Seòmar agus comataidhean

I, too, thank John Mason for securing the debate, although I leave to others the question of whether the statistics stand up to scrutiny.

My speech comes with a health warning. For me, the benefit of camping is to bring back sharp memories of the 90 per cent of my camping experiences that were determined by the elements—I say to John Mason that I am talking about less of a drop than a deluge. I will exemplify by describing two camping experiences, but there were others.

The first comes from when I was a child, when, on warm sunny days—yes, in childhood, there appeared to be some—we would plead with my mother to fetch two blankets, peg them to the washing line and pull them outwards to provide a makeshift tent. We would add a bit of carpet inside and nestle down with comics and juice, and we were in a world of our own.

The second example was when I was the girl guide patrol leader of the daffodils—can you imagine it, Presiding Officer?—and our troop went camping from Edinburgh to faraway North Berwick. We lugged with us sailors’ kit bags—mine belonged to my Uncle Dod, who had been in the merchant navy, so it bore the ravages of time. It was heavy and awkward and entirely inappropriate, but it was my pride and joy. At our destination, we had to erect heavy-duty bell tents, which slept a patrol of eight or so, hammering the tent pegs in ourselves and then building from twigs and branches a rack for the centre to lift our kit bags free from the damp ground. Although I had a real groundsheet, I had no sleeping bag—few working folk had them—but, as part of my guide training, I had been taught how to overlap blankets as a substitute. By the way, the overlapping unscrambled itself in the night, leaving me pretty chilled.

One night, complying with tradition, we had a midnight feast in the tent at 8 pm, as we could not wait for dark, let alone midnight. As we consumed smuggled cold baked beans washed down with Creamola foam—I will provide a glossary—we thought that we were living the high life. Ah, the simplicity of youth. We were allocated tasks in rotation. My patrol started on cooking breakfast, which it vaguely resembled, although the scrambled eggs were somewhat idiosyncratic. Another patrol was sent to dig latrines and so on—I say to Mr Mason that there were no mod cons for us.

However, soon after we completed our wee settlement, the skies opened and, over the next few days, the rain varied only in quality and quantity. Bell tents began to sag, as did our spirits. One touch of the canvas and water poured in. Even groundsheets lost their efficacy.

Finally, our guide leader announced that we had to leave the sinking ship—an appropriate term, given the water surrounding us. A few of us, including me, were handpicked to stay behind and sleep overnight in a local school hall and, the next day, loosen the guy ropes and let the tents blow dry in the predicted wind. That day, like the cavalry over the hill, came a troop of North Berwick boy scouts to rescue us and our equipment.

So it came to pass that I met my very first serious boyfriend, whose name—unluckily for him—is not lost in the mists of time. Where are you now, Colin Campbell? I hope that he is still alive and kicking. I was 14 and he was 18 and, from my perspective, he was a man. We had only one date after that. When we were strolling down Princes Street, my shoe—embarrassingly—fell off. That mortified me. However, that is another story. I got over that, but he was the first boyfriend of a selective few, so he was a big marker in my life and definitely a benefit of camping.

The legislation refers to the use of animals such as Asian elephants for the entertainment of tourists. The cabinet secretary referenced her letter to me. Will she meet me and the chief executive of Save The Asian Elephants to see what measures the Scottish Government can take to help end exploitation of those magnificent beasts?

I declare an interest as a former secondary teacher. It was one of my former professions, and I have high regard for it and hope that a settlement can be reached.

What will the proposed pay settlement mean for teachers in Scotland, particularly compared with teachers in the rest of the United Kingdom?

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing legislation in Scotland similar to the United Kingdom Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill. (S6O-01995)

To ask the First Minister what impact the proposed pay settlement for teachers, if accepted, will have on other Scottish Government budgets. (S6F-01901)

On a point of order, Presiding Officer.

I understand that this is an amendment to a business motion, but I am hearing a speech about council matters. I seek your guidance as to whether this is relevant.

The minister says that the scheme is industry led, but I have a letter that was published on 6 March, signed by among others, the director of the Confederation of British Industry Scotland, the policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, the chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the chief executive of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, alongside hundreds of individuals who describe DRS in its current form as “reckless”. Will the minister, at very least, instruct Circularity Scotland to remove glass from the current recycling scheme?

