 The next item of business is a statement by Michael Matheson on preventing sexual offending involving children and young people. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of his statement so that there should be no interventions or interruptions. I would urge members who wish to ask a question to press their request to speak at ensile. I call on Michael Matheson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Scotland's children and young people is a key priority for us all. As Cabinet Secretary for Justice, I am committed to a preventive approach to offending that involves children and young people. Our justice vision and priorities underlines our commitment to being led by the best available evidence. Our whole system approach to offending by young people is proven to work, driving down offending referrals by over 80 per cent in the last decade. It involves emphasising timely and appropriate action to address crime and its causes through early and effective intervention, diversion and specialist support. That complements a broader focus on prevention, mainly through universal children's services as part of GERFIC. However, we will always need more specialist support and intervention for some young people. Last year, I commissioned research to analyse the increase in the other sexual crimes category of police-recorded crime. That category had grown to become the largest category of sexual offences. 40 per cent of recorded sexual crime is made up of other sexual crimes. The largest individual category ahead of sexual assault. There were suggestions that that was driven in part by an increase in cyber-related offences. The research report recorded crime in Scotland, other sexual crimes 2013-14 and 2016-17, highlighted that the offences following within the other sexual crimes category are often committed online. Importantly, online crimes are much more likely to have younger victims, mainly female and younger perpetrators, mainly male. The research estimates that around half of the increase in all-recorded sexual crime is due to the growth in other sexual crimes committed online. That includes behaviour such as communicating indecently or causing others to view sexual activity or images. Where those crimes are committed online, there is a disproportionate impact on our young people. Three quarters of victims were under 16 in 2016-17, with an average age of just 14. In a quarter of cases, both the victim and perpetrator were under 16. The research highlighted a significant gendered element across all other sexual crimes. In 2016-17, four in every five crimes of other sexual crimes were female, while the vast majority of perpetrators were male. On 26 September, alongside the research, the Solicitor General and I announced our intention to establish an expert group on preventing sexual offending involving children and young people. Earlier in September, Alison D'Arolo had hosted an education summit. That event highlighted that cases reported to the Crown Office involving a sexual offence committed against a child by another child rose by 34 per cent in the five years to 2015-16. As the Solicitor General highlighted, those disturbing and depressing cases can give rise to profoundly difficult as well as important decisions for prosecutors, both in terms of the criminal law and of the public interest. They have consequences for the accused, the complainer and the witnesses. They have consequences for their family and the society as a whole, and they have consequences whether or not criminal proceedings are taken. In recent years, we have come to understand more about the relationship between trauma, adverse childhood experiences and further outcomes, including offending and imprisonment. There is also a growing body of evidence that one of the most significant factors in predicting whether a child will commit criminal offences in the future is contact with the criminal justice system at an early age. Prevention is undoubtedly preferable to prosecution, while recognising that for the most serious cases, prosecution will be required. We need to better understand why young people, predominantly males, are motivated to behave this way and how we can prevent sexual offending, minimising risk of harm and the number of victims. Considerable effort is happening across Government already, including national campaigns around child sexual exploitation, our national action plan on internet safety and our equally safe strategy. However, we need a fresh impetus, armed with the very best evidence and the most useful tools to prevent this type of offending. The expert group with a focus on prevention, education, health and wellbeing and child protection with a significant justice interface will identify further steps needed to better tackle and ultimately prevent offending. I am pleased to announce that Catherine Dyer will chair the expert group. Catherine's background as Crown Agent and Chief Executive of the Crown Office and Procreator Fiscal Service and her role in chairing the independent child protection systems review means that she is uniquely placed to lead on this vital work. She will ensure that the expert group examines the necessary issues, doing so with independence, rigor and with a fresh eye. I know that she is very mindful of the existing policies, programmes and the interactions between existing systems. The expert group will bring together professional and academic expertise from across justice, education, child protection, health and the third sector. Her work will identify fresh actions to better prevent sexual crime involving children and young people and mitigate the harm that it causes. The group will consider the implications of the recent research and other evidence and relevant data. They will conduct an assessment of existing policies, interventions and programmes. They will look at the impact of wider societal and technological changes. The group will draw on lessons from preventative work on violence reduction and will link strategically with other developments across justice, education and health. I should point to the current good work already happening across the Government or through partners that contribute to this particular agenda. For example, we are working closely with the children's sector to implement the actions that are