Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Official Report 882KB pdf

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Topical Question Time

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Body Image

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the recent Mental Health Foundation report, which suggests that one third of adults in Scotland are anxious about their body image. (S5T-01647)

I welcome the recent Mental Health Foundation report and its focus on the importance of a healthy body image. Scotland is at the forefront of tackling that worldwide issue. Body image is increasingly recognised as a factor that can negatively affect people’s self-esteem and mental health. That is particularly, but not exclusively, the case for young women, as was highlighted by recent research that we published. We take seriously the report and the acuteness of those issues for young people. This morning, I announced the establishment of an advisory group on healthy body image for young people. Following a six-month review, the group will provide the Scottish Government with specific recommendations for the next steps on how to promote and achieve a healthy body image.

I thank the minister for her helpful answer. I also welcome the report and the excellent work that the Mental Health Foundation has done. The survey highlighted the profound impact that things such as social media and online advertising are having on many young people in Scotland. It also alluded to differences in the perception of body image among people from ethnic minorities and people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. It is sad that the survey reported that 38 per cent of adults said that they felt depressed about their body image, and 32 per cent of young people in Scotland thought that images on social media were causing them to worry about it.

I welcome the establishment of the advisory group. Will the minister elaborate on the make up of the group’s membership, its strategy and objectives, whether its focus will extend to at-risk adult groups and whether any funding has been allocated the group?

It is particularly fitting that we are discussing the issue in Parliament during mental health awareness week and learning disability week.

This morning, I met Girlguiding Scotland to discuss the impact of body image on its members’ mental health and wellbeing and to seek its views on the advisory group. I am happy to give Mr Greene more detail. The advisory group will focus on the following tasks: developing a charter pledge on healthy body image for young people; developing a Scotland-wide definition of what body image means; developing options for how relevant professionals can support healthy body image, including in schools; considering the need for wider public consultation on where actions should be taken; and providing the Scottish Government with specific recommendations and advice on the next steps. The group will link into the forthcoming advice on healthy social media use that we announced a few weeks ago, and it will reflect the issues relating to adolescent females, as highlighted in the report.

We will announce the make up of the group in due course.

I thank the minister for the further clarification.

There were a number of other recommendations in the report that we should take seriously, although I appreciate that some of them relate to reserved matters, such as regulation of the industry and the internet. However, I would like to have an understanding of the Scottish Government’s position and what steps it can take around improving the reporting of, for example, online abuse on social media, and making recommendations on public awareness of a greater diversity of body types. Does the Government think that it has a role to play in changing people’s perceptions in Scotland of the great diversity that exists and the idea that one should never be ashamed of one’s own body.

Mr Greene raises some interesting points. It is incumbent on us all to challenge some of the perceptions that people—particularly, but not exclusively, young people, and certainly not exclusively adolescent girls—report in relation to their body image and how those affect their mental wellbeing. We recognise the links between unhealthy use of social media and lower mental wellbeing in children and young people. That is why we committed to publishing advice on healthy social media use. That piece of work will link into the advisory group, which will come back to the Scottish Government with recommendations.

The minister will be well aware that people with diabetes face particular mental health challenges arising from body image and physical health. I am sure that she will also know that there was a round-table meeting in Parliament today that highlighted those issues. Does she agree with Diabetes Scotland that it is important that patients have access to psychological and emotional support, as well as to routine examinations relating to their physical health, and does she agree that patients should be involved in the design of that support?

To answer Mr Macdonald’s last point about patients being involved, I think that we need to have the voices of lived experience at the heart of all that we do. We have demonstrated that by setting up the children and young people’s mental health task force, which is co-chaired with young people, and young people will certainly be involved in developing the social media guidance for young people. Therefore, we need to ensure that we have that lived experience.

I am aware of the specific issue that Mr Macdonald raises, and that is why we have continued to increase our investment in mental health services. There will be an additional £250 million of investment in mental health services over the next five years to improve services for children and young people and adults across the piece and embed the good mental health record across all our public services.

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Prison Officers (Industrial Action)

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to prison officers balloting on industrial action. (S5T-01646)

The Scottish Government values highly the dedication, commitment and professionalism of Scotland’s hard-working prison officers and other staff. It is to the credit of our front-line prison officers that, despite pressures, our prisons are generally stable and secure environments.

The recognised trade unions have submitted to the Scottish Prison Service their pay proposal for 2019-20, and it is being considered ahead of formal pay negotiations. That process will continue and we would not wish to prejudge its outcome.

As David Strang, former Her Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons for Scotland, said in the introduction to the 2017-18 annual report:

“We should never take for granted the good order that is maintained in Scotland’s prisons and that they are in general stable and secure environments.”

I thank the minister for that answer. She mentioned good order. The Prison Officers Association Scotland says that officers face rising levels of violence. I have compiled figures from every Scottish Prison Service annual report since the Scottish National Party came to power in 2007, and they show that the number of assaults in prisons has never been higher. It has risen by 50 per cent on the SNP’s watch. Does the minister think that that is acceptable? Will she apologise to the prison officers for that appalling statistic?

No, it is not acceptable. The SPS has introduced a national strategic risk and threat group to oversee the response to violence against staff; in addition, local and national violence dashboards have been developed to support early identification of emerging trends so that the SPS can commission the deployment of a range of tactical options, including things such as national search operations, in order to support prisons in the recovery of weapons and contraband that can lead to or be used in violence.

The SPS continues to seek to develop intelligence and evidence around things such as substance misuse in our prisons, and to understand how they can lead to incidents of violence. A working group has been established to develop operational guidance for all staff in order to support the management of individuals who appear to be under the influence of any substance, and to mitigate the risk of violence.

