Chamber and committees

Last week, I met my constituent, Kevin McPhillips, regarding his soft play business, which is in my constituency. He is concerned that although competitors in level 1 areas can reopen, his business is without income. Will the First Minister outline the support that is available for soft play centres in Strathkelvin and Bearsden? Is the Scottish Government re-examining the position of soft play centres within the protection levels?

I am pleased to speak in this very important debate, and I thank Monica Lennon for lodging the motion and bringing the debate to the chamber.

This is a story that has to be told. It is a terrible indictment of our society that, not so long ago, in my lifetime, an estimated 60,000 women had their child forcibly removed after birth simply because they were not married. The cruelty and inhumanity of that beggars belief. As a mother, I cannot imagine the horror of it.

I am aware of women who have suffered that trauma—women who were told that their grandmother was their mother and whose mum was the woman whom they had thought of all their life as their sister. Despite that being utterly wrong and against all the rights of the biological mother, at least those women grew up with the child in their life.

Many women, such as Marion McMillan, whom we heard Monica Lennon speak about and who featured in the excellent report by Marion Scott in the Sunday Post, did not even have that. I am talking about women not just in Scotland or the United Kingdom but throughout the world. In 1967, Marion McMillan was a single teenage mum from Stranraer who was forced to hand over her baby at a Salvation Army mother and baby home. She begged to keep him, but he was given to a married couple, and Marion did not see him again for almost 40 years. Ironically, she was unaware that, while she was searching for him, he spent years searching for her.

Speaking to the Sunday Post, Marion said:

“We were vulnerable young women who were bullied and told if we really loved our babies, we’d give them up so they could have a mummy and a daddy.

I remember crying and telling them ‘but I’m his mummy’, and begging them not to take my son. I was told not to be silly. I’d get over it and I could always have other babies when I was married.”

Incredibly, despite her lifelong trauma, Marion found the strength to reunite hundreds of mums and their children, and she gave testimony to Australia to secure an official apology there in 2013. She is also spearheading a campaign to get an official apology for mothers across Scotland, which Monica Lennon calls for in her motion. I whole-heartedly support that, and I am pleased that, in the chamber just a few weeks ago, the First Minister expressed her support for it, too.

Marion said:

“I can’t express how important an official apology is. It’s unimaginable something like this could happen in Scotland. But it did and the legacy of pain devastated many lives, especially those who never found each other.”

There are thousands of silent, traumatised women in Scotland who will relate to that—whose pain and anguish has been held within them for years. An apology will not right the wrongs that have been done to them but, if it gives them some comfort, it should happen.

What happened to those women was unforgivable. Thankfully, it would not happen today, but it serves as a reminder that we must always be aware that equality and women’s rights must never be rolled back. I am talking about women’s health; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex equality; misogyny; violence against women; reproduction rights; pension rights; and much more. We must never allow those who would push their own agenda of judgment and moral high ground to impede the advances that we have made in equality.

What has happened to 60,000 women in Scotland should serve as a reminder that human rights and democracy can be fragile. I want the women who have suffered that inhumanity to achieve not just an apology but a promise from us as legislators in the Parliament that we will protect future generations, including their children and grandchildren, from ever having to face the horror that they have had to endure throughout their lives.

If an apology gives the women comfort, should that not be why we do it? If it gives them comfort, surely it is the right thing to do.

What support will be given to survivors who struggle to find or access records?

Before I start my speech, I say that Pam Gosal asked an awful lot of questions in her speech, but was not prepared to listen to answers—which seems to be very odd.

I am pleased speak in this important debate at such a challenging time for our justice system on many levels. To reiterate what is said in the Scottish Government motion, I commend the commitment and innovation that our justice partners and stakeholders have shown in keeping the wheels of justice turning during the pandemic by introducing the many innovative solutions that have been adopted to address the mounting case load and to clear the backlog.

As deputy convener of the Justice Committee in the previous session, I know how quickly and efficiently resources including remote jury centres in cinemas were set up to address the mounting case load and to tackle the backlog, while civil business was moved online. All that was helped by an additional £50 million in this year’s Scottish Government budget to support recovery across the justice system. Setting up those centres enabled pre-pandemic capacity to be restored for solemn business, with hugely inventive and state-of-the-art solutions to the challenges around jury trials that were faced by jurisdictions around the world.

As we slowly emerge from the pandemic, the SNP Government will undertake a review of Scotland’s prosecution system in order to deliver fairer, faster and more effective justice. The criminal justice system must now focus on three things: recovery, returning to its pre-pandemic capacity and addressing backlogs across the whole system. Good progress on that has been made. Since the resumption of criminal trials in April, the number of those has already returned to 61 per cent of the pre-Covid average.

However, we must be realistic about the backlog and the effect that it has had on victims whose trials have been postponed, particularly victims of sexual crimes.

I am sorry, Presiding Officer.

The pain of victims of sexual crimes has increased immeasurably due to the unavoidable delays that have been caused by the pandemic. We must prioritise resolution of cases at the earliest opportunity and embed new ways of working. Crucially, the SNP’s manifesto sets out a wide range of commitments that are aimed at ensuring that victims’ rights are at the heart of Scotland’s criminal justice system. I am pleased that we will continue to support victims groups and that we will appoint a victims commissioner to provide an independent voice for victims and witnesses. We need to transform outcomes for people who are affected by the criminal justice system.

