Meeting of the Parliament 14 November 2017
I am grateful for Claire Baker’s welcome for the statement and the approach that we are taking in this very complex area, which is emerging quickly as technology develops. The group’s remit will be published today and I am happy to send a copy to the member. The document, which should be available in the Scottish Parliament information centre, sets out in broad terms the remit of the expert group. The remit is not limited to cyber; it will look at the wider issues, as I mentioned in my statement.
Claire Baker highlighted the issue of young people who may be exhibiting behaviours that are a matter of concern. It is important that the expert group will focus not just on cyber matters, but on the wider issue of young people as both victims and perpetrators of sexual crimes, including whether the measures that are in place are appropriate. A key part will be mapping what is in place at the moment, and looking at whether those arrangements are effective and where there are gaps that need to be addressed more effectively, such as picking up on such behaviour at an earlier stage and earlier intervention.
In her third point, the member raised issues around the success that we have had in tackling youth offending, in particular the reduction in the number of young people who are referred on offences grounds to the children’s reporter system. One issue from the research that was published back in September is the identification of those types of offences, because they often take place within a cyber environment, which is much more difficult to identify. We have a concern about whether young people have an understanding of the need to report those matters and also the way in which they are then investigated.
The response that we have had in the past around the whole-system approach has been more about a practical intervention. One area in which we need to get better is ensuring that young people are equipped with the skills to know what is unacceptable and to seek support and assistance. Some of the cyber-enabled sexual offences that we are finding are not as visible as some of the other behaviours among young people—that is part of the challenge that we will face in the future. For anyone who is a parent of young children and young people, it is not necessarily about a perpetrator coming into the house or an environment to have an impact on a child. That influence can be exerted through their phone or a computer in their bedroom or elsewhere at home. That is not as visible and provides greater challenges for our law enforcement agencies and those who could intervene at an early stage if we could identify where the issue starts to emerge.