As the chairman of the Prison Officers Association Scotland noted last week, we have not seen the same levels of violence in Scottish prisons that have been experienced in prisons in England and Wales. However, we are not complacent about that, and we support the on-going work of the SPS in tackling the violence in our prisons.

The minister says that she is not complacent, but the SNP has entirely ignored ideas from the Conservative benches that might stem the violence, such as supplying officers with body-worn cameras. Prisons have been under the SNP’s control for 12 years, and the fact that the ballot is going ahead at all is a mark of failure. If a strike goes ahead, it will be entirely the fault of the SNP.

Parliament must be given an opportunity to hear full details of the matter, the failures of the SNP that have led to this point and what the minister proposes to do about both the potential strike and the violence against officers. Will the minister commit today to give a full statement to Parliament?

The first thing to be absolutely clear about is that the Prison Officers Association Scotland has put in a request for a negotiation around pay, and it has been quite clear that this is not to do with conditions and other factors: it is to do with pay. That is the first thing in the question for me to correct.

We recognise the sometimes difficult and dangerous circumstances that prison officers work in and we are very grateful to them for the service that they give in their jobs. We also recognise the importance of providing a safe and secure environment for those who are in custody, as well as for the men and women who work in our prisons.

The SPS response to increasing levels of violence within our prisons is continually under review and it is taken very seriously. I reassure the Parliament on that point. The SPS continues to respond to the increasing prison population effectively and it has in place robust contingency measures to ensure that the safety and security of staff and those who are in its care are maintained.

Three other members would like to ask a question. I call Neil Findlay.

Pay, overcrowding and violence are indeed issues that are affecting prison staff. Recently, I have spoken to a number of prison officers who have also raised concerns about the impact of new psychoactive substances within prisons. What is the Government doing to protect prison officers who are being impacted by those substances? There is a very bad outcome from that. That is a real, live, big issue among prison staff and is wrapped up in all the concerns that they have about workload, what they do on a day-to-day basis and their health and safety.

That was slightly tangential to the main question, so can the answer be brief, minister?

Neil Findlay mentioned striking. I gently point out to him that prison officers in Scotland have the right to strike, unlike their counterparts in England and Wales. An anti-union ban was imposed in 1994 by Michael Howard as Home Secretary and never repealed in 13 years of the last Labour Government. The SNP Government recognised the right of prison officers to be treated as fairly and equitably as workers in other unions in Scotland.

On drug problems, the SPS is working collaboratively with the Scottish Government and other partners to respond to the challenges that drugs, specifically new psychoactive substances, pose to Scottish prisons. The issue of substance misuse in our prisons is taken very seriously and a range of security measures is in place to prevent the introduction of contraband into our prisons.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer.

Mr Findlay can either make a point of order or ask a subsequent question.

That is fine. I did not mention striking in my question. I know that the minister comes with a prepared answer from the civil service, which she has just read out verbatim. That answer had nothing to do with the question that I asked. Prison officers are struggling daily to address the issue. One of the main aspects related to that is prison mail, because the substances are getting into prison through mail being dipped in them. What is the minister doing to protect prison officers from those substances?

Mr Findlay has had two opportunities to make the point. It is an important point, but it is tangential to the main question, which was about the strike ballot that is taking place. The minister has given a response. If the member is unhappy with the response, there are many ways in which he can follow it up—for example by submitting written questions, or using other opportunities in the chamber.

In 2017-18, prison inspectors in England and Wales documented some of the most disturbing jail conditions that they had ever seen; they described conditions that have no place in an advanced nation in the 21st century. The situation in the rest of the United Kingdom is in stark contrast to that in Scotland. Of course, as the minister said, that is no reason for complacency. How is the Scottish Government taking forward action to reduce the prison population, including extending the presumption against short sentences?

Justice officials have established a prison resilience leadership group of senior officials from a range of justice agencies to ensure cross-agency understanding of the challenges of a rising prison population and to seek co-ordinated approaches in response. We continue to strengthen the provision of alternatives to custody, both to tackle the high remand population and to ensure that community sentences can support rehabilitation and reduce reoffending to help keep crime down and our communities safe. An order to extend the current presumption against short sentences from sentences of three months to sentences of 12 months will be scrutinised in Parliament before the summer recess and, subject to parliamentary approval, the extended presumption will come into force over the summer period.

I cannot help feeling that Ms Mackay has followed the same track as Mr Findlay in asking questions and for answers that are tangential. I hope that Mr McArthur will get us back on track with the subject in hand.

Given the prison officers’ concerns around overcrowding, and notwithstanding what the minister has just said, the prison population now stands at more than 8,000. Two thirds of prisons are at or beyond capacity. Prisoners are sleeping on mattresses on the floor and are doubled up in single cells. If the maximum capacity is not the real maximum, how many more people does the minister think can be accommodated before overcrowding becomes an emergency?

The member is quite right. The problem is a serious one, and the Scottish Government is taking it equally seriously.

The Scottish Prison Service continues to respond effectively to the increasing prison population to ensure that the security and the safety of Scotland’s prisons are maintained. In response to the increasing prison population, the SPS has developed detailed contingency plans. We have already agreed a range of actions that the SPS will take to help it to manage the population within the operational flexibility in its estate. Officials continue to work with the SPS to consider further options to manage the current prison population, alongside measures to reduce the churn of people who enter prison on remand or for short-term sentences.

As I mentioned in my previous answer, in line with our programme for government commitment, an order to extend the current presumption against short sentences from sentences of three months or less to those of 12 months or less will be introduced shortly.