Can I ask, please, for some quietness and leaving the chamber. The next item of business is a debate on motion number 1322 in the name of Angela Constance on Scotland, welcomes comes 1,000 refugees' I call on Angela Constance to speak to and move the motion. That is pleased, cabinet secretary. Scotland has long been a country that welcomed refugees from Europe in the first and second world wars, and later from Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 2001, we have received many thousands of asylum seekers who have made their homes Government in Scotland has come to a charge of resettling refugees for our national lives, our societies, our culture, our economy and even our food. However, the past 12 months have been a time of unprecedented change for refugee resettlement in Scotland. The reasons for that do not need to be rehearsed again in detail. The tragedy of Syria is there for us all to see on our TV screens, 8.7 million people are believed to be displaced within Syria, and over 4.8 million Syrians are now registered as refugees outside their country, close to the population of Scotland. Half of those refugees are children. The scale of the suffering is barely comprehensible. But often it is not the numbers that make a difference, that make people sit up and take notice. It is the personal stories in which we can see ourselves and see our families. As we look back, we should remember that it took a photo of a drowned three-year-old boy, Alan Curdie, washed up on a beach in Turkey to galvanise the world into action. Last Sunday saw the anniversary of the First Minister's refugee summit held on the 4 September 2015. That was a momentous occasion where Scottish politicians from both national and local government, opposition party leaders, representatives of aid agencies, humanitarian organisations and churches, as well as refugees, gathered together to show a united front and commitment for Scotland to do what it could to help. This unity was vital in ensuring that Scotland was ready to act when David Cameron announced the establishment of the Syrian Resettlement programme three days later and committed to receiving up to 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by 2020. Just two months later, on a dark and rych day last November, the first charter flight of Syrian refugees arrived on Glasgow airport. I know that, for those who witnessed the event, the arrival of another two charters soon after, they were among the most moving and emotional experiences of their lives. Despite the terrible traumas that they have suffered, people were smiling, children were clean and there were tears, but tears of joy to have finally reached a place of safety. Fast forward a year and for the first time, refugee resettlement in Scotland is truly national in scope. Over 1,050 people have now been resettled all across Scotland. I would like to take some time to reflect on how that progress was made. The arrival of 1,000 refugees in one year would not have been possible without the work of the refugee task force, the Scottish Government, local government, the third sector, particularly the Scottish Refugee Council, refugees themselves and the UK Government. We all worked together with a clear objective of ensuring that some very practical measures were in place to ensure the smooth arrival and the first steps of Syrians into our communities. The task force also considered the longer term issue of integration and highlighted the importance of English language learning, employability and mental health support. Those are now priorities for the allocation of £1 million announced by the First Minister at the conference to support the integration of Syrian refugees in Scotland. I am pleased to announce today as part of that continuing integration that the Scottish Government is going to provide a further £86,000 to pilot a new peer education approach to English language learning to complement formal English languages and support the development of social networks. The arrival of 1,000 refugees would also not have been possible without the tremendous commitment of local authorities and of COSLA, which have provided magnificent support and coordination throughout. Scottish local authorities were quick to reflect the mood of the Scottish people by stating their willingness and desire to help, even though many had no previous experience of working with refugees. I would also like to thank the many third sector and community organisations, volunteers and members of the public who have welcomed and supported refugees as they begin to rebuild their lives. It has been fantastic to see people extending their hand of friendship to their new neighbours. I recently had the great privilege of meeting some of the Syrian refugees who have settled in Edinburgh and in central Scotland. I heard from them first hand and I can only say that it was a deeply humbling experience. I was also able to see for myself an example of this at the welcoming association, which is working in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council to provide English language classes for Syrian refugees living in Edinburgh.  Some have had their own businesses in Syria, some were teachers and some were farmers. What they have in common now is that they all want to get on with their lives. They want to work and rebuild a future for their families and their children, and their children want to get back to school. However, we cannot pretend that everything has been plain sailing, adjusting to a new and very different country that takes time. We must recognise the difficulties that some people face and we need to learn from that. As politicians, we must take every opportunity that we have to talk positively about refugees. We must be clear about why refugees are here and we must welcome them. We are talking about people who are fleeing war and persecution. One issue that is raised regularly by the refugees that we have welcomed to Scotland is the issue of family reunion. Many of them have had to leave members of their families in Syria or in other neighbouring countries and are extremely anxious for their safety. I have made one of my first priorities to seek improvements to the family reunion process for all refugees in Scotland. I have written to the immigration minister to highlight problems with the issue of 30-day visas and I am pleased to report that the Home Office is considering options to extend the validity of those visas. In addition, I want to simplify access to crisis funds for those who need initial support when they arrive through the family reunion programme. Those are important matters that I give the chamber the assurance that I will continue to pursue. Mark Ruskell. Do you see a need to statutory underpin some of the support services and rights that refugees have in Scotland? What consideration are you giving to possible legal changes? Angela Constance. I am obviously very conscious and respectful of the amendment that has been put down by the Labour Party, which reflects the position of the Labour Party as stated in its manifesto that it would like to see a statutory underpinning to integration. Although that is not the position of the Government just now, we will have an opportunity in the months ahead to have an open discussion because we will be reviewing and renewing the new Scottish strategy, which expires next March in 2017. There are a number of issues that I am happy to explore. Although I cannot support the Labour amendment today, that does not mean that there is not an open door to a discussion about the merits that are otherwise of a statutory underpinning. I hope that that is somewhat reassured to both the Labour Party and the Green Party. I want to now focus on the plight of unaccompanied child refugees in Europe, some of whom have family members living in the UK. Although they have reached Europe, many have still not found the safety and are at serious risk of traffic and other exploitation. The Scottish Government welcomed Lord Dubs' amendment to the Immigration Act 2016 and the announcement of a new scheme to help unaccompanied child refugees who have reached Europe. Progress has been slow and those children need help urgently. In this Parliament, in this country, we will always prioritise the rights of the child. Most children in Scotland will have the loving protection of a family and for lone and lonely child refugees, with no family, no emotional or practical support to have lost families and homes. I am sure that we all find that unimaginable and unacceptable. I am working with the British Red Cross and others to try to find out how many unaccompanied children have family members living in Scotland who would be willing to provide a safe and secure home for them. In addition, I have written to the immigration minister to make it clear that Scotland will play its part in supporting unaccompanied child refugees. In Scotland, we are well suited to help. We already have that the architecture of child-centred practice policy and legislation fit to receive, integrate and facilitate the flourishing and nurturing of unaccompanied children who are at risk. I very much urge the UK to listen to this Parliament, to the people of Scotland and around the world who have stated time and time again that we must prioritise those children, particularly those children in Calais. To find the solution to the problems of Calais, EU leaders need to work together to address the humanitarian issues and not build a wall that will only exacerbate problems and cause division. The money used to fund this project would be far better spent, in my view, on practical measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and families who are seeking to reunite with relatives in the UK, relatives who can provide them with a safe and warm home. I will, of course, be writing to the minister to express my disbelief that this could possibly be a priority, given the inhumane conditions that families in the camp at Calais are currently facing. Any money that is available should be used to ease their suffering and to get them back with their relatives as soon as possible. Presiding Officer, I am delighted that 1,000 refugees from Syria have now settled in Scotland, but I am well aware that this is a small number in comparison with global need. People across Scotland have contributed superbly, but it