Chamber and committees

Does anyone else want to come in on that?

I was quite amazed by the statistic that she gave about how many MSPs represent coastal communities. That, in itself, shows that the CPG is needed.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the summit on tackling violence in schools. (S6O-02536)

I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer. I welcome the fact that the first part of the summit has been held. However, it should have happened before the Scottish schools returned.

During the debate that the cabinet secretary mentioned, the Scottish Conservatives also called for an action plan to tackle violence and disruption to be ready for the start of the new school year, a new standard reporting system, a plan to address the increasing issues with attendance, and new guidance for school staff. What work has been undertaken on those other key issues?

I have seen what addiction does to those we care about, and I have experienced losses because of it. The issue deserves to be treated as a national emergency, and it has deserved to be treated that way for more than a decade. Shamefully, the SNP is, once again, solely looking to play politics with the issue. It is looking to deflect blame away from its awful record and is trying to create a constitutional grievance instead of working together to save lives. Instead, it should work with the UK Government.

All the SNP does is try to fight the UK Government. The SNP’s demand for decriminalisation is purely an attempt to create a grievance with the UK Government.

The point that I am trying to make is that we have the same laws in Scotland as there are in the rest of the UK but we have almost three times more drug deaths in Scotland, so I do not think we need to go down that route. We need to see what more the SNP Government can do with the powers that it has.

I would say to the member that the Scottish Government needs to look at itself and take the responsibility that it has to take now for Scotland having the largest number of drug deaths in Europe and the developed world.

For a few years, the SNP seemed to be accepting some responsibility. Nicola Sturgeon apologised. She admitted that she took her eye off the ball, and she committed to putting money into drug treatment. But what is happening now? Funding for recovery services across Scotland has been subjected to significant cuts. The 2022-23 budget allocation by the Scottish Government to organisations that are helping those with addiction was £18.8 million less than it was the previous year.

Do you know what, Presiding Officer? It really hurts me to see treatment services cut when we have the worst drug deaths record in Europe. Communities such as mine, in Springburn, are devastated every day, week, month and year by another life lost to addiction. How can the Government stand here today, protesting about powers that it does not have, when it does not even use the powers that it does have? How can it blame anybody else for drug deaths increasing when it cut the treatment budgets? How can it possibly claim that it needed to change laws when we did not lose this many people to drugs when we had the exact same laws?

Instead of deflecting blame and pursuing a grievance with the UK Government, the SNP should be using the powers that it has now to their full extent. It could be doing so much more to save lives. It could increase the number of rehab beds. It could cut the length of time that people wait to get into addiction programmes of all kinds. It could bring in a right to recovery bill, to guarantee that everyone can get the treatment that they need before it is too late. That policy is backed by front-line organisations, experts and—crucially—families who have lost loved ones to drugs. It is a Scottish Conservative policy, but it is not a typical Conservative centre-right policy. It would enshrine a human rights approach in law, it is progressive and it would start to save lives immediately. I also urge the SNP Government not only to restore previous levels of funding to organisations that help people with addiction, but to increase funding for those indispensable services.

Scotland can end this national shame, but it will depend on the SNP Government accepting responsibility for what is in its control. It must use the powers that is has now, not continue to focus on ways to fight the UK Government.

I will make some progress.

The SNP is trying to find an excuse to blame Westminster for a problem that the Scottish Government created. It is completely dodging responsibility and accountability, so let me remind SNP members of the facts. Since the SNP came to power, drug deaths have reached record levels, which is why Nicola Sturgeon admitted that she took her “eye off the ball” on drug deaths. We had the same laws then as now, but the number of drug deaths was far lower.

On the SNP’s watch, Scotland has the worst drug deaths problem in Europe. We have one of the worst drug deaths rates in the developed world, but that was not the case before the SNP came to power. We lose far more people than anywhere else in the UK, despite having exactly the same laws. Has anyone in Government thought to ask themselves why that is?

The problem is our recovery and treatment options. The SNP cut them several years ago, and the number of deaths increased dramatically. It cut the budget for alcohol and drug partnerships, and lives were lost as a result. It slashed the number of rehab beds, so thousands of people could not get the help that they needed. Once the SNP took those actions, it suddenly started talking about consumption rooms and decriminalisation. Before it reduced treatment options, we had never heard those ideas from the SNP. It never suggested them until after it cut budgets and drug deaths increased. It started suggesting those ideas purely to deflect from its own failures. Its motives are so see-through that it is utterly shameful.

Many shops and restaurants in Glasgow city centre have been forced to close in recent years. The British Retail Consortium recently found that footfall in Glasgow was down more than it is in 10 other large UK cities. Another report revealed that footfall was 19 per cent lower than it was pre-Covid. Does the minister recognise that the Scottish National Party council’s low-emission zone might be forcing people away from Glasgow city centre?

A few weeks ago, the Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy, Elena Whitham, was asked four times how many rehab beds there are in Scotland, and four times she could not answer. Campaigners and charities say that many people still cannot access residential beds. Can the minister tell us how many rehab beds are available right now and how many people have had to travel outwith Scotland for rehabilitation?