Seòmar agus comataidhean

Absolutely. That is enshrined in law and in the conditions of carriage, and I will come on to that.

I am shocked that many of the buses that we have in Scotland are in a poor state. There are buses in my region with leaking windows and broken heating, so I would not be surprised if enhanced safety and security measures and the investment that is needed in those are way down the priority list. The Unite survey found that 79 per cent of drivers have not reported abuse to the police and that 48 per cent have not reported it to their employer. That points to a culture in which workers believe that their concerns are unlikely to be acted on, which is unacceptable.

There needs to be better joint working on the ground between the police, bus operators, councils and other agencies to target those who routinely cause trouble at bus stations and on buses. It is clear that antisocial behaviour was on the rise before the introduction of free bus travel for the under-22s, but it is the case that the welcome increase in bus use has brought with it a very small minority who abuse workers and other passengers, including young people.

On social media, we see bus drivers being abused by people of all ages. There is racist and misogynistic abuse, with workers being spat at or punched. The people who do that are a tiny minority, and none of them should be allowed on buses. It is important that we have the ability to detect repeat offenders through CCTV and that we work to exclude them from bus services.

I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government has already hosted two summits on the issue and that the independent working group on antisocial behaviour will make more recommendations later this year. Let me be clear that nothing should be off the table, including concessionary card suspensions, but we need an approach that tackles the problem at the root. Bus operators must be able to uphold their conditions of carriage, which apply to all passengers, regardless of their age and whether they pay a fare or have a bus pass. Antisocial behaviour is unacceptable, full stop, and nobody should accept abuse as just part of the job. It is time that it ended.

I move amendment S6M-15612.1, to leave out from “; notes the increase” to end and insert:

“, alongside support for restrictions on all individuals who cause serious and repeated antisocial behaviour from accessing bus services, and further calls on bus operators to fully invest in measures to support the safety of transport workers and passengers, including on-board CCTV.”

This has been a positive debate. I might not agree with everything that Sue Webber and Claire Baker said, but it has been positive and I look forward to continuing the discussion with them and to finding solutions at the round table in Parliament next week.

It is important to understand and to reflect on the root causes of antisocial behaviour in a minority of young people. Karen Adam just spoke very well about that. Post Covid, there are individuals who face enormous social isolation, who have grown up in absolute poverty or who have grown up in an abusive household and ultimately have a lack of any kind of positive destination when they leave school. I think that we all understand that. Therefore, I would ask members to reflect on how positive free bus travel for under-22s has been for those individuals in giving them the opportunity to continue their lives and to be part of society.

I agree with Beatrice Wishart and Monica Lennon, who both underlined the importance of youth services and of engaging with disaffected young people. That is hugely important. We should not be demonising young people; we should be seeking to understand them and to work with them to ensure that they drop their antisocial behaviour. It is also important to recognise what antisocial behaviour is. Maurice Golden described it as vile or illegal behaviour, and as abuse.

I will take a very brief intervention.

To be clear, does Claire Baker also support sanctions for fare-paying adult passengers who commit antisocial behaviour on our buses?

If there is time in hand, I certainly will.

We will come back to land management plans later, because a number of committee members, including me, are interested in them.

I want to go back to the rational polluter argument. You mentioned the register of controlling interests, and I think that there is a similar fine of about £5,000 in this case. At the time that we discussed that in Parliament, there was a view that £5,000 is not a lot of money. However, there is a reputational concern when someone is hit with such a fine, which might have other implications. What are your thoughts? I am not aware of whether the trigger under the register of controlling interests regulations has actually been applied.

Where are things at?

It is obviously a challenging context in which to operate.

Do you have a likely end point for that?