Meeting of the Parliament 26 November 2025
Yesterday’s responses to my urgent question on grooming gangs were nothing short of a farce. Once again, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs passed responsibility on to a junior minister to answer questions on her behalf while she sat in the chamber avoiding any scrutiny.
At a time when Scotland desperately needs leadership on grooming gangs, this Government offers only evasion and silence. Victims are being failed while ministers sit on their hands. I raise the unprecedented intervention by the NSPCC, which has made it clear that Scotland has no real understanding of the true scale or nature of grooming gangs operating in our country. That is an alarming admission from our leading child protection charity.
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs claimed that the national child sexual abuse and exploitation sub-group addresses grooming gangs, but its 27-page report does not mention grooming gangs once. Therefore, I ask again: who is investigating grooming gangs in Scotland? It is certainly not this Government.
The cabinet secretary told me that it is for me and others to present a case for an inquiry. The evidence is already overwhelming. The NSPCC has said that the scale of grooming gang activity is unknown. More victims are coming forward every day with harrowing, life-changing testimony. Families are being torn apart by some of the most appalling crimes imaginable. What more evidence does the cabinet secretary need?
Victims do not need a Government that is merely open to an inquiry; they need a Government that is willing to initiate one, to listen to victims, to act and to confront the failures that have allowed those crimes to continue unchecked. Leadership is not about sitting on the fence. Leadership is about stepping up and doing what is right.
A grooming gangs inquiry is not optional; it is essential. It is the only way to uncover the scale of the problem, to protect children and to ensure that victims’ voices are finally heard and believed. I take no pleasure whatsoever in raising these issues. However, until this Government stops ducking responsibility, I will continue to speak up for the victims who have been ignored for far too long, even if that means that I need to return to the chamber to raise the issue every sitting day.