is only the beginning, and the Scottish Government's commitment to refugees continues. We will take a fair and proportionate share of the total number of refugees who come to the UK. We must all continue to show a warm welcome and to stand in solidarity with refugees, and I am very pleased to move the motion in my name. I should have said earlier that all those who would like to speak in this debate are invited to press the request-to-speak buttons now. Can I call on Jackson Carlaw, please? Up to eight minutes, please, Mr Carlaw. I speak in support of the amendment in my name, which I formally move. In substance, it is intended to remove any suggestion of conceit in the part of Scotland that the UK Government alone could do more by challenging both the Scottish and the UK Governments to constantly do more and seeks also to demonstrate that all of that which Scotland is doing in the face of the current crisis has its roots in a precedent set by Scotland over many generations of being an open and welcoming country to those whose lives are in turmoil and who face both violence and persecution. It is there, Presiding Officer, that I will start, and in my own Eastwood constituency, if I may, for there resides Scotland's largest Jewish community, a community that arrived in numbers in Glasgow at the turn of the last century, fleeing persecution and settling into Scottish life, making over generations a significant and permanent contribution to Scotland, both business and cultural. Jews were, for example, instrumental in establishing the Edinburgh festival, the latest celebration of which has just ended to record-breaking success. Some 100,000 Jews came to Britain in the 1930s as the Nazis rose and celebrated among them are those who escaped thanks to the kinder transport, many of whom I think members of this Parliament have met. As that war began and ended, some 250,000 Polish refugees arrived in the UK. As a teenager, I can well remember the UK and Scotland becoming home to one-third, some 28,000 of those Ugandan Asians expelled by Idi Amin. Scotland has throughout my lifetime been a home to many cultures, some migrating here in the wind, some by choice, some in the face of great terror, and Angela Constance made reference to others as well. Whether there is a duty of responsibilities arising from our former empire, or war, or famine, Scotland always has and always will proudly and gladly share our load and make a success of it. Presiding Officer, that brings me to the substance of the present Syria crisis and our welcome of the 1,000 who have now settled here. Let me immediately endorse the thanks expressed in the Government motion to Scottish Government partners, including the Scottish Refugee Council, COSLA and many local authorities, including my own Anistremfisher, that have responded quickly to this humanitarian crisis. In the words of the motion to the volunteers, third sector organisations and local communities that are welcoming and supporting refugees as they settle and begin to rebuild their lives, we add our thanks. Let us too, Presiding Officer, set aside the cynicism of some media reporting, suggesting that some who have resettled here have been disappointed with their lot. Of course, just as for any of us, some communities will better represent our tastes, hopes and experience of life, and so too will this be true for those who settle here. Grateful as they are for the new life being offered to them, some may still hope to shift about a bit until they find a community that more obviously suits. This is entirely natural and not some expression of ingratitude. Presiding Officer, the Government motion makes reference to the actions of the UK Government, and let me set out what the UK Government has done. The 1,000 that we celebrate today are part of the 20,000 for which Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, announced at the weekend that suitable accommodation has now been sourced for all. The refugees will come from camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, underpinned by a conviction that our actions should when possible frustrate the schemes of ruthless people traffickers. In addition earlier this year, David Cameron announced that the UK will accept an unspecified number of Syrian children refugees, already a resident in Europe, who have links to the UK. Syrians permitted to enter the UK will be given asylum for at least a five-year period, and the UK is providing £2.3 billion of finance to the Syrian crisis, the largest, I repeat, the largest ever British contribution to any humanitarian crisis. Does Mr Carlaw believe that the 20,000 is adequate in a situation where over 11 million Syrians have fled their home, and the United Kingdom is one of the wealthiest and largest nations on earth is able to accommodate far, far more? I know what the gentleman says, but, Presiding Officer, these are actions that the UNHCR told the UK Government that it is both pleased with the total number of refugees the UK has agreed to accept, and with the complementary British contribution to Syria. Indeed, the financial pledge that the UK has made is some 15 times greater than that of our immediate neighbour in France. In February, the UK, together with Germany, Norway and Kuwait in the UN, co-hosted a conference in London that managed to raise some £12 billion of aid in a single day, half of which has pledged this year. Just this weekend, the Home Secretary announced an additional £10 million to help with language skills, which all of us understand to be crucial in any successful resettlement and integration, and is designed to provide a further 12 hours of language education for up to six months. In addition, the UK has afforded access to 1.6 million refugees to clean water, delivered some 21.5 million food rations, 4.5 million medical consultations, half a million shelter interventions and nearly six million relief packages. Will you join me in asking for the UK Government to expedite the applications of hundreds of unaccompanied children that are stuck at Calais, who have a rent into the UK and already have family here? Jackson Carlaw. I thank Gillian Martin, and I now turn specifically to the point that she makes of which she asks. Now, the motion specifically makes mention, and rightly so, of the humanitarian issues of unaccompanied children. Graham Simpson will speak to this point later in the debate, but let me write into the record the UK Government action. By legislating through the Immigration Act 2016, the UK has made crystal clear its commitment to bring vulnerable children from Europe to the UK. Since royal assent, over 30 children have been accepted and the majority have now arrived. The Home Office remain in discussions with the UNHCR, Save the Children, the Italian, Greek and French Governments to develop a scheme so that it can identify and resettle all these children as quickly as possible. It's not a simple task, and if the purpose of the motion is to urge it on with all endeavour, then all well and good. But we should also note that this commitment is in addition to supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who arrived from Europe over 3,000 last year, and in addition to those family members, including children who are given visas to join refugee-granted asylum in the UK some 22,000 over the last five years. In addition to this, as well, a commitment to a further 3,000 vulnerable children and family members will be resettled directly from the Middle East and North Africa. The Department for International Development has also created a 10 million refugee children fund to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children specifically in Europe. I don't think it's enough simply to use lady language of criticism. Both the UK and the Scottish Governments understand the scale of the task and are committed to doing all that we can and a fair share at that. Presiding Officer, while all this is complex, extensive and necessary, so too is an on-going engagement with the crisis that is sourcing Syria. Working with a 67-member global coalition, the UK continues to play a leading role in our foreign and defence secretaries attended a summit in Washington in July to set the direction for progress through to 2017. In Iraq and Syria, Daesh is losing territory, its finances have been targeted and depleted and its leadership has been killed, desertions have increased and that all too depressing flow of foreign fighters and misguided followers, some far too close to us here at home, has fallen by 90 per cent. Thousands have been liberated from Daesh rule, many have now been able to return to their own homes. It's a long haul but we have to join our partners in keeping at it. Presiding Officer, I commend the work of the Scottish Government and Ministers. As I said earlier, Scotland has a long tradition of accepting refugees. The challenge more so than ever, both the current challenges, is to ensure that new Scots integration succeeds. I'll listen with care to the arguments made by Scottish Labour to put this in the statutory footing, but I'm not necessarily persuaded that this is the best way forward or indeed urgent enough given the need is immediate. Presiding Officer, at one day many years from now, a successful Scott will emerge into full public view whose story will be starting as one of those of children arriving now. Many perhaps, just as being the case with all those who arrived in all the examples and many more besides I highlighted at the start of my speech, we are a welcoming people and those that arrived feel that welcome, prosper and become Scottish role models themselves. Our duty is to make that possible. It's a challenge to which Scotland, the UK and others across Europe must all rise and constantly try to succeed. Thank you, Mr Carlaw. I now call on Pauline McNeill to speak to and move amendment 1322.2 in the name of Alex Rowland. Thank you. Up to seven minutes, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This is a subject close to my heart and I commend, as Jackson Carlaw has done, the Scottish Government for choosing it in the first parliamentary week. It has to be acknowledged that the First Minister has taken the lead on the refugee task force herself, and I think that all of the amendments before us have something important to see in this debate. The Labour amendment, which I move, seeks