outlined in both the child sexual exploitation and internet safety national action plans. Health and wellbeing is at the heart of children's learning. Schools are supported through guidance on relationships, sexual health and parenthood education, which is an important part of the school's curriculum in Scotland. However, we know that, in the modern world, we need to ensure that children and young people are provided with learning that fits with the ever-evolving digital world. As most of the chamber will be aware, the Government, as part of its mental health strategy, has commissioned a review of personal and social education. The review is looking at the delivery of a whole area of subjects, including relationships, sexual health and parenthood across our primary and secondary schools. That commenced earlier this year and is expected to provide recommendations to ministers by the end of 2018. Equally safe, the Scottish Government's strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls has promoted a concerted effort from relevant sectors to deliver a holistic response to tackling violence against women and girls. It places a decisive focus on prevention, while also ensuring that we have effective services for survivors and that perpetrators receive the strongest possible response. Over the next few weeks, my Cabinet colleague, Angela Constance, will publish a delivery plan to focus further our efforts. That will build on our strong progress in strengthening legislation and building the capacity of those services, but it will recognise and focus action around preventing violence that requires the underlying attitudes and inequalities that create the societal conditions for that violence to be eradicated. We are investing in programmes that promote internet safety and explore the online behaviour of young people. That includes Police Scotland's choices for life peer mentoring programme, the mentors and violence prevention programme, Stop It Now Scotland and SACRO's challenging harm online images and child exploitation programme. In addition, we are funding from the violence against women and girls justice budget to support rape crisis Scotland to deliver a sexual violence prevention programme across a number of local authorities in Scotland. That work is vital in helping to deepen understanding of young people around issues of consent and healthy relationships. The remit of the group extends to all sexual offending and harm involving children and young people. That includes where children are either the victim or the perpetrator, and sometimes even both. There will be a particular focus on cyber-enabled offending. The remit will not focus on adult perpetrators of sexual violence. The criminal justice system and multi-agency public protection arrangements will remain at the core of protecting the public from sexual offences where the perpetrator is an adult. The expert group will map existing approaches, raise visibility, identify gaps and explore best practices, including insight from other countries. Young people must be involved in this work in a meaningful way. We will invite the Scottish Youth Parliament, Young Scot, to be a part of the expert group, and Youth Link can provide an insight from a young person's perspective, drawn on the successful approach that we have had with no-lives-better-lives model. Given the research outcomes, a gendered analysis will be a significant component. When it comes to cyber-enabled sexual offences, it is clear that young women and girls are predominantly the victims, while young men and boys are predominantly the perpetrators. The expert group will be focused and time limited, and it is expected to conclude its work by the end of March 2019. A preliminary meeting with a number of third-sector organisations to scope membership took place on 30 October. My thanks to Rape Crisis Scotland, stop it now, NSPCC, Barnardo's and others, including COSLA and Police Scotland, for supporting those discussions. We want to draw on all available expertise. That will include the coalition of care providers Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland, stop it now, child protection committees Scotland, the national child protection leadership group, Education Scotland, the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration and a nomination from the chief medical officer. Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will also be part of the group. We will invite the children and young people's commissioner to nominate a member. We will also draw on academic expertise from the specific areas that are being considered. The chair will have the flexibility to invite others such as the child exploitation and online protection centre and zero tolerance to augment the work of the group. I hope that members will welcome the direction that is being taken through this expert group and will support the focus on a preventative approach to reducing the number of children involved in sexual offending, both as victims and as perpetrators. Thank you very much. We'll now take questions, starting with Michelle Ballantyne. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for a prior site of his statement. This is an extremely important issue and one that challenges just about everybody who works with young people out in our communities now. There is no doubting. The cabinet secretary has covered a wide range of approaches that are being taken at the moment. I am particularly glad to welcome the pulling together of all these things with an expert group to look at how we go forward and how we ensure that we are doing the right things, the things that will make a difference to the young people who are affected by this. Establishing an expert group is the right way to go. I particularly welcome the appointment of Catherine Dyer to chair that. I think that she is very appropriately qualified to do it and I really will look forward to the findings of this group and what they have to tell us. I've got two small questions with regards to it. First of all, the involvement of young people, which is absolutely critical to this, but there's no mention of families. Can I just ask the cabinet secretary that we ensure that families are also involved in a meaningful way? Obviously, they have a lot to contribute and it's really important