Hansard

I join other members in thanking the Scottish Government for bringing the debate to the chamber, and the minister for her opening speech. Indeed, I thank both ministers who are present—Christina McKelvie and Kevin Stewart—for addressing an issue that is mentioned in the members’ briefing that has been provided by Amnesty International UK. That reminds me that I should refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as I am a member of that organisation. The briefing says that, in 2013, it facilitated meetings with the United Nations special rapporteur Ms Rolnik, who concluded that the UK and Scottish Governments needed to

“Strengthen efforts to address stigma and discrimination in the Gypsy and Traveller communities”.

Ironically, the wee bit of card that the minister mentioned is very symbolic in the messages that it sends, which are, first and foremost, that people have listened and then responded. I congratulate the Scottish Government on its efforts. I do not sense any complacency from it—it seems to accept that there is a way to go yet—but I am disappointed that the Conservative Party, which I would have thought could quite reasonably assume that questions would be asked of it on the issue, has not come here with answers. However, let us try to be positive and hope that the Westminster Government will rethink its entire narrative on the Gypsy Traveller community—and most certainly its direction of travel, because it is highly discriminatory and unhelpful.

Other members have alluded to discrimination by the media. I recall an occasion on which I was approached by a journalist to comment on an incident—I will not bother repeating what it was about. I gave my quote, but the journalist was completely dissatisfied with it because it did not meet the narrative that was being followed, which was that the perpetrators of the crime were the people who were in the caravans, rather than their being the victims of the wrongdoing, which they turned out to be. Such an attitude is a big hurdle that we have to cross, but cross it we must.

I note that Amnesty also referred to Gypsy Travellers and wider Roma and Gypsy Traveller groups in its response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on hate crime. Let us be clear that much of what we are talking about in the debate involves crime and must be addressed as such.

Words can be very important. For that reason, I also thank COSLA for its briefing for members, which starts by mentioning the importance of having a joint national action plan. I have often spoken with great frustration about the apparent demarcation that exists regarding planning as a local issue and central Government’s perhaps understandable unwillingness to get involved in that. It is therefore good to see that joint work is being done. The “shared commitment” and “collective effort” that are mentioned in COSLA’s briefing will drive forward the many positive initiatives that it discusses.

It is also important to praise the other examples of good work that has been done, some of which have been mentioned by other speakers. From COSLA’s briefing, we learn of the mobile education opportunities that are being delivered to young people who live by the roadside in Moray. The Gypsy Traveller lifestyle is a nomadic one and we must do everything possible to facilitate it. I am therefore delighted to learn of initiatives on the piloting of negotiated stopping places and the mapping of traditional stopping places. I have said often enough—we saw an example of it last summer—that it is amazing how readily history can be changed by someone with a JCB taking a puckle of stones and blocking off such a place. After that, someone gets in touch to highlight that people have stopped there for generation upon generation—for hundreds of years—for example while they are collecting whelks or mushrooms. Not all such issues can be sorted out by legislation; it is quite apparent that only discussion will move them forward.

It is appropriate to say that Highland Council has done very positive work in the significant upgrading at Newtonmore. That has been much welcomed by residents there, whom I had the pleasure of visiting a few months ago. It has also worked on the reinstatement at Kentallen, which was bustling with activity when I passed it on Friday. That is what we want to see. There were caravans everywhere and kids running about, which was great.

I will be parochial for a moment and address some comments about my area to the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning. Argyll Community Housing Association is the only registered social landlord in Scotland that has responsibility for providing Gypsy Traveller sites, so it is in a unique situation. If I said that only one housing association was providing homeless accommodation, people might think that that was peculiar. I wonder whether the housing minister intends to raise the matter with the Scottish Housing Regulator or the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. I know that our colleague Mike Russell is facilitating a meeting about the issue today in the county of Argyll.

As always, finance is a factor. On Friday, I had the great pleasure of opening a housing development in Connel, which is the result of investment of £4.9 million, with the Scottish Government providing £2.15 million, Argyll and Bute Council providing £1 million and ACHA providing just over £2 million. That is the kind of joint working that we want to see, but it seems not to happen with regard to site provision. It would be good if the minister could comment on that.