Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 February 2022
Tess White raises some very important points. She asks a specific question about, I think, the number of convictions. I do not have that detail in front of me, but I am more than happy to speak to justice colleagues and share that information with her office.
On the immediate things that we will be doing, I have committed today, as transport minister, to consult women’s groups on women’s experiences of public transport. We know that that is an issue. I see Jamie Greene at the back of the chamber, and I know that he was referencing data in the newspaper yesterday or the day before about LGBT people’s experiences on public transport—[Interruption.] Sorry, I apologise—I have prejudged his question. It is important that we look at marginalised groups and their experiences of public transport, because, if they are less likely to use public transport, we need to encourage them back into using our railways and our buses. It is hugely important.
On the specifics, I am interested in the working group that is being drawn together by British Transport Police Chief Superintendent Gill Murray, which will have representation from other modes of transport. That group’s intention will be to identify and agree a joint strategy to tackle a wide range of antisocial behaviour issues on various Scottish transport networks. I very much look forward to meeting the chief superintendent in the coming months and working closely with her on those significant issues. I am not sure whether I have also mentioned that Network Rail has a similar campaign in that space. It is about having the variety of partners that we have on the railway meet together to agree on a way forward to protect vulnerable groups—a matter that Tess White rightly highlighted in her question.