that we hear how they cope with their young people and how they can get involved in preventing the sort of experiences that they encounter. The second one is, can the cabinet secretary just tell me if the expert group will be engaging with online service providers, particularly the social media, to ensure that we do have a robust approach to learning in an online digital world? I'm very grateful for the comments that were made by the member. Let me pick up on the two issues that the member has raised. One is the involvement of families. There will be scope for families who have been affected by either having a member of their family a victim or a perpetrator and having some input into that process. What we're not doing is specifying the way in which that will be conducted. That will be a matter for the expert group to devise with the organisations who are supporting them and taking forward that work. That leads me on to the second point that the member raised in relation to engaging with online service providers. We haven't specified that they must do so, however I would find it very difficult for the expert group to carry out that work without considering the role of service providers and the role that they can play in helping to support young people in dealing with some of those issues. The member may be aware that the Scottish Government is already involved in a UK body that deals with service providers and we continue to have input into that process at a UK-level bribe. I've got no doubt that the Catherine Dyer and the expert group will want to consider the nature of that engagement as and when they consider it appropriate, but there is no doubt that online service providers have an important role to play in helping to address some of the concerns that are likely to be highlighted during the course of the expert group's work. Clare Baker Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thank you to the Cabinet Secretary for Advanced Copy of the statement. The issues that are addressed by the statement are complex and MSPs have increasingly raised concerns over sexual offending involving children and young people in the chamber. We have seen a rise in sexual offences committed by a child against a child in recent years. I welcome the list of general's initiative in highlighting the consequences of this behaviour and today's statement. I welcome Catherine Dyer as the chair of the expert group and wish her well in the work ahead. Could the cabinet secretary expand on the remit of the group? He says that there will be a particular focus on cyber-enabled offending, and that is welcome, as it is a significant contributor to the increasing offences, and it could be seen as an area that can be addressed with better education and information. However, it is also important that we focus on children and young people who display a greater degree of harmful sexual behaviour, and he can say a bit more about what work the group will undertake in that area. Finally, he might comment on the start of the statement that talks about the whole system approach to offending as working, and we have seen referrals down by 80 per cent. Why does he feel that the approach might not be so successful in the area of sexual offending? I am grateful to remember for welcoming the statement and the approach that we are taking on that. There is a complex area that is developing and emerging very quickly, as technology develops and emerges as well. The remit has been published today as well, and I am more than happy to send a copy of that on to the member, but it should be available within SPICE, which sets out in broader terms the remit of the expert group. It is not limited to cyber, but it will look at some of those wider issues, as I mentioned in the course of my statement. The member also highlighted the issue about addressing some of the issues about behaviours among young people, where they may be exhibiting behaviours that are a matter of concern. I think that that is important in that the expert group will not just be focusing on cyber matters, but it will be looking at the wider issue around young people, both as victims and as perpetrators of sexual crimes, and looking at whether the measures that we have presently in place are appropriate. A key part will be mapping what we have in place at the moment and looking at whether they are effective and whether there are gaps in those existing arrangements that need to be addressed more effectively, so whether there are gaps in dealing with picking up on some of those types of behaviours at an earlier stage and early intervention. The member on her third point raised issues around the success that we have had in tackling youth offending, in particular the reduction in the number of young people who are referred on offences grounds to the children's reporter system. One of the issues that we can see from the research that is published back in September is the identification of those types of offences, because very often they are taking place within a cyber environment, which is much more difficult to identify. There is an issue about young people having an understanding and they need to report those matters where they have a concern, and the way in which they are then investigated. The response that we have had in the past around the whole-system approach has been much more about a practical intervention. I believe that one of the areas that we have to get better at in this area is about making sure that young people are equipped with the skills in knowing what is unacceptable and being able to then seek support and assistance, because some of the cyber-enabled types of sexual offences that we are finding are not as visible as some of the other types of behaviour among young people. I think that that is part of the challenge that we face going forward, and I think that that is part of the challenge that anyone is apparent with young children and young people is that it is not necessarily about a perpetrator now coming into the house or into an environment to have an impact on a child, is that that influence can be exerted through their phone or through their computer in their bedroom or at home. It is not as visible and in that sense it provides greater challenges for our law enforcement agencies and those who would intervene in