Meeting of the Parliament 03 December 2025
I have been shocked and stunned listening to the debate, partly from hearing some of the horrific details of this most heinous and vile of crimes. Russell Findlay told us about victims Peter Haynes, Stuart McMillan and Susie Henderson. Pauline McNeill and others reminded us of Taylor, who spoke out so courageously recently, including about terrible institutional failures. Russell Findlay also spoke of Kevin Sutherland, who ultimately took his own life.
We must also not forget that, in October, five members of a grooming gang in Dundee were jailed after raping and sexually abusing 10 women—some as young as 16—and that, last January, seven were jailed after findings that three victims under the age of 13 had been subjected to horrific sexual abuse and violence in Glasgow over a seven-year period.
I was also shocked by what we have heard about the appalling lack of data and evidence on things such as the scale of the problem, how cases are handled and where the system is failing victims. Pauline McNeill and others reminded us that Baroness Casey said that there is insufficient data. According to the minute of a meeting in October, the Scottish Government’s own chief statistician said that the point that the data on those crimes was “incomplete or inaccurate” was “a good starting point”.
The child sexual abuse and exploitation workforce deep dive report confirms that by stating:
“There is a lack of robust data on the scale of child sexual victimisation in Scotland”.
Just today, Professor Alexis Jay was on record as saying:
“we do not have a clear or reliable picture of what the present situation is in Scotland”
and
“we do not know enough of the scale of child exploitation in Scotland”.
Despite that, as Sharon Dowey told us, the cabinet secretary has repeatedly stated in this chamber that there is no need for a full inquiry, because the national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group delivers the necessary coverage and oversight. That assertion is found wanting. First, a freedom of information request to find out what the group was doing was responded to with sweeping redactions and vast sections blanked out, including material that would have shown whether the group was meaningfully considering grooming gangs. Secondly, today, the Scottish Government has asked Professor Jay to review the handling of complaints against grooming gangs. Although, as Martin Whitfield pointed out, we lack details, surely that is an admission—if ever one were needed—that, as we always suspected, the strategic group is not covering what is required.
However, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills is right—we must understand the extent and scale of this. I am truly stunned that, after hearing harrowing testimony; hearing about the lack of data on the scale of the problem and the lack of knowledge of victims’ experiences; hearing about where institutions are failing; and hearing yesterday’s reports that Professor Alexis Jay thinks that, ultimately, there could be a full grooming gangs inquiry, Scottish National Party MSPs will vote against Russell Findlay’s amendment, which simply instructs there to be a full grooming gangs inquiry in Scotland.
It appears that, having been presented with another opportunity to launch a grooming gangs inquiry, those MSPs will again reject it, simply because something far short of an inquiry has been floated today, without our having been given any details about it.