small number of young people who are abusive, not behaving properly and taking antisocial actions, not just against bus drivers but people in bus stations and passengers, too.

As many members have said today, across the country, we hear from constituents who are witnessing this antisocial behaviour at first hand, so we need to act now. The criticism of the Scottish Government—

The community right to buy scheme is scheduled for a much-needed review, but the answer to a recent freedom of information request revealed that the Scottish Government did not have one single meeting or discussion about who should conduct the review and just went for the internal approach.

Given that the community right to buy scheme is not fit for purpose and desperately needs reform, why does the Scottish Government think that it should be able to mark its own homework? Will the cabinet secretary commit to an external review to ensure that communities are properly empowered to invest in the places where they live?

I will mention Sue Webber in a positive manner in a second.

The focus of our debate has been how we tackle the problem of threatening behaviour on buses, which is unacceptable. It also creates problems for bus users. [Interruption.] Like many who have spoken in the chamber today—

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further details of the reasons why it decided against externally reviewing the community right to buy scheme. (S6O-04011)

This week, we saw major investment in turbines in Hull. When are we going to get manufacturing transition in Scotland?

Does the cabinet secretary accept that the repeated delay to the energy strategy, never mind the length of the consenting process for projects such as Berwick Bank, means that we are missing out on supply-chain opportunities, and we are not getting the green jobs—

—because we are so far behind?

That is exactly what I have been considering with my proposed wellbeing and sustainable development bill. The consultation looked at the fact that it is not enough just to have a duty; it is also necessary to think about how the duty will be monitored and implemented. The idea of taking an approach that is independent of Government is a key issue that was strongly welcomed by lots of organisations.