being able to identify where risks are already starting to emerge to intervene at an early stage. I appreciate that it is a sensitive subject. I would just also draw the minister's attention. There are 10 questions if we can get through them. Ruth Maguire would be followed by Liz Smith. Does the cabinet secretary agree that there is nothing inevitable about children and young people engaging in harmful sexual behaviour? Would he agree that the education that they receive on that issue should focus on more than just what is lawful and is not lawful, but also on what is healthy, safe and respectful? I agree. I think that what is important is that we help to enable children and young people to be able to have mutually respectful and responsible and confident relationships. In a big part of the work that has been taken forward as a result of the review of the PSE approach in schools is to look at how we can make sure that that has been embedded much more effectively. Part of the challenge here is ensuring that we have a much better understanding of the risks that young people are exposing themselves to by those who are within our education system and within our wider public services. We have been able to help to support young people in addressing some of those issues, but we are also helping to support young people in understanding what is that mutually respectful, confident and responsible type of relationship and what does that look like in the cyber world and how do you enable young people to understand that and to be able to have the confidence in exerting those types of responsibilities and that type of confidence. I agree with the member and I think that an important part of the work that the review group will take for the expert group is how we can embed that more effectively within our education system. The cabinet secretary is quite right on page 4 in his statement when he says that the expert group will consider the implications of research and other relevant data. Can I ask whether the expert group will look at the processes of collection of that relevant data? It was a point that was raised in the education committee when we looked at personal and social education that perhaps the data was not always as accurate as it might be. I suspect that that is an area in which the expert group will want to give consideration to, because as I have said, we want to take a preventative approach and to do that effectively we need to make sure that it is an evidence-based approach and that data is absolutely crucial to making sure that that is a properly informed evidence-based approach. I have got no doubt that the expert group will want to give consideration to that. Mary Feed fell by Changill Ruth. I thank the cabinet secretary for her advance sight of his statement. Any steps taken to prevent sexual offending in children and young people are to be welcomed, and education, I am sure that the cabinet secretary will agree, is a key role to play in that. The Equalities and Human Rights Committee, of which I am a member, recently carried out an inquiry into bullying and harassment in schools. I was particularly alarmed to hear evidence directly from young girls of sexual harassment and bullying and sexual shaming in schools, and more alarmed a culture of acceptance among some of the pupils. Accurate recording of these incidents, support for victims and zero tolerance in our schools are all essential, as are training, support and guidance for all of our teachers. Can the cabinet secretary give a bit more detail of what specific steps he will take to ensure that there is joint working across portfolios and sharing of good practice to counter the alarming evidence that we have in committee? I am aware of the work that has been taken forward by the committee, which is very helpful in looking at some of those issues and shining a light on some of the issues around bullying. We are very clear as a Government that we take the issue of bullying very seriously, and we expect to our local authorities at an educational level to make sure that they have appropriate measures in place to address those issues very quickly when they do arise, which is absolutely key to bullying, as early intervention and preventing it from escalating. What we expect is for all of our local authorities to have anti-bullying strategies in place and for those to be effectively implemented to prevent that type of behaviour from developing. Although the challenge is that the nature of bullying in some ways is changing and the purpose for which some of the bullying is taking place is changing. It is not just the bullying that traditionally may have taken place in the playground or in the school line. When I was at school, it was the bullying that can now take place online, while someone is at home on their phone or on a computer. That is part of the whole work that we are taking forward as a national action plan around tackling issues about equipping young people with the skills to manage and deal with those issues online. Importantly, it is also helping to educate parents and our teachers and other support staff in recognising that cyberspace can be an environment, which is even more susceptible to bullying taking place. What can we do to help to make sure that young people know that they need to report as early as possible? I have no doubt that the expert group wants to give some considerations to the existing arrangements that we have in place in dealing with those issues and how those can be improved and developed. Jenny Gilruth will be followed by John Finnie. As many in the chamber will be aware, this is anti-bullying week. Bullying is something too many of our young people still experience and may lead to some youngsters feeling pressured to take part in sexual activity, which they may or may not realise can constitute a sexual offence. What efforts are being made to tackle bullying of all sorts in our schools? I remind members that I am the education pay-alones capacity as well. I am conscious that the Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary are here as well, so I must make sure that I get his policy area right in relation to bullying. However, I know that, as a Government, we have a very robust approach to the whole issue of tackling bullying. As I mentioned earlier in my