to put forward a commitment to support refugees on the statutory footing that is well within the competence of our Parliament and would allow for a national approach. The Parliament welcomes 1,000 refugees received by Scottish local authorities right across Scotland, but it's nothing really when you know, as Ross Greer has said, that the 10 or 11 million Syrians who have been displaced since the civil war began in Syria. But it is significant because it shows that Scotland intends to set out an example in the UK. Local authorities have risen to the plight of Syrians north and south Lanetshire, with more than 100 Dundee, Renfrewshire and Murray. Many local authorities have risen to the challenge here. I did, however, detect a bit of nervousness when I was preparing for this debate about publishing the exact figures. Perhaps, as Jackson Carlaw has also said, there is a bit of nervousness about the subject, as can always be the case. I wanted to set out why it is really important that Scotland does its bit, particularly when it comes to Syrian refugees. This year, the number of people displaced to conflict and persecution is at a historical high, reaching about 60 million, and 20 million of those are classed as refugees. We are probably witnessing an all-time human disaster and a scale of suffering that is still pretty impossible to assess. The crisis has challenged every aspect of public policy of our humanitarian response and our delivery of services to vulnerable people. Surprisingly, 86 per cent of refugees are hosted by developing countries, and in a small country of Lebanon, one in four of people who live there are refugees. But Syrian civil war is the most dangerous and destructive crisis on the planet. Since early 2011, hundreds and thousands have died and, as I have said, 10 million have been displaced. Europe has been convulsed with Islamic State terror and the political fallout of refugees. The United States and its NATO allies have more than once come perilously close to direct confrontation with Russia. Foreign interventions intended to end the war have, in fact, entrenched it with severe and indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Syria, unfortunately for Syrians, is a battleground for enormous regional power struggle with a Government that has not spared its own people and the innocent civilians are left helpless. Syria is a country that in fact may not even survive this conflict as the cities are ravaged with no safe places. Unfortunately, it is not a short-term crisis and I believe that history will show that this has been the worst humanitarian disaster probably of our lifetime. As the minister has said, we have seen many disturbing images along Kurdie and Omran Dacnish from Aleppo, but there are two little boys who died and we know that many other children have died in similar circumstances. In 2010, prior to the civil war in Syria, I visited Yarmouth Camp in Damascus, the largest Palestinian refugee camp. I met refugees from the 1940s and 1967 displacement, men and women who long to return to their homeland, and many of them were displaced for a third time. But almost two years after I had been there, you will have seen the footage of Yarmouth Camp besieged by the fighting and desperate pleadings from humanitarian groups could not even get into the camps to deliver very vital aid while they stood outside. In fact, I visited many refugee camps in the last 10 years or so in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and so on, but I have to say that of the worst I have been to is the jungle in Calais. I, too, would like to add the Labour's voice to what the minister has already said about the need to invest in a 13-metre wall in Calais. I think that it is the wrong answer to a human problem. In the Beca valley towards the Syrian border, I also met men and women who will tell you what they have left behind. They are not necessarily poor people, many of them are wealthy people, but they have had to leave their homes. Most refugees that I talked to will tell you that they do long for the day when they were able to go home to where they came. It was in Calais this year that I met Najeam, an eight-year-old boy who was unaccompanied. I knew his parents were in the United Kingdom and I set out to search for them. At the time that I campaigned for this, I had absolutely no idea that there were thousands of children who were unaccompanied and were without their parents. That is why I feel quite strongly that when Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP supported the Dove's amendment in the House of Lords to try and specify the number of children that we would accept, I am very disappointed that that was defeated. Unicef says that thousands of unaccompanied children are in Greece and all over. Like Stella Crease, the SNP who has raised this in the House of Commons, I do not want to see children in refugee camps. I do not suppose that any of us do. Unfortunately, since the Dove's amendment, only 40 children have been allowed into the UK to be reunited with their families. We are all agreed on that and I think that it is imperative that we continue to campaign for unaccompanied children. As I said, the Labour amendment is about progressing and moving forward a statutory framework because we believe that it is within the competence of the Parliament and would actually benefit local authorities and local services in the provision. I hope that the Government can at least give us an assurance if they cannot support the amendment tonight that we can make further progress in making sure that there is comprehensive access to services and a plan for integration of the many refugees who have chosen to make Scotland their home, at least for the time being. I now call on Ross Greer to speak to and move amendment 1322.3 up to seven minutes. We welcome the opportunity to debate the Government motion today, which quite rightly commends the efforts of everyone who has welcomed the first thousand Syrian refugees to Scotland. We have taken a leading role in responding to the humanitarian catastrophe that has resulted from that conflict, a conflict whose primary causes are known to all of us, but where the United Kingdom's history in the region cannot be ignored, it played a role, and as such, where we must accept a level of responsibility above and beyond the duty that the world has to the victims of any conflict. Scotland's response has so far, in so many ways, been exemplary. Many of our local authorities are at the top of the rankings across the UK for the number of Syrians seeking refuge that they have taken in. As has already been mentioned, Renfrewshire Council, in my region, has taken in the third highest number of refugees from the Syrian vulnerable persons resettlement scheme of any local authority. The problem, aside from looking at that as a numbers game, is that, to come third, Renfrewshire took in just 68 people. As the Government motion highlights, overall Scotland has welcomed just 1,000 refugees through the resettlement programme, from a total of under 3,000 across the UK. That is just a drop in the ocean of misery and desperation that has come from the Syrian conflict and the wider refugee crisis. Scotland can and would have taken many thousands more if only we had the ability to do so. The barrier, of course, is a Westminster Government that would struggle to have taken a more hostile response to both this specific refugee crisis and the rights and needs of all refugees, regardless of where or what they are fleeing. I am sure that many members of this Parliament will recognise not just the frustration, but the heartbreak when we are contacted by those refugees who have made it here, but who find their claims rejected and forced with the threat of deportation, the heartbreak of hearing their individual stories of horror and the frustration of how little we can do to help them. That is why the Green Amendment calls for the devolution of asylum support, accommodation and advice services to this Parliament, a proposal that received cross-party support during the Smith commission process but seems to have been cast aside since. Given the horror stories that we hear all too regularly from the current providers such as Circle, it is clear that a new approach is needed, one that treats those who need it the most with basic respect and dignity. It is a moral failure of immense proportions that the few refugees the Home Office does accept are often forced to live in shocking conditions across the UK.  A mother and baby forced to live in a cockroach infested flat in Glasgow. Staff from the service provider humiliating asylum seekers, spraying them with air freshener and laughing at them. Doors of a certain colour resulting in everyone in the area knowing which houses the asylum seekers stay in. Refugees forced to wear coloured wristbands to collect food. Those are not isolated incidents. They are a direct result of UK Government policies, policies that cast aside our common humanity, which give in to the worst voices amongst us. With a new leader in Downing Street, there is nothing to be positive about. This is the Home Secretary who sent the infamous shameful go-home vans into our communities, who is now Prime Minister. Her words of support for our minority communities, whether refugee or not, matter little when her actions are so much to blame for this culture of fear, hatred and division. There is one form of solidarity that the Prime Minister seems to have no issue with. After over a year of the clown car fascism of Donald Trump's campaign in the US, the Westminster Government has been inspired. As has already been mentioned, they are going to build a wall, a great wall, the great wall of Calais, and it is going to keep out those most desperate, those who we can afford to help. Not once does an ounce of humanity seem to come into the equation with this Westminster Government. We all hear the same stories. There is Beverly, the mother from Namibia and her 13-year-old son, abused and endangered due to her sexuality. They fled here to the UK in 2013. Just a few months ago, they were the victims of a dawn raid, where Beverly was injured and they were both imprisoned. They were awaiting deportation back to the dangers that they had fled. It was only with the immense pressure brought by the Unity Centre in Glasgow, including the