Hansard

I am pleased to take part in this debate on the Equal Opportunities Committee’s report on migration and trafficking because I was a member of the committee when the issue was first considered. I am pleased that the report has been produced. It was a long and complex inquiry and it has proven to be worth while.

Migration is a natural human trend. If it were not, we would all be living in a congested great rift valley in Africa. It is important that migration is not looked on as some sort of bogeyman, as much of the red-top populist press and outrageous media present it. Of course consideration must be given to available resources in every country, and there should be serious consideration of integration issues with local communities and migrants, but if the starting point is one of rabid negativity, the outlook for humanity and dignity is very poor, as is the outlook for the potential benefits that we in Scotland, as a host community, can accrue from migrants.

Some of the issues relate to matters that are presently reserved to Westminster. One of those, which is well documented in the report, is the failure to collect viable and accurate data on migration. Improved data would enable resources to be better focused for the benefit of agencies and migrant groups. However, the provision of some local services is within the remit of the Scottish Government and its delivery agencies, such as those in health, education and policing. An obvious concern about the services that are devolved to Scotland is that migrants frequently fail to register with a general practitioner and thereby fail to receive the full benefits of the national health service. Similarly, schooling and housing services are often less well used by migrant individuals and their families, as they do not have a support group or signposting to services.

I am glad, therefore, that the Scottish Government has committed additional funding in 2011 for the teaching of English to speakers of other languages and that, through COSLA, resources have been made available for the local authority toolkit and the development of the relocation advisory service. I attended the Glasgow evidence-taking session that has been mentioned a few times and came away with some cases. I found local authorities supportive in helping with those cases.

Trafficking is a disgusting 21st century slave trade. It is often hard to identify because of the violent criminal nature of the beast and its international tentacles but, given the cross-border co-operation between the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and Europol and the work of TARA here in Scotland, there are signs that we are probably heading in the right direction, even if we have not quite got there yet. As the report says, TARA must be strongly commended for its hard work in helping the victims of trafficking to come forward and speak about traffickers and at the same time to receive help in recovering from their various ordeals. I say “various” because trafficking is not always about sex slavery and forced prostitution; there are other forms of serfdom to be found—in factories, farms and even private households.

It would be extremely useful if the Gangmasters Licensing Authority could operate more successfully and more widely in Scotland—I think that it is not legally allowed to do that at the moment.

I congratulate the continuing members of the Equal Opportunities Committee on their hard work—without me—and on their dogged persistence in following through this important report. It is a credit to the Scottish Parliament that the report has been produced. I look forward to hearing the minister’s response.

17:05