Chamber and committees

By working together.

Can the cabinet secretary expand on the aims of the domestic homicide review task force and provide an update on its continuing work?

I thank my colleague Stuart McMillan for bringing this important debate to the chamber. I also thank Jamie Greene for his really interesting speech.

The motion states that

“more than half of children in Scotland have experienced bereavement of a close family member by the age of eight”

and that

“62% of children in Scotland have lost a close family member by the age of 10”.

Like Jamie Greene, I was surprised and shocked by those statistics. The figures were published by the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice in 2020, before the impact of Covid was known, so the figures may be even higher now, sadly.

We know that bereavement and loss contribute to trauma and are counted as an adverse childhood experience. The Childhood Bereavement Network has done amazing work on the subject. The theme for 2023 is “The Shape of Your Support”. Support for grieving children may come from those outside the family, as the wider family will, in all likelihood, be grieving themselves and may not be the best people for young people to turn to at an incredibly sensitive and sad time.

I was interested and encouraged to hear about the initiative by the Inverclyde bereavement network and former Clydeview academy pupil Ben Kane, who set up a support group in the school for children who are dealing with bereavement. Ben has shown incredible maturity and courage in setting that up. As Stuart McMillan explained, he has held talks with Inverclyde Council about expanding the service to all Inverclyde schools.

I hope that the initiative can go beyond Inverclyde and help grieving children in East Dunbartonshire and my constituency of Strathkelvin and Bearsden—and, indeed, throughout all areas of Scotland. We have wonderful voluntary and third sector support networks in my constituency, and I am sure that the service is something that would be welcomed. Indeed, Child Bereavement UK and its national development co-ordinator for Scotland believe that working together could make a meaningful impact to Scotland’s young people during what it considers to be such a difficult period in their lives.

We should remember, too, that bereavement often involves the death of a pet, which can be very traumatic for children and adults alike, and sensitive support and counselling should always be available for people going through that experience.

Depending on the age of a child, grief will be felt in a multitude of ways, and the Childhood Bereavement Network can provide professional and caring support in every case. Its excellent website is a source of valuable information and is well worth a visit for anyone who is struggling to cope or support a young person.

I cannot help but think about the children of Gaza and Israel at this time of terrible conflict in the middle east. I know that I will not be alone in dreading watching and reading about the suffering of babies and children in that desperate war zone. Those children are frightened and confused, unable to comprehend why they have lost their mums, dads and siblings in such a sudden, violent and incomprehensible way. They face a lifetime of trauma, and I hope with all my heart that support is there for them to help them to heal. Their grief puts all our problems into perspective.

I commend the Childhood Bereavement Network, Child Bereavement UK and, indeed, young Ben Kane for all the work that they are doing to support young people experiencing grief. Grief is a part of life for everyone, young and old, and I am heartened to see the focus on support and understanding—something that, in the past, was in short supply. I look forward to hearing speeches from across the chamber.

The news of 450 jobs being cut at Reach plc is deeply concerning, and it speaks to the wider issue of resourcing in journalism. Does the First Minister agree that, with senior executives withdrawing bonuses in the millions of pounds while hard-working journalists are thrown on the scrapheap, the real loser in that is our democracy?

Does the four-monthly basis that you just mentioned mean that you are monitoring the situation? If you do not see an improvement, is there a cut-off point at which you will say that things have not improved?

My other question is about GEOAmey staffing. Do we know why it has reached such a crisis point? Was it due to Brexit or not paying its staff enough? It is a private company, so it does not seem like a satisfactory arrangement—or at least it has not been satisfactory. You said that you have been in discussions with the other justice partners. As you say, it is quite a complex picture, but are you confident that things will improve with GEOAmey from now on?

Can you say how that lines up with the Istanbul convention, which was passed fairly recently, with regard to its estimation of what is needed?

On numerous occasions, Scottish Women’s Aid has raised the issue of domestic abuse survivors being able to access legal aid, and the issue of their eligibility for it. Do you have any plans to address that situation and the availability of legal aid solicitors basically, because that seems to be a huge gaping hole in the justice system?

That is encouraging, and I think that the funds that you mentioned might go some way towards alleviating the issue of the lack of legal aid solicitors that are available and will help women who have suffered violence.

Good morning, panel members. I want to ask about your contract with GEOAmey, which I understand is worth around £240 million. There have been highly publicised problems with GEOAmey, with one lawyer describing it as an “absolute disgrace”. In your written submission, you say:

“Additional funding is likely to be required”

for that. How will you look to improve the service, and what kind of additional funding are you looking at?

Were any alternative suppliers considered during the period of trouble once it was clear that there were such problems? You told us the reasons for those. Are you stuck with GEOAmey or can you look around?