blockading of the home office facility that they were held in, that they were allowed to stay. There are far too many stories where that is not the case. For every member of our communities that we can save from deportation, many more will find themselves back on the plane to whatever terrible situation they were forced to flee from. It is with some disgust that I read the Conservative amendment to today's debate. The Tories opposite have done much to detoxify their party in Scotland, but to come to this Parliament today with an amendment so fundamentally odd with the ethos that their party takes in government at Westminster requires more than a brass neck. Every Tory MSP is a card-carrying member of a party whose policies in government have resulted in the suffering and death of far too many of the world's most vulnerable people, and we will not let them forget it. We will be voting against the Tory amendment today. The crisis in the Mediterranean has made the situation impossible to ignore here in Europe, and by God have some tried to ignore it. Last year, over 3,700 people died making that crossing. This year, the numbers already reached 3,200, but the numbers do not tell the story and do not do it justice. It is the individual stories that bring home the horror that too many people in this continent seem content to allow unfold. It has already been mentioned in the story of Alan Curdie. There is also the 10-year-old that I read about in the diary of a volunteer on the Greek islands whose name we will never know but who died along with most of his family not long after being pulled from the frigid water. The volunteer was unable to let him go but accepting that she could not save him. This is not someone else's crisis, it is ours, and yet few European leaders have shown any leadership at all. Recent praise for the European Union has been profused in this Parliament, including for myself, but the EU's refugee deal with Turkey is nothing short of a shameful reminder of how far we have yet to come before the idea of a people's Europe comes close to being the truth. The European Union that many of us talk of, that many of us campaign for is one that builds homes for refugees, not walls to keep them out. Scotland's role within Europe responds to this crisis, regardless of the follow-up from the Brexit vote, is a critical one. The minister quite rightly praises all that we have done so far with the powers available, but there is so much more that we can do. The scale of this crisis is immense and history will judge us for it. I hope that it will judge that we faced up to this challenge to our common humanity, and in the proudest traditions of solidarity and compassion, we showed not just said that refugees are welcome here. I move the amendment in my name. We now move to the open debate, and I again make a plea for brevity, as we are very short of time, and I do not want to be cutting out any speakers at all. So can we have Ivan McKee, followed by Rachel Hamilton, speeches of up to six minutes please. The current refugee crisis in Europe is one of the most significant such movements of people that we have seen over recent decades. While it is significant, it is sadly not uncommon. According to the Scottish Refugee Council, there are currently more than 65 million people worldwide forcibly displaced from their homes, including 21 million refugees seeking sanctuary outside their home country. A consequence of conflict, political upheaval and increasingly climate change. The vast majority of refugees are residing in countries closest to their country of origin, usually the poorest countries and those least able to cope with the crisis. A total of four and a half million have fled the conflict in Syria, with the vast majority of those now living in neighboring countries, only a fraction have come to Europe and of those only a small fraction to our shores. The big picture can tell us a story, but it is a heart refugee crisis, an accumulation of countless human stories of individual struggles, too many failures and some successes. That is why I want to illustrate this human aspect by describing the stories of three individuals, refugees from different parts of the world that I have come into contact with. The first has been a friend of mine for around 20 years, now a successful businessman who has created countless jobs for others over the years. When I arrived in this country as a small boy in 1972, my friend was a statistic, one of tens of thousands of Asians expelled from East Africa for racially motivated political reasons. His contribution to our society has been immense. East Africa's loss has been urgain by any measure. The second human story had a far from happy conclusion. In 1995 I travelled to Bosnia as part of an aid convoy. One of the Bosnians I met on that trip had a simple request to bring back with me some family photographs to deliver, along with best wishes to a family member residing then on the outskirts of Edinburgh. On my return some weeks later, I found the address and attempted to deliver the photographs. When I arrived at the door, I was met by a friend of the woman. I explained my reason for the visit to be informed that the woman had some days earlier ended her own life. The culmination, no doubt, of the stress of her uprooting from her home country, separating from family, still in the war zone and the perceived hopelessness of her situation. I remind her that effective support for recent refugees often requires more than simple material support. The final case that I want to convey is much more recent. I was contacted last year by a couple I know who, like so many others in recent months, spurred by the images on their television night after night had decided to do something and had volunteered to help with a refugee charity. They befriended a young man, a recent arrival from Eritrea, who was going through the process of seeking to remain in the UK. To progress his claim, the young man required his documents, which had been separated from him during his arduous journey. The documents were with a friend of his who had ended up in Norway. I met the young man to find out what help he required. I arranged to have his documents courier from Norway, a simple process for anyone with her understanding of how to arrange such a transfer in the means to pay for it, but an otherwise unsurmountable obstacle for a recently arrived refugee. The documents arrived, I handed them over to the young man who subsequently secured the right to stay in this country. The young man is a maths graduate, keen to learn and contribute. I have no doubt he will in future years make a significant contribution to this country, perhaps in teaching helping us to deliver the STEM students that we need for future economic growth or in other significant ways. Because, while we focus on doing what we can to help the individuals who come in our refugee crisis, we should also not forget the value that our society and our economy enrich in our experience, broadening our world view and helping to drive forward our society and our economy. Turning to the most recent crisis, we should celebrate the arrival of 1,000 refugees to Scotland and the way all those involved in the process have worked to ensure their settlement in this country. The Scottish Government, local authorities, third sector organisations and individual Scots who, through small acts of support, make that transition easier. However, we should also not forget that this represents the tip of an iceberg and we should continue to work for the resettlement of those still suffering the hell of being uprooted from their homes with all the uncertainty and risk that entails. Deaths and trans have increased in the last year, already almost 6,000. Atrocious conditions prevail in the refugee camps in Calais, in particular the situation faced by unaccompanied children desperate to be reunited with family members in the UK. We should also not forget the impact of trigger happy foreign policy on the crisis. Phrases such as regime change are bandied about without thinking through or wanting to face up to the consequences on the individual's force to become refugees as a result of ensuing conflicts. Scotland has more than played its part in the resettlement of refugees coming to the UK, but there is much more to be done. We look forward to Scotland continuing to take the lead within the UK in providing secure and safe places for those fleeing persecution and conflicts. I now call Rachel Hamilton to be followed by Marie Todd. It is with pleasure that we take this opportunity in Parliament to welcome 1,000 migrants from the highlands in the north of Scotland to the south of Scotland and everywhere in between to make our new friends feel at home. Indeed, East Lothian Council has committed to welcoming seven Syrian refugee families over the next five years. We must also acknowledge the incredible efforts of those involved in giving aid to those who have been displaced. The crisis has sent shock waves around the world, and I am proud that the UK has maintained its tradition at being at the forefront of their response. To help in a very small way in January of this year, I orchestrated a coat collection in Harrington amassing hundreds of warm coats to send out to Syria during its bitterly cold winter. Since 2012, the UK has committed £2.3 billion to the Syrian crisis, making us the second largest bilateral donor to the USA. Already 3,349 Syrians have resettled in the UK. It is right that we welcome 1,000 Syrian refugees here in Scotland. It is our responsibility to help those in their times of need. The UK Government has shown its commitment to just that. It is working hard on behalf of the interests of 20,000 Syrian refugees under its Syrian vulnerable person resettlement scheme. The UK Government has also agreed to provide resettlement for up to 3,000 vulnerable children and their family members from conflict areas in the Middle East and North African regions. Only yesterday, the UK Government created a £10 million refugee children fund support to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children. Indeed, it is due to the UK Government's implementation of the Syrian resettlement programme that has allowed thousands of these people to resettle. The complexity of the crisis requires this type of forward thinking on both resettling and