Chamber and committees

Non-fatal strangulation is an abhorrent act, and I fully recognise the significant physical and psychological impact that that type of criminality has on victims and their families. I have met Fiona Drouet, who explained the basis of the petition that she has presented to the Parliament to make non-fatal strangulation a stand-alone criminal offence.

Conduct amounting to non-fatal strangulation is already a criminal offence under the common law of assault, and carries maximum penalties of up to life imprisonment. However, we constantly keep the law under review. For a stand-alone offence to be put in place, we would need to be confident that there is a gap in the law. We will give the proposal serious consideration.

The work that Claire Baker has set out is part of the approach that the Government takes on gender-based violence. As I have said, important messages have to be communicated to change behaviour and to make people aware of the risks of that practice. It is important that that is informed by the Government’s activities, and I will ensure that a detailed response on the actions that the Government has taken is given to Claire Baker as a consequence of our exchanges today.

Libraries are at the heart of Scotland’s communities and, although library policy is devolved to local authorities, which have a statutory duty to ensure the adequate provision of library services for their residents, they are a hugely important community and cultural resource that is valued by us all.

As Liz Smith knows, I am really quite familiar with Perth and Kinross, since I have had the privilege of representing the county for 27 years, and I intend to carry on representing it for many more years to come. I tell Liz Smith that what would enrage the people of Perth and Kinross would be a £1 billion unfunded tax cut. This is where the Conservative Party is really in a mess in Parliament just now.

Liz Smith is a member of Parliament for whom I have the greatest respect, and I understand the seriousness of the question that she puts to me about libraries, but how is that situation going to be helped if we have a tax cut of £1 billion, which takes £1 billion out of public expenditure? That is going to make the situation much worse.

The Government is giving local authorities a real-terms increase in their core revenue grant. We have increased the money that is available to local authorities as a whole by £1 billion. I hope that, out of that, local authorities will be able to make measured decisions about the level of the council tax and about the funding of public services.

Liz Smith said that Perth and Kinross Council has implemented a 10 per cent council tax increase. That is not the case. The council has considered indicative council tax increases, but it has not yet had the financial settlement specific to Perth and Kinross, which will be set out later today, when the local government circular is issued. Perth and Kinross Council is planning on a flat-cash settlement, but it has a real-terms increase, and I hope that, when it sees that circular, it will see that it has more money than it expected. I am sure that the people of Perth and Kinross will be reassured by my answer and will not be hoodwinked by the false promises of the Conservatives.

There is a way to address the two-child limit issue that Jackie Dunbar has put to me, and that is by passing the Scottish Government’s budget, which will take measures to lift the two-child limit and, as a consequence, will lift more children out of poverty. That is the first thing that the Parliament can do. That could be added to the measures that we are taking in the budget to provide the Scottish child payment, which is helping to keep 100,000 children out of poverty. We can strengthen the outcomes for young people by supporting the Government’s budget, which invests more in education to support additional support needs and deliver more teachers. That is some of the action that the Parliament can take when it supports the Government’s budget.

That is not happening. The Government has provided financial support to Youth Enterprise Scotland. We value the work that it is doing and will continue to support it.

I want to see teacher numbers rising, which is why the Government has negotiated an agreement with local authorities on restoring teacher numbers to their 2023 levels.

However, it is important that we look at the outcomes that are achieved as a consequence of the investments that have been made by the Government and local authorities. Figures that were published this week show record levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy in our schools, and the attainment gap in literacy has reduced to its lowest level ever.

The attainment gap in positive destinations has reduced by 60 per cent since 2009-10—[Interruption.]

In 2022-23, 92.8 per cent of school leavers were in positive destinations nine months after leaving school. Many of those measures were put in place by me as education secretary—[Interruption.]

Many of those measures were put in place by me as education secretary, in recognition of the fact that, if we want to close the poverty-related attainment gap—when poverty has been made worse by the decisions of the most recent Conservative Government in the United Kingdom—we must take long-term action and make a long-term commitment to strengthening education. That is precisely what the Scottish Government has delivered.

I will say it again, as it went down so well. Mr Coffey is 100 per cent correct.

Let me share an—[Interruption.] Let me share an observation with Parliament. If we want to spend the resources that the Government allocated yesterday on delivering outcomes such as 8,000 more affordable homes—I think that that constitutes an outcome in Mr Sarwar’s definition—Parliament has to be prepared to vote for the Government’s budget. The time for posturing will be over soon—[Interruption.]