Of course every girl and woman has the right to travel on public transport without fear of harassment or worse, and of course it is not acceptable that they have to adapt and accommodate such possible events. The reality is that there are measures that will help, such as better lighting at bus stops and train stations and a role for CCTV, although I note that we do not always feel secure that those function, and they are of limited use in prevention.

It goes without saying that having personnel at bus stations and transport hubs, especially at weekends and late at night, makes everyone feel more secure. I would go so far as to suggest that, especially at weekends and at night, a police presence would not go amiss.

However, I believe that there is not a woman in the Parliament who has not experienced some form of harassment, quite often of a sexual nature, during the course of their adult life. It certainly happened to me in my younger days. I will describe two occasions—there were others, none of which I officially reported. Travelling one winter’s evening in my late teens, I felt my hair being tugged—it was long in those days. I could see in the reflection of the bus window the man who was sitting behind me stroking my hair. I called over the bus conductor—we had them in those days—but he did not believe me. “Are ye sure, hen?” he said. Frightened, as the bus turned into the dark street where I was alighting, I stood up at the last minute. The man stood up, too, and followed me. I rushed off the bus and crossed the road to the stop opposite, where a man was standing. I told him what was happening. He seemed to disbelieve me but noticed that I was being followed, so, on my request, accompanied me to my road end.

The man who was following me simply stood at the bus stop. It was not my imagination. I dread to think what would have happened had that man at the other stop not been there or had not believed me. The minister said that it is important to be believed. So it is.

The second occasion was years later. On the last bus on a summer evening, I was aware that a young man was immediately behind me standing too close for comfort as I rose to leave at the terminus. I got off the bus and walked along the main road, which was unexpectedly quiet. He kept apace too close by. Concerned, to put it mildly, I suddenly crossed the wide road to put distance between us. He, too, crossed the road. I crossed again to put the width of the road between us, and I made up my mind to run to the first door and bang it, ring the bell and shout if he followed. He stayed where he was and entered a driveway. However, when I checked, he had come back on to the pavement and turned to go back.

I have other personal examples. I have told members that for two reasons. First, nothing has changed. I cannot say whether things are worse because of underreporting, and I encourage the reporting of every instance. Secondly, women are still taking evasive, preventative protection measures for their safety, and they have to. I wish it were otherwise, but it is not.

In my constituency, I have been advised by Borders Buses that, although it is satisfied with CCTV on the buses, it has concerns about its female drivers when the shift is over and they have to disembark in quiet places. That is especially an issue in rural constituencies such as mine.

As an aside, it is also the case that female taxi drivers have to take special care. Taxis are sometimes the better choice, and some taxi drivers will wait to see that the person has opened the front door of the property before they leave.

I am afraid that vigilance, and people having strategies if they find themselves in a concerning situation, are still necessary. We all have that sense when something is not quite right. Trust that sense.

It is also important that girls in schools are made well aware of situations that put them at risk. I am afraid that that is unfortunate but necessary. The use of a mobile phone so that family can track them is awful, but not a bad idea. Situations that might—just might—put them at risk should be avoided. Taking a late-night taxi, for example, might well be the better choice.

Finally, although this is not exactly about public transport, when I park my car to take the train to my local office—not just at night-time—I do so where people will be about. Without naming the station, there is one at which I would not wait for the train. The station is in the middle of fields, few take the train there, and a person can return to find that their car is the only one parked there. I learned that when I returned one late afternoon, and I vowed that it would not happen again. Experience has shown me that that could be risky. There is CCTV there, but it has its limitations, and it will be of use only after the event. It certainly did not give me comfort. It is, of course, not practical to have personnel at those rural train stations.

In conclusion, even at my stage in life, I have to think ahead about what is safe and what is not safe. Although, in my experience, the vast majority of men are decent folk and some might be unaware that their behaviour might make a woman feel ill at ease, there are, sadly, those few who are predatory and will always be with us. Identification through reporting is therefore key, followed by prosecution if appropriate. We know that what may appear to be “low-level” sexual intimidation can progress—the Sarah Everard case has taught us that. Yes, we can push transport providers and local authorities to improve safety but, in my view, vigilance from women will still be required.

Your contribution is extremely interesting and valuable, particularly when you speak from your own experience, but do you agree that it is practically impossible to have personnel at very rural bus stations such as the one that I described earlier, which is in the middle of fields in the middle of nowhere? That is just not practical, so we must have something else in rural stations.

No strikes.