integrating refugees into our local communities By working closely with non-governmental organisations and local government, it allows local authorities to plan ahead. As such, the Department for Work and Pensions is funding accessible community English language courses to enable refugees to meet the requirements of their job seekers agreement and, of course, to find work ultimately. In fact, only yesterday, Amber Rudd announced a further £10 million package to boost English language tuition. Furthermore, the Refugee Council and Department for Work and Pensions are doing great work to promote refugees to work. That involves ensuring that there is an understanding of the skills and qualifications held by the refugees and finding the most suitable employment for them. Indeed, the Scottish Government has worked to knock down barriers to employment and given access to employability services. In that instance, we see both the UK Government and the Scottish Government working together to help to address those needs. It is not only in resettlement that we continue our help. Funding has helped to deliver over 21 million food rations, over four million medical consultations and almost six million relief packages. Saving lives in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. That involves working with 30 partners in a united effort to give support to as many people as possible. In working with those different organisations and consulting with experts, funding is able to go to the most vulnerable groups and improve the effectiveness of the overall international response to the crisis. In Scotland, we welcome 1,000 migrants and we will welcome more over the next five years. When the UK Government promised to resettle 20,000 migrants, the First Minister said that Scotland would take a minimum of 10 per cent. Migration Scotland reports that all of Scotland's 32 councils have committed to support resettlement in one form or another, with many local authorities having resettled refugees already. It is also important to highlight that those selected for resettlement are the most vulnerable. Women and children, survivors of torture, people in need of severe medical care or disabilities, persons at risk due to their sexual orientation and those with family links in resettlement countries. Furthermore, it is important to note that individuals entering the UK under the resettlement programme have been granted five years humanitarian protection. Under the humanitarian protection visa, people are entitled to access public funds, access the labour market and explore the possibility of family reunion. The programme therefore addresses concerns that many raise. It helps children, it helps those in medical need and it offers these people not just protection in the UK but a new life free of violence and a chance to reconnect those families torn apart by their conflicts. Earlier this year, we saw London holding the supporting Syria and the region conference co-hosted by the UK, Germany, Q8, Norway and the United Nations. The conference raised $12 billion for 2016 and $6.7 billion moving through to 2020. It is remit to come up with the best strategy to deal with the crisis. The conference embodies the approach of working together with 60 other countries to offer support to Syria and the region. Since the conference, the UK Government has done more to offer support. It has worked with Jordan and Lebanon to promote job creation in the area, expanded UK support to those places in most need, furthering education by committing up to £40 million a year for the next four years to deliver high-quality education for Lebanese and refugee children. No, please conclude now, Ms Hamilton. I would like to conclude by saying that we have a proud communication of working with our Governments to do that. Marie Todd, followed by Lewis Macdonald, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Today I welcome the opportunity to celebrate the news that Scotland has welcomed more than 1,000 refugees since last year. Let me be explicit. Today, in the chamber, we are talking about refugees, not migrants, as my predecessor mentioned. The determination that has been shown by everyone involved to ensure successful settlement of those families has been exemplary. It has made me really proud of my fellow country folk. I hope that this work continues and that our success to date will ensure that more refugee families can be given the same welcoming start to the rest of their lives safe here in Scotland. The scale of the current crisis has been well described as have the challenges, so, like Ivan, I want to focus on a small local success story. I want to take the opportunity today to specifically welcome the four Syrian families who have settled in Allnes in Easter Roth, Falchigualaba. In May this year, they became the first refugees to be settled in the Highlands. Four families is 23 people, which, if you have heard me speak before, we badly need in the Highlands. We are all bursting with prides to see the wonderful work that was done by the people of Allnes to give them a warm Highland welcome. I want to congratulate all of the partners who were involved. Their settlement was co-ordinated by the Highlands third sector interface, but numerous organisations made vital contributions. Everything was taken care of, from language practice to shopping. Newstart Highlands not only furnished their houses, but their staff made sure that those people felt at home in their houses. The Highlands supports refugees, put together clothing parcels, toys, cleaning kits and extra bedding to make sure that the refugees could turn their houses into homes. Ross Keane free church provided training and meeting space for everyone to use, along with their mini bus. Inverness Mosque provided food parcels for each of the incoming families, as well as financing a day out in Landmark. A day out in Landmark has been enjoyed by nearly every family in the Highlands, so it is great that our new Highland families were also able to enjoy this experience. I know that it means a great deal to them. In the public sector, the Highland Council and Police Scotland have been phenomenal. Those organisations and similar organisations all across Scotland have been crucial to the success of the resettlement programme. In Scotland, we are definitely taking our responsibility seriously, and we have welcomed more than a third of all of the UK's Syrian refugees. We must continue to press the UK Government to accept more refugees faster and improve the asylum system so that the whole of the UK can help. It is absolutely appalling that so many people have died when we could have saved lives. Although the Scottish Government has been working hard to ensure that we welcome refugees to our country and help them to settle into their new lives, it seems that the UK Government has been more concerned with planning a Trump-inspired wall in Calais to keep them out. People in communities all over Scotland can be proud of our achievement. We are showing real leadership as an outward-looking, compassionate country. It is great to live in the kind of country that cares for all of the world's citizens. We are all Jock Tampson's Burns. 1,000 refugees settled in Scotland is 1,000 lives made safe. 1,000 people freed from the perils and burdens experienced by refugees every day. I want to praise the excellent work that has led to Scotland leading this important milestone, but it has to only be seen as that—a milestone, not the finish line. There are still thousands of people who have been forced to become refugees because of no fault of their own, and more refugees are created every day because of the on-going civil war in Syria. No one takes the decision to leave their home and become a refugee unless they see no other option. No one decides to live in a refugee camp with limited food and medical resources unless they see no other option. No one boards an overcrowded boat risking death by drowning for themselves and their families unless they see no other option. In the space of one week at the end of May this year, it was estimated that 1,000 refugees died attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean. Our birthright here in Scotland has meant that our people do not have to make this type of life or death decision, but we are in the lucky position of being able to help those who do. That is why we cannot afford to rest in our laurels. We have a responsibility, not only to continue to take in and resettle refugees, but to encourage other countries and other parts of the UK to do the same. Scotland is doing what it can to address this refugee crisis. It is now time for the UK to step up and do the same. At Lewis MacDonald, to be followed by Christina McKelvie. Thank you very much. It is a year since Allen Cardi and his mother and brother drowned in the Aegean Sea. As has been said, their tragic deaths quickly came to symbolise the human cost of the refugee crisis gripping the Middle East and North Africa and sparked a humanitarian response across Europe. Allen's father, Abdullah, now lives in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. He remains, of course, utterly bereft. Abdullah's sister, Tima, told the Independent the other day that the family would never recover from those deaths, but that she feared that the rest of the world had already forgotten. For her, the world had not embraced enough those fleeing from danger or done enough to end the civil war in Syria to allow Kurdish families and other refugees to return to their homes. We need a bigger table, not higher fences, she says. That perspective should inform debate on refugees and not just in this Parliament either. Later this month, world leaders and experts will gather under the auspices of the United Nations to consider the scale of displacement of refugees and mass migration in general, the choice between bigger tables and higher fences is not just for Scotland or the UK, it is a choice facing the wider world. Here in Scotland, though, we have a clear part to play. 1,050 Syrian refugees welcomed here in the last 12 months. As has just been said, that means 1,050 people with hope for the future and as a symbol of what might be achieved for others, too. I am most aware of the successful settlement of 63 Syrian refugees and nine families in and around Aberdeen and the way in which different