response to Mary Fee, we expect local authorities to have in place developed and implemented anti-bullying policies, which should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis in consultation with parents and pupils. An important aspect of that policy at a local level is thinking about bullying that takes place in the cyber space as well. That will be an important element. I have no doubt that the expert group will want to give some consideration to the existing policy framework that we have relating to areas such as bullying. John Finnie is to be followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for Early Sight and welcome the Green Party and the proposals here. It is with regard to one small part of the remit. If I quote you correctly here, the remit will not focus on adult perpetrators of sexual offences. Given that the definition can sometimes be 16 or 18, can you say what regard there will be to that? A lot of course adult offenders themselves are offended as juveniles, and we would want to capture as much information as possible. The research that was commissioned last year and published in September was on young people rather than adult perpetrators. It will not consider the actions and areas relating to those who are perpetrators of those offences that are over 18. It is very specific in looking at the needs of children and young people, both as perpetrators and victims, because that is an area where there has been a significant growth. To extend it yet further, in my view, we would lose focus on the specific area that we saw in growth over the last couple of years, particularly on the cyber-nature element of it. It is very specific on that particular age group. As I mentioned in my statement, the way in which we deal with adult perpetrators of sexual offences is through mapper arrangements and other safeguards that we have in place. They continue to be the way in which we deal with those matters for adult perpetrators of sexual offences. Alex Cole-Hamilton has been followed by Fulton MacGregor. Following efforts by my party, the Scottish Government has committed to increase the age of criminal responsibility. Serious sexual offences committed by those over the age of 12 should naturally be dealt with severely. Will the Government consider using that legislation to ensure that children who commit very minor sexual offences in their early teens, as a result of their immaturity, are not haunted by a criminal record of the nature of the rest of their life? Will it consider a limitation that will see such minor offences expand from their records after a period of time? The member has tempted me to pre-empt the work of the expert group in looking at that particular issue. As I mentioned in my statement at several points, our key focus here is prevention and preventing young people from becoming involved in that type of activity in the first place. In doing that, we can reduce the number of perpetrators and, importantly, the number of victims. As I also mentioned in my statement, those actions have consequences in a whole range of different ways. The dilemmas that our prosecutors are facing as a result of that, and that was a very particular focus of the education summit, which was brought together by the Solicitor General and which the Deputy First Minister addressed a number of weeks ago. I have no doubt that the issue that the member has raised is an area that the expert group will want to give consideration given the potential implications that prosecuting young people at a young age on those matters could have for a large part of their life and their future opportunities. The cabinet secretary has confirmed that young people will be involved in the work of the expert group. Can he advise if there will be a direct opportunity for young people who have been affected by the offending to engage? If so, will their voices help to develop services designed to support both the victims and perpetrators of those offences? It is crucial that young people have an opportunity to participate in this process. As I said in my statement, there are a number of youth-based organisations and those who work with young people who will be participating in the expert group. Of course, there is a role for those who are the victims of those types of crimes to participate in that process. However, that has to be managed in such a way to recognise their confidentiality and to make sure that they are confident in any participation that they may have within it. However, that approach has been facilitated in the past by looking at other areas of policy in which victims have been able to participate in that process. I have no doubt that the expert group will want to engage with the youth-based organisations and look to facilitate that type of engagement, but by doing it in a sensitive way that protects the anonymity and the confidentiality that is necessary in dealing with victims who have experienced such types of crimes. Finally, Liam Kerr. Regarding the welcome focus on prevention, can the cabinet secretary confirm whether the expert group will explore the option of taking the message directly into schools, as, for example, the excellent play ballast song does as part of the known eyes better lives programme that he referenced? Yes, Presiding Officer. As I mentioned in my statement, one of the areas that I believe the expert group can give consideration to is the work that we have taken forward in relation to tackling violence in our schools and among young people. The known eyes better lives campaign is part of it and the ballast song play, which is very effective. I hope that the member has had an opportunity to watch it. It is a very effective way of getting upmesses across to young people alongside the work that we do with the mentors in violence prevention and the work that we do with Medics Against Violence. There is a model in there that is proven to be very effective. I think that there are lessons that can be learned there for working with young people in tackling issues around sexual offences. I thank the cabinet secretary and members. I apologise to Ms McArthur for not being able to get in. We ran out of time, I am afraid. The next item of business is a debate on migration. We will just take a few moments for the ministers and others to change seats.