Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, and welcome to the 13th meeting of 2024, in session 6, of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. There are apologies from Maggie Chapman, Meghan Gallacher and Evelyn Tweed.

The first item on our agenda is to decide whether to consider in private the correspondence that the committee has recently received from Shelter Scotland. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.

I will ask the first question. During our evidence sessions, it has been noted that death by suicide increased over the course of the every life matters strategy. When you were looking at the new creating hope together strategy, what work was done to understand the impact of the previous strategy and what gaps there might have been in it?

That was helpful. As there are no other questions from members, I bring our evidence-taking session to a close and I thank the panel for their attendance this morning.

I now move the meeting into private to discuss the final items on our agenda.

The now frequent occurrence of extreme weather events demonstrates the changing climate in Scotland and the difficulties that our communities face in adapting to it. Does the cabinet secretary agree that Opposition parties must work with the Scottish National Party, as the flood resilience strategy for Scotland develops, to ensure parliamentary consensus on the issue in order to confront our climate challenges?

I congratulate Dr Allan on getting the debate to the Scottish Parliament. As we have heard, Europe day 2024 marks the 74th anniversary of the historic Schuman declaration. As the motion states, it is

“a chance to reflect on the aspiration for peace and unity across Europe”.

Seventy-four years ago this month, on 9 May 1950, the then French foreign minister Robert Schuman laid the foundations for the European Union with his renowned Schuman declaration. His declaration opened with the line:

“World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.”

Those creative efforts began with a proposal of joint control of coal and steel production between France and Germany. In the seven decades that followed, interdependence and co-operation between European nations went from strength to strength, with the European Coal and Steel Community, the treaty of Rome that created the European Economic Community and the creation of the European Parliament.

For decades, Scotland had a number of members of the European Parliament standing up for Scotland in Europe. One of those MEPs sadly passed away last year, and I will conclude my remarks with the words of the lady affectionately known on the continent as Madame Écosse.

Our neighbours from the continent have always been welcome in Scotland. We had a French national, Christian Allard, representing North East Scotland in the Scottish Parliament for a number of years. At a time of UK Government hostility towards those who hail from elsewhere, it is more important than ever to reiterate that welcome. Last month, along with my colleague Kevin Stewart, I welcomed the French ambassador and the consul general in Aberdeen, and we discussed the rich past and vibrant present that the north-east shares with France.

Members might know that our national hero Robert Bruce, himself of French origin, sent an embassy to the European continent in 1323 to renew the auld alliance of 1295. The embassy included the Earl of Moray and the Bishop of Moray. The latter would go on to establish the Scots college at the University of Paris way back in 1333. Our educational links with France and Europe go back at least seven centuries.

William Elphinstone would go on to study at the University of Paris for a number of years before returning to Scotland to found the University d’Aberdeen, modelling it on the French university. Now, many centuries later, the University of Aberdeen, alongside our other universities in Scotland, continues to welcome European students. It bears repeating that our educational system and our country are richer for their presence.

Brexit, however, has no doubt threatened that. European students are no longer eligible for tuition-free university education in Scotland. Sadly, the UK Government’s decision to ignore the will of the Scottish people and its pursuit of a hard Brexit, which tore us out of a number of EU programmes, including Erasmus+, continue to threaten our centuries-old educational, scientific and cultural exchanges with Europe.

Last week, I was delighted to welcome to the Scottish Parliament the consul general of France in Scotland, diplomats from the French embassy in London and a number of graduates who have benefited from the international mobility granted to them by schemes such as Erasmus+. However, each and every one of those whom I spoke to raised the urgency with which the loss of programmes such as Erasmus+ needs to be reversed.

Winnie Ewing was the architect of the Erasmus+ programme, which fuels fraternity between European nations. Therefore, it is with the words of Madame Écosse at the reconvening of our Scottish Parliament that I will conclude:

“My last practical hope is that everyone who was born in Scotland ... and everyone who chose Scotland as their country, will live in harmony together, enjoying our cultures”—

cultures plural. She went on to say that out there

“in Europe and in the wider world, there is a bank of good will towards Scotland.”—[Official Report, 12 May 1999; c 5-6.]

Those words are as true today as they were then.

Low-emission zones are in place across Europe, and around 320 cities have them. What has the Scottish Government learned from the experiences of the European cities while developing its work for the introduction of the low-emission zones in Scotland’s cities?

I was very moved to hear the First Minister speak of his wife’s tirelessness in trying to make sure that multiple sclerosis does not get in the way of her living her life to the full. As someone who grew up as a child of a deaf father, I was well aware of the struggles that come with living with additional support needs. With that in mind, how will the Scottish Government ensure that people in Scotland who are living with additional support needs are supported in living their lives to the full?

Do members have any final comments?

Do you want to formally suggest that and put the motion to a vote?

I invite the committee to agree to delegate to me the publication of a short factual report on our deliberations on the affirmative SSI that we have considered today.

Members indicated agreement.