That brings me nicely on to a subject that is very close to my heart. As convener of the cross-party group on women’s justice, I know that there many issues that affect women and their families that we must address, as previous speakers have outlined. I am pleased that there is a new focus on that by the Government, and I thank the minister for meeting me earlier. There are still far too many women in prison, including women who have been the victims of much more serious offences than those of which they have been accused. Many are the victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, including coercive control and childhood trauma, which can be drivers for their offending.

If my colleagues remember anything from my plea to keep women out of prison, it should be this: it is estimated that eight out of 10 women who are in custody at any time will have suffered head injuries that were predominantly caused by domestic abuse. It does not take a genius to see that prison is not the place for them. It wrecks families and lives. Holistic mentoring can be the alternative to prosecution, so I am pleased that we have so many excellent agencies that are able to provide that.

Our cross-party group wrote to the previous Cabinet Secretary for Justice asking for diversion from prosecution, alternatives to remand and residential rehabilitation pathways for women. I know that those are being considered.

I am delighted that the review will consider reform of corroboration and the three-verdict system, including a consultation on removal of the not proven verdict in recognition of the strong case that can be made for its abolition, and I am delighted that Lady Dorian’s review will be part of that. I welcome the discussion. Corroboration and the not proven verdict are the key reasons why there is such a low prosecution rate in sexual crimes, so that needs to be addressed urgently.

The Scottish Government will develop a new funding regime for victim support organisations, and it will introduce a justice-specific knowledge and skills framework for trauma-informed practice.

I am also overjoyed that we will reform how children and young people are treated by the justice system and that we will introduce the bairn’s hoose. During the previous parliamentary session, the Justice Committee visited Norway to see the barnahus model, which most Scandinavian countries have introduced. It is safe to say that we were blown away by what we witnessed. At present, young people who are caught up in our justice system have to go to multiple different services and locations. In the bairn’s hoose, all the care and support that a child and its family needs will be delivered under one roof in a welcoming and safe environment.

The Scottish Government is also investing significant levels of funding in front-line support services to ensure that the victims of gender-based violence can safely access the support that they need. I echo all the comments that we heard from Maggie Chapman and Pauline McNeill about that.

Of the recently reported rise in the number of convictions for 2019-20, more than half were accounted for by the new offences in Scotland’s Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. By strengthening our domestic abuse laws, such as by introducing domestic abuse protection orders, on which legislation was passed in the previous session, the Scottish Government has provided the police and prosecutors with greater powers to tackle that insidious crime.

I look forward to the Government’s progressive and transformative review of justice to address issues in modern Scotland. We know that the legal system in Scotland has a proud and world-renowned heritage, but that should not mean that we keep it in aspic or that improvements can never be made. I believe that we have reached the point at which we should do so.

There is much more in the Social Justice and Fairness Commission’s report—far too much to highlight in four minutes. I thank everyone—not just the elected politicians, but the many innovative members—who worked on producing the report. The report is the start of a life-changing, nation-changing conversation that puts human rights at the heart of every decision, and it provides a map that I would be happy to follow. I applaud its vision for a Scotland that I want to live in and in which future generations can flourish.

I am pleased to speak in my first members’ business debate of the new session, and I am exceptionally pleased to speak on such an important subject. I am just sorry that I did not hear Stephen Kerr’s speech in advance, because I could have used all my time to rebut the nonsense that we have just heard.

I congratulate my new colleague Neil Gray on his excellent opening speech and on bringing the debate to the chamber. I also thank him for his exceptional work as a member of the Social Justice and Fairness Commission.

In order to get somewhere, everyone needs a route map for their journey. The commission’s report shows how the people of Scotland can live in a fairer and more equal society—one that values wellbeing, eradicates poverty and ensures that no one is left behind. I certainly want that for my grandchildren, and this is the map that we need to get us there. The report highlights many key elements that are needed to improve life for everyone. We know that society is unequal—it seems as though it always has been—but this is our chance to change it, albeit with limited powers until we are a normal independent country.

Yesterday afternoon in the chamber, we heard harrowing stories about people who are living in poverty and the struggles that they face every day. This is Scotland in 2021, and that should not be happening. We heard, among others, the Tories—including Stephen Kerr—who are responsible for most of the poverty that has been created in Scotland, say that we should use the powers that we already have. However, as Neil Gray said, much of that is in our manifesto. The SNP Government has introduced the baby box and other game-changing poverty reduction measures such as the Scottish child payment and the best start grant, among many others.

With independence, we could do so much more. We would not have to mitigate harmful Tory welfare policies. We could reverse Tory welfare policies such as the abhorrent two-child limit, the vile rape clause and the cruel five-week wait for universal credit. We could have a welcoming and inclusive immigration policy and renewed employment rights under a fair work agenda, and we could get rid of unpaid work trials, zero-hours contracts, and fire-and-rehire legislation.

Warm, affordable housing is a basic human right that is sadly non-existent for too many people. That situation must—and could—be addressed with radical new thinking about the social rented sector. A bold drug policy based on harm reduction and recovery is now happening, and a conversation about decriminalisation is long overdue. Under the UK Government, our pensions are the lowest in Europe; with independence, we could lower the age of qualification and pay a fair rate. That is the least that the older citizens of Scotland should expect.

The commission also proposes establishing pilots of two key models of social security: universal basic income and the minimum income guarantee. Those could be the springboard to winning the battle against poverty.

That was a bit of a facile comment. All those initiatives will be costed. We will produce a white paper, as we did in 2014. We do not ask people to take a leap of faith on things that are uncosted.

I am pleased to hear that the minister will write to all chief social work officers across Scotland to seek assurance that they have, where necessary, amended their procedure to comply with regulations. Is the minister aware of any local authorities and chief social work officers that have already taken steps to review or amend their policies?