agencies and faith groups have worked together to make their experience as positive as possible. Refugees who have found homes in Aberdeenshire have been able to access classes organised by North East Scotland College, not only to learn English but also to find out how things work in a new and unfamiliar country. Aberdeen FC community trust has been running football sessions for newly settled refugees at the local centres, providing both coaching and football skills and a way in to access local services. With the translation courtesy of Aberdeen Mosque, those enthusiastic Syrian footballers have also enjoyed hospitality on match day at Petodry, an essential visit for anyone wanting to get to know about life in Aberdeen. The voluntary organisation Aberdeen Solidarity with Refugees has mobilised a great deal of goodwill in local communities. Starting with a mission to help refugees in camps in Calais and elsewhere, they have swiftly evolved into one of the key partner agencies supporting Syrian refugees in the Northeast. Of course, the local councils in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire have taken a central role in co-ordinating the efforts of others and ensuring ready access to housing, schools and other essential services, as well as engaging neighbours in local communities as part of making new citizens feel welcome. The experience of the Northeast is a good indicator of the process of welcome and integration across the country. Goodwill is there in plenty, signposting to services has been successful and third parties have been engaged in the process. However, as the cabinet secretary said, that does not mean that the experience of welcoming and integrating refugees from Syria and elsewhere has been problem-free. Restrictions around access to employment, for example, have been a continuing issue, even for those who have been here for more than just the last few months. A report from Queen Margaret University in June found that only 9 per cent of those with refugee status were in work 12 months after their asylum claim was granted, and as many as 12 per cent ended up presenting as homeless to the local council. Loss of jobs and a lack of social rented housing are a challenge for many other people too, but refugees and people seeking asylum are particularly vulnerable, not least because of difficulties with language and interpretation. The approach that we propose in our amendment is intended to help to address those difficult issues. We highlight the case for a refugee integration bill to put the rights of refugees on a statutory basis in line with the 1951 refugee convention and international human rights law. That would include, for example, a right to access services, specifically rights in relation to language and interpretation, and those rights would, of course, then require to be backed up with the resources necessary for such services to be provided. There are issues around the reunification of refugee families, which also need to be considered by government at every level. I have recently taken up the case of a Syrian family whose elderly parents remain stuck in a war zone, in part because they cannot obtain permission to join their family in this country. Children who travel alone or are separated from their families in transit are particularly vulnerable. A year on from the death of Alan Kearney, the needs of child refugees should have a prominent place. As Alff Dubs argued in the House of Lords, that is best achieved by specific commitments on the part of government. Back in the 1930s, 30 unaccompanied children arrived in the northeast from the Basque country, refugees from the Spanish Civil War. The Luftwaffe had just destroyed Garnaca and those children fleeing for their lives found refuge in Montrose. Like them, the children fleeing Syria today face an uncertain future. We should applaud efforts to bring the civil war in Syria to an end and make it safe for those people to go home. However, we can also welcome them in this country, and that is what we should unite to do and to support today. Thank you very much, Ms McDonnell, Christine McKelvie, to be followed by Graham Simpson. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I just agree with my colleague Marie Todd that we need to be very careful about conflating the word migrant with refugee? We have two different legal statuses, and they mean something very different in our collective psyche. In starting off, Presiding Officer, I welcome this debate. It is a debate that I have been taking part in long before I was ever an elected member. 1,000 refugees is great, but it only represents 0.02 per cent of our entire population. That is a start, that is a start, definitely. Last week, the Italian Coast Guard reported that they had saved more than 10,000 refugees who were taking the dangerous sea passage to enter Europe via Libya. Many of them did not complete that journey. Desperate people taken to the sea to escape war, discrimination, fear and intimidation. Many of them, as I said, just do not make it to the end of that journey. Now imagine if that was a member of your family. On Sunday, Presiding Officer, my friend Lord Alff-Dubbs, who carried off the political coup that forced David Cameron to accept some unaccompanied children from the Calais jungle, was there on a visit. He is furious that nothing has happened. As a former child refugee himself brought to Britain from Czechoslovakia on one of the kinder transport in 1939, when he was six, he is burning with frustration at the political enaction, and I see that there are many of us across the chamber share that. We also have the current issue of protests by French hauliers around Calais who find themselves facing violent attacks from desperate migrants or refugees who are trying to survive in flimsy tents and squalid conditions. They have become the victims of the international failure to act. Better care, not higher walls, is what these people, our fellow human beings, need. This is a global crisis and it needs co-ordinated international action. Every safe and democratic nation should be willing and able to offer home to some of the refugees fleeing violence in the chaos of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. However, all Westminster, including Theresa May, seems to be prepared to do is to talk and to make vague commitments about helping refugees in camps. I see no illness to bring the promise of 20,000 Syrian refugees from these camps by 2020. I just hear words. I see no actions. Let's be honest here. The UK is a country of about 60 million people. We have room. There is plenty of opportunity to take more people. As some would say, Brexit only succeeded because of its ability of its leaders to stoke up fears about immigrants and refugees. Nicola Sturcosi, the former Conservative president of France, has demanded that Britain open a detention centre for migrants on its territory. Bigger walls, more detention centres—that is not what I think we need. I was very surprised but happy to hear about the closure of Dungeval. It is to close at last but filled with horror about what has been proposed as a short-term detention scheme, with no recourse to justice, no community support and no family support for people who would be huckled to Yal'swood, where I am afraid that we do not have the same standards that we actually have in Dungeval. That fills me with absolute horror. A year ago, the First Minister's humanitarian summit established a task force. We have heard about the funding of £1 million, a co-ordinated response from not just this Government but across parties, across communities and across local authorities. Vigils were held across Scotland and across the world. Gary Christie, the head of policy and communication at the Scottish Refugee Council, said that Scotland can be proud of the support that it has shown and continues to show. It has offered a heartfelt welcome to those in need. Yet, in 2014, the UK made 14,000 positive asylum decisions compared to 48,000 in Germany, 33,000 in Sweden and 21,000 in both France and Italy. Our local authorities are working with the Syrian vulnerable persons relocation scheme to re-home people who have lost everything, in some cases family members, to help them to build a new and productive life for themselves and their children. That is what they crave—the chance to live without the crashing of bombs, somewhere that they can build for themselves a decent life. Imagine again if that was one of us. Would we be denying those people that sanctuary or that opportunity? I am very proud to say that South Lanarkshire Council's chief executive committee had an update in meeting yesterday with the Syrian vulnerable persons resettlement scheme. South Lanarkshire Council has already provided accommodation for 44 families and expects to have reached its target of 60 within the year. I have not heard the details yet, but it is recommended that the council commit to settling another 60 refugees under the scheme during 2017, and I give them my whole-hearted support in that. Obviously, we all do hope that we can create somewhere for people to live, grow and be safe. However, so long as there exists right-wing extremists to stoke up fires of resentment, there will be the opposition to human beings seeking safety and sanctuary from war, political violence and oppression. I believe that Scots are outward looking, have a more global perspective and genuinely want to extend the hand of friendship and support. Presiding officer, no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. It is time for us to be the sanctuary. I call Graeme Simson to be followed by Rona Mackay, both of you have now five minutes. Yesterday was the first anniversary of the UK Government's commitment to resettle 20,000 of the most vulnerable victims of the Syrian conflict by 2020. Through working with the devolved administrations and councils, those 20,000 places under the vulnerable persons relocation scheme have been secured four years early, around half are children. This week, £10 million has also been pledged for language tuition to help refugees integrate, as Rachel Hamilton said. I am pleased that today's announcement from Angela Constance of £86,000 for Scotland is all a cause for celebration and should unite this chamber. After all, the 1,000 refugees in or on their way to Scotland under that