Chamber and committees

As I know that the member knows, it is not appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on individual cases, but I assure him that Scots law prevents someone who has unlawfully killed another person from inheriting that person’s estate. Although a murderer cannot inherit from their victim’s estate, they can assume the role of executor. The function of the executor is to represent the deceased and is fiduciary in nature, which means that there is an ethical relationship of trust. Until such time as the estate is distributed, they have control of the deceased person’s property.

The question allows me to say that the funding has allowed Veterans First Point and Combat Stress—this will be of interest to Pam Duncan-Glancy, as well—to take on two specialist veteran mental health service providers to continue to provide advice and support to veterans across Scotland. The funding is also being used to commission the see me campaign to design and implement a campaign to address stigma. It is appalling that veterans should suffer stigma in this day and age, but we will address the issue, which has been experienced by veterans and their families.

By contrast, that is a fair question. We acknowledge the point—[Interruption.] Again, we get interventions from a sedentary position. It is the case that short sentences are associated with increased reconviction levels, as the member says. We are looking to increase the community disposals that can be used in the judicial system because, as I said in my answer to a previous question, they have lower reconviction rates.

I am sure that the member shares with me the ultimate aim of reducing the number of crimes and, therefore, the number of victims in Scotland. He makes a fair point, and I hope that he will agree that that is the Government’s direction of travel.

I last met Poppyscotland to discuss veterans issues on 29 September 2021. Since then, my officials have engaged with it regularly on a range of topics including the poppy appeal, the festival of remembrance, preparations for events to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands war, promotion of the veterans question in the 2022 census and veterans’ employment and health.

The most recent engagement by Scottish Government officials came last month, when Poppyscotland was invited to comment on the current draft of our upcoming refresh of the veterans strategy action plan.

As ever, today’s debate has ranged widely across many of the issues and challenges that I have always conceded face the justice sector. However, it is clear that, for the most part, the contributions have indicated a collective agreement that we have to create more effective, person-centred, trauma-informed—someone said trauma-responsive—justice system that supports people in recovery, in all senses of the word.

I apologise for not getting through all the members’ contributions, but I will highlight one or two.

Most recently, we heard from Katy Clark. I am more than happy to have a discussion about what more, in addition to legal aid, could be done in relation to the circumstances of victims of sexual assault. That will be addressed by Lady Dorrian’s report, and we are about to have further discussions on the matter, but I am happy to have a specific discussion with Katy Clark, as well as with Pauline McNeill, if she wants to do so.

Maggie Chapman’s contribution, which was very good, reminded us that, regardless of the throwing back and forth of figures, the basis for much of crime in society is inequality and poverty.

Rona Mackay said that the Tories know that to be true. I am not sure that that is the case, so I might disagree with my colleague on that. However, I think that Jamie Greene knows it to be true. There is far more to the context of crime than the tabloid headlines that are the sum total of what we get from the Tories at every juncture.

I reiterate my belief in the direction that is set out in our justice vision. That is the way forward, but that is not to say that everything is as it should be; for example, we have not mentioned the extent to which the justice system itself is gendered.

We have a lot of challenges in the justice system, but I believe that the justice vision is the way forward, and there seems to be general agreement among most members in the chamber about that. For that reason, I have lodged the amendment in my name. I am sorry that we cannot support the Labour amendment for reasons that I am sure are obvious, but I hope that members will support the amendment in my name.

The statistics show that recorded crime remains at one of the lowest levels since 1974 and is down 41 per cent since 2006-07, with non-sexual violent crime down 36 per cent over the same period and homicides at their lowest level since 1976.

Incidentally, last November, the member retweeted an accusation that I had misled this Parliament on homicides. I hope that he will take the opportunity today to either repeat that accusation or to apologise for it, because it is entirely false.

The Scottish crime and justice survey shows that adults in Scotland were less likely to experience crime in 2019-20 than those living in England and Wales. Although that progress is very encouraging, the levels of crime over recent years highlight that there is more to be done. We have increased the policing budget, with a total in 2022-23 of almost £1.4 billion.

First, members will note that Craig Hoy rejected the idea of either confirming or apologising for the allegation that he made last November.

On the policing situation, of course we have—[Interruption.] The Tories get very animated when they hear this. We have in Scotland substantially more police officers than England and Wales have, and they are paid substantially more here—a constable starting in the police force is paid around £5,000 more in Scotland.

We know what the Tories do when they have the chance to set levels of policing: it is substantially less than what the Scottish National Party does. We will continue to invest in police services.

I note, in passing, that the Conservatives made no amendment to our budget to ask for increased funding for police costs. They made no amendment when they had the chance to do so, so they must, despite what they say today, be very pleased about the higher levels of policing here in Scotland, under the Scottish National Party.

I do not agree with that. I simply drew to the member’s attention the fact that different rules are being applied by the UK Government in relation to Wales and Scotland. The UK Government does not fund the commissioner in Scotland; we set up the post ourselves and pay for it through funds in Scotland, none of which is associated with any part of the Barnett formula.

This Government does a great deal of work on veterans and has done so for many years, and we have dragged the UK Government with us to do more. We think that the work that we do on veterans should be recognised in the funding formula.

I would have thought that the member would agree that we should have more funding for veterans in Scotland, and that the UK Government should stand behind that and help our veterans wherever it is possible to do so.

It is good to have that supplementary question, which relates to the substantive question about Poppyscotland. As I said in our news release with Poppyscotland back in March, I strongly encourage all veterans in Scotland who have not already done so to take the opportunity to complete the census, including the question on previous service in the armed forces, before the extended deadline of the end of May. That will help us to develop a more complete picture than we have ever had of our veterans population. It will give us an insight into the ages and circumstances of veterans throughout Scotland that will be vital as we continue to improve the provision and targeting of support for armed services personnel and their families.