Meeting of the Parliament 03 December 2025
As colleagues have already noted, this issue is fundamentally about transparency and clarity.
We have seen from the Casey report in England and Wales that there were systemic problems in the protections from grooming gangs. For example, victims were not believed because they were young or from a particular social background, they were often blamed by the police for what had happened to them and there was systemic underrecording of key data, notably around race, so as not to appear biased.
That is why I am glad to hear that the Scottish Government will not be leaving it up to the police to assess their own work, because that would not be acceptable. Some may try to turn this into another culture war, but that would be counterproductive and would detract attention from the voices of the victims.
The primary goal of an independent review should be to establish whether further investigation and, ultimately child protection measures, are needed, with the bonus that it will help to build public confidence in the Government and the police, improving their ability to detect and protect. I am glad to hear that the Scottish Government is going to hold a review, putting to bed already festering mistrust in the background among the public. That will reduce the space for malign groups to profit and sow the seeds of hate.
Any review should have a wide remit to find the scale of abuse, to establish what risk factors were prevalent and to ascertain what actions were taken by public bodies.
Let us face it: sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs—or by anyone, for that matter—is a vile, heinous crime, and it should carry the most severe punishment. It deserves our full attention. If we do not protect children, who will?
The police must be unencumbered in their ability to record data on victims and alleged perpetrators, and to react to the data gathered—not just around race, immigration status or language but on indicators of poverty, social class and even household income. Basically, no stone should be left unturned for the sake of political correctness. After all, the protection of children comes first, and this issue is about the protection of children from sexual violence and public confidence in the police and the Scottish Government. The Government’s belated decision to use its existing powers to take action on the matter is welcome, however.
I see no justifiable reason why all members should not support the motion.
16:39