programme have been warmly welcomed, and it is entirely right to praise all those who have been involved in making that settlement programme such a success, as Angela Constance has rightly done. It is incumbent on all of us to ensure that it continues and to work together to that end. Angela Constance's motion started off in a positive vein, but we feel that it was wrong to single out the UK Government to do more. We should all be doing more. Her speech, I thought, was very consensual, and I commend her for it. To provide the most effective aid to the greatest number of people, we need to ensure that the majority of refugees are safe and secure in their home regions. The debate is often focused on the refugees who are coming to Europe, but the vast majority, almost five million Syrians, are displaced across the Middle East. I commend the UK Government for doubling aid to £2.3 billion to support the people living in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon, as Jackson Carlaw said. Commitments raised at the Supporting Syria and the Region conference co-hosted by the UK will also see by the end of the 2016-17 school year 1.7 million refugee and vulnerable children in quality education with equal access for girls and boys. That should be commended. We have tabled an amendment to the motion because we would believe that singling out the UK Government to do more is wrong. Scottish councils have expressed concerns about the high level of hotel-type accommodation being used as accommodation for asylum seekers. It is costly and it also denies them a sense of permanence, which should be helping integrate them into communities and not putting them up in BNBs. The UK Government is currently hoping to extend the asylum seeker dispersal programme to more councils, but at the moment Glasgow is the only Scottish one taking part. That is a shame. We should be looking to extend that. The Home Office has also asked councils in Scotland to take part in the national transfer scheme of unaccompanied asylum seeker children on a voluntary basis. The Home Office wants to accelerate that scheme. I am sure that the Scottish Government would agree that it has an obligation to work with councils to help ease any sticking points that there are. I get the impression that Angela Constance is doing that. Again, that is why our amendment calls on all Governments to do more. We should not politicise this issue. We should be mature enough not to point-score a point that was seemingly lost on Ross Greer earlier. The UK Government has taken unprecedented action over this crisis and given record-breaking levels of financial aid. Some of it is administered by Difford from my own hometown in East Kilbride. It is too easy to say that this Government or that should do more, but creating division is not the way to act here. Pulling together in a spirit of solidarity is the way ahead all Governments can do more. I believe that Angela Constance agrees with that. I hope that, even at this late stage, she could find her way to back our amendment. I would like to focus my speech today on the plight of children, the innocent victims of war. Night after night, in our TV screens, we see boatloads of desperate people gambling with their lives and their children as they pile on to dingies more suited to a boating pond than the Mediterranean. Those are some of the most distressing scenes that I can remember during my entire adult life, and I know that I am not alone in that. There seems to be no end to the misery of those desperate people from all backgrounds that have endured fleeing from war and persecution in the land of their birth. In Syria, children are being gassed by a monster devoid of humanity. So what have their parents got to lose? Make a life or death journey to safety or stay home and live every day wondering if it would be your last? How can any of us imagine being faced with that choice? A shocking 13.5 million people in Syria need help. Half of them are children who risk becoming ill, malnourished, abused or exploited. Thousands of them are orphans and around 3 million have been forced to quit school. The UN's Children's Agency says that this war has reversed 10 years of progress in education for Syrian children. Refugee children are susceptible to malnutrition and diseases that are brought on by poor sanitation such as cholera. Cold weather increases the risk of pneumonia and other respiratory infections. They are more vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation in unfamiliar and overcrowded conditions and are exposed to unimaginable danger. Apart from the obvious suffering, all this is clearly an abuse of their human rights. The charity world vision has said that the children of Syria have experienced more hardship, devastation and violence than any child should have to in a thousand lifetimes. During the recess, I was fortunate enough to spend a few days on the Italian Riviera, packed with luxury pleasure cruisers lining the marina. To walk past and see tables set for a champagne dinner struck me has been quite obscene when, in the same country, in the town of Lampedusa, children were being washed up on shore after trying to flee persecution in a tiny flimsy dingy. The leaders of wealthy countries view the desperate families as the problem, as they argue over how many they can take, afford or feel comfortable with. How can they sleep at night? The Conservative Government at Westminster agreed to take 30,000 refugees and they think that that is acceptable. In my view, that is shameful. It beggars belief that the former Prime Minister's initial refusal to take 3,000 unaccompanied children from the Calais refugee camp was qualified by the excuse that nothing must be done to encourage refugees to make the dangerous journey. What a pathetic excuse if it was not so serious that it would be laughable? In Scotland, we do not have the keep them out border mentality. We have welcomed more than 1,000 Syrians to our country in one year, punching way above our weight. This is another of the many reasons I am proud to be Scottish. That number is shared by 29 out of our 32 local authorities, and that 29 should be applauded for the arrangements that they have made and for giving the refugees a true Scottish welcome. However, I have to say that my own local authority, Easton-Bartonshire, is one of the three who welcomed absolutely none, citing the lack of housing as the reason. This is the same Labour-Tory-led coalition that takes 81 days to rehouse people into vacant social housing despite an enormous waiting list. Surely it is not beyond the wit of man or woman to find a way to accommodate refugee families in a predominantly affluent area at Easton-Bartonshire. Many people, I know, have said that they would happily open their doors and take in a family. The fact is that this is a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions, and one that is hard to believe is happening in 2016. The wealthy nations of the world can put a man in the moon, host lavish Olympic games and, of course, pay for obscene weapons of mass destruction. Is not it time world leaders put as much effort into stopping children from drowning in the Mediterranean? They must stop paying lip service to the plight of these families and implement an action plan to get them to safety without any further delay. Thank you very much. We now move to the closing speeches. I call on Mark Ruskell for the green party. Six minutes, Mr Ruskell. Please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I welcome contributions from members across this chamber this afternoon? I was particularly moved by stories from Rona Mackay, Marie Todd, Pauline McNeill, Ross Greer and Ivan McKee. I think that we have a different political consensus here in Scotland. I think that that is absolutely clear, and it is a source of great pride to us. It should be a source of great pride, as Marie Todd eloquently outlined. I think that, as Jackson Carlaw also said, that we must recognise that both Governments can and should go further in our response to this crisis. How different is this debate in Westminster? Several members have raised the ridiculousness of these Trump-esque walls that are going to be built around Calais. Walls that are only going to deliver more control to illegal gangs and result in more missing children. The track record of walls in the last 100 years of solving political and social problems is not a good one. As Angela Constance said, we should be using that money to reunite families because, as Christine McKelvie said, we need better care, not higher walls for these desperate vulnerable people. There are a number of areas where the Westminster Government can and should go forward, and the right to reunion is a central one, which has been reflected in this debate. We do need to see a much broader definition of the family. It is simply intolerable that vulnerable young women are languishing in camps separate from their wider family and the support of their wider family, just because of the date of their birth. We need a wider definition so that these young women can get the support that they deserve. Even under the Syrian vulnerable person scheme, the ability of refugees to visit sick relatives is being curtailed because the documentation is expensive to gather, it is time consuming and there is no guarantee that permission will be granted at the end of that process. I particularly welcome the concession that Angela Constance has got over 30-day visas. We need to, as many members have said in this debate, accelerate the action to resettle more refugees in this country. We could do that by accelerating the gateway protection programme, but the numbers that are coming through the vulnerable Syrian refugee programme are still pitifully low. I know that in the Stirling area, we have had a handful of families. In the city of Liverpool, we have only had one person, and one refugee has been relocated to Liverpool since that scheme was set up. We also need to focus on how we can effectively deliver routes of safe passage as well to ensure that there is a route to the safety and the support that vulnerable refugees can get in this country. I think that Scotland is well placed to be at the heart of a compassionate overall UK response to the refugee crisis. We have many advantages in being a small nation with a relatively small number