The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 598 contributions
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Pam Gosal
It is similar, but it is a slightly different subject.
Pinar Aksu, I saw the protests that you mentioned on television. I was not there, but it was terrifying to watch some of the words that came out of people’s mouths. That is happening in Scotland. I was born here, and I would think it disgusting if that happened to me or to anybody else around me. My question is on hate crime. Recent hate crime statistics reveal that racism is the most commonly reported hate crime, but there is a lack of data collection on race, particularly in criminal justice. Why do you think that is, and what effect, if any, do you think that that has on the ability to tackle racist hate crime?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Pam Gosal
I have a question about what you just said. You and Jatin Haria talked about how there is not enough implementation, and you have just spoken about how mentoring is one of the actions that could be taken. Is that being done by the Government or by third sector organisations, or are you asking for mentoring for those females so that they can get jobs and be understood and flexible?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Pam Gosal
Good morning. I welcome languages week.
There are no versions of the equality and fairer Scotland budget statement in other languages, so many communities and individuals will be unable to see for themselves whether the Scottish Government is delivering on priority areas. Have you done any community outreach work, initiatives or engagement with communities in languages other than English?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Pam Gosal
I would welcome your looking at that because, obviously, Scotland is so diverse, with many people from different countries. Not everybody can speak the English language, and it is important that the Scottish Parliament sets an example of being accessible to all, including those who do not speak English or understand how budget setting is done.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Pam Gosal
Thank you for that response, minister. Obviously, the committee listens to the evidence that comes before us, and that evidence was given to us last year. You know that I am a big supporter of women, just as many people in the Parliament are, so I probed Angela O’Hagan just last week on that issue, which was brought up last year, and she made it very clear. If you get a chance to listen to her response, you will hear that it was very articulate and quite detailed. I hope that the minister welcomes that and will speak to Angela O’Hagan and Susan McKellar to see what the issues are.
Even though I said at the beginning of this session that I welcome the work that you are doing, if those people are voicing concerns in committee and if we are the people’s Parliament, as you said, we really need to listen to them and consider why they think that women have not been listened to.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Pam Gosal
I welcome the work involving women that the Scottish Government is doing and that the minister has mentioned. However, we cannot ignore the issues that we have heard in evidence in this committee. In the pre-budget scrutiny last year, we learned from Susan McKellar that women’s organisations had asked to be involved in the budget process in more depth but were told “No” because of time constraints around the budget. We then learned from Professor Angela O’Hagan in the budget scrutiny session just last week that women were not heard in the budget-setting process. After hearing that evidence in the committee, from last year and this year, I am extremely worried. Is the Scottish Government ignoring women?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Pam Gosal
I have one more question, which is on a different topic.
I was contacted by a black, Asian and minority ethnic women’s organisation—I will not mention the name. As you know, a lot of work is being done and there are a lot of issues around domestic violence, which you talked about earlier. The group contacted me to say that funding has been cut and that not all organisations get fair funding. Some of those organisations deliver in areas that the Government cannot reach. I have seen that myself in going out to those communities.
Is there anything that you can highlight in that regard? I will have a meeting with that organisation and come back to you, but is there any issue that you are aware of? Last week, funding from the Government for some BAME communities was suddenly cut and that organisation now has funding issues.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Pam Gosal
It is to do with violence and equality.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 24 January 2023
Pam Gosal
Thank you for that information. It is good to have all that context, but to go back to the actual question, did you think that the budget met the gender budgeting standard?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 24 January 2023
Pam Gosal
Good morning. Thank you for all the information that you have provided so far.
My question follows on from what Pam Duncan-Glancy asked. In oral evidence, the Scottish Women’s Budget Group said that a focus on gender equality was important, alongside a participative approach to identifying areas for preventative spend or policy. The Scottish Women’s Convention noted that improving rights through gender budgeting would improve other aspects of human rights, such as child poverty. Do you feel that the budget meets the gender budgeting standards? Could you provide details as to why that is or is not the case? That question is for Professor O’Hagan.