of local authorities, a national parliament with growing responsibilities, a vibrant community and NGO sector, and that should enable us to be fleet of foot and to quickly be able to trial new approaches and spread good practice as we are rolling out new schemes. I particularly welcome, again, Angela Constance's announcement today that it will be £86,000 for peer education for local authorities. I think that it is very welcome and it builds on the success that we have had already in Scotland. There are various schemes that are operating, and we have got some good examples here. I think that the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme is at the heart of this debate, 29 councils involved in that. It is quite clear that where that has worked particularly successfully has been where we have had strong local partnerships. I think that it was a point described well by Lewis Macdonald in relation to Aberdeen. I have seen the same kind of level of community engagement partnership that takes shape in Stirling. The councils provide the basic services under those schemes. They provide the school education and specialist educational support, the health and social care, the language classes and the basic accommodation. It is the community that can then come in and provide that additional level of support, as Rachael Hamilton and Lewis Macdonald discussed. That enables the refugees when they are being resettled to thrive, not just to survive. Those community groups are providing a wonderful range of services in formal opportunities to improve their English, which of course relates to employability and their ability to then successfully settle in this country for the long term, not just the short term. They provide sheets, towels, books, toys, outings, cultural and faith events, and also help with internet access. How important is internet access when you are separated from your family? Also, for employability as well in terms of getting lessons in English and other skills that they need to live successfully here. I would particularly like to pay tribute to a group in my own area, Stirling Citizens for Sanctuary, which has operated incredibly well in Stirling and Clackmannanshire. They called very early on in 2015 for a community partnership. I think that that was met with some caution initially, but following a successful refugee summit in Stirling, there is now a solid partnership between the council, other agencies and the community in the local area. I think that these community groups need the support, and what I would say to Andrew Constance is perhaps that we need to look at how we can train and support these organisations in the same way that we train and support councils at the moment as well to play their part. There is clearly a need for national standards for refugee integration and that can build in the work of community groups as well, so we can ensure consistency of approach across the 29 or even 32 local authorities in Scotland that are operating these schemes. We also need to root out bad practice. The asylum dispersal scheme, the role of the private contractors in that scheme, has been disgusting as Ross Greer outlined. If Graham Simpson wants to see other local authority areas take on a scheme such as that, I would say, we will let the councils deliver it, not circle a private contractor. I hear Labour's call for a statutory footing for refugee services and rights. I think that that is worth consideration, and I welcome the comments from Angela Constance that she is going to open up the dialogue on that when we look at the refresh of the new Scots strategy. I think that listening to speeches here this afternoon, I sense a growing interest and a renewal in the interest in the plight of refugees. Possibly, there is even scope for reforming the cross-party group on refugees, but that can be discussed at another time. Thank you very much. I call on Pauline McNeill to close for the Labour Party. Ms McNeill, six minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I think that what we have heard this afternoon will agree that what Scottish local authorities have done is a credit that we have lived up to our humanitarian responsibilities. However, as Christina McKelvie says in her contribution, it is still a tiny, tiny per cent of the population. I think that it is important to clarify that the motion does talk about Syrian refugees and that, this afternoon, we are talking about the plight of refugees mainly. There is a legal definition of that, but we know that that is essentially those who are fleeing from persecution and conflict, and by necessity, they seek safety to save their lives, of them and their families and their future. I think that it is important that many speakers this afternoon have also touched on the background of why we are welcoming 1,000 refugees to Scotland. That is the pain of the five-year conflict in Syria that seizes in a way. It is important to understand the specific background. Of course, there are many other conflicts of which there are refugees. Only the last couple of nights, if you have been watching Newsnight, you will see the plight of the people from Yemen, a subject that I hope that we will get an opportunity to discuss in the future in this Parliament, which would literally have been bombed to death by Saudi Arabia. We know that there are 10 million refugees, and we have accepted 1,000 to Scotland and 20,000 in the United Kingdom as a whole. Most of those refugees are in the surrounding regions. As I have said already, in Lebanon, one in four of the population is a refugee Turkey, where there are refugee camps stored in and surrounding countries. It is sad to say that the Gulf countries, I think, are failed to live up to their humanitarian responsibilities. Many of those countries, and rightly so, because they have refugee camps in other conflicts, are also trying to develop international public policy that stops those countries from becoming very large refugee camps, because they tend to become permanent. That is why having a strategic approach to refugees is, I think, quite important. It is also encouraging that there have been quite a number of charities and individuals who just feel a responsibility to do something about the humanitarian crisis. I wish out to Calais, Calais aid, Caring Scotland. So many Scottish groups have just sprung up, and they have simply collected clothes and food, and they have just gone to Calais, and they have taken it there. People want to do their responsibility. Others have said that many people that I know have simply opened their own houses and taken in people who they know to be their refugees. I want to say that there are some really excellent contributions. Marie Todd talks about refugees not migrants, and also talks about improving the asylum system generally. Rachel Hamilton is right to address the question of the investment that has been by the UK Government. £2.3 billion is not an insignificant amount of investment on the refugee crisis. I am glad to talk in depth about the father of Alain Curdie. It is important when we read stories and we are shocked by the pictures that we understand the family tragedies behind them, but we know that they have simple lives than many other children who have, unfortunately, lost their lives in the conflict. I wholeheartedly agree with Ross Greer, who talks about her historical judges. I, for one, believe that this has been probably the most extraordinary crisis of my lifetime, and I do believe that history will judge us all as to what we individually did, not just as countries but as human beings on this crisis. Ivan McKee talked about the personal journeys that he has made, and of course that people are not just fleeing conflict, but increasingly fleeing climate change, so there has been almost a modern definition of that. Mark Ruskell talks about in detail how we need to look in detail about the rights of refugees and how we deliver that. I hope that the Green Party might consider supporting a Labour amendment tonight. What we are trying to achieve with our amendment is that there should be rights enshrined in law and that there should be a national approach to the question of how we deliver services. It is important to recognise that the UK Government has made significant investment, but where? I have slight difficulty with the Conservative positions. I have followed that for many years. I agree with Ronan Mackay, who said that David Cameron, which I appreciate that he is not the Prime Minister now, was extremely slow in even coming to the conclusion that we should take 20,000 refugees, a figure that I think is far too low. I am sad that the Dubs amendment was not supported by the Tories in the House. I believe that a specific number would have been quite an important step to ensure that the safety of many children who are unaccompanied. I do not believe that the Government is supporting the Labour amendment this evening. We will not be supporting the Tory amendment. We will be supporting the Green amendment. I hope that others will support the Labour amendment tonight on the basis of what I have said. I thank you very much, and I call Alexander Stewart to close for the Conservative party. Mr Stewart, you have seven minutes. Over 1,000 refugees have come to Scotland. I, like others in the chamber today, acknowledge all the efforts that have taken place across many parts of Scotland to achieve that goal. It is clear from today's debate that many people have made very passionate speeches in this chamber. That needs to be acknowledged that all of us welcome the fact that 1,000 refugees have come to our country and got a new home here. We want to lead by example, we want to lead by working in partnership and we want to lead to support and ensure that those individuals get a better life. That is why they are here. I commend and congratulate the Deputy Presiding Officer many of the speakers because they spoke with passion, they spoke with knowledge and they spoke with understanding. None of us can be touched by what we see on our television screens and the images that we have seen over recent months and years. All of us have a part to play, and it is quite obvious from today that many people see that, and this chamber has come together. There is a lot that we can work together on to assure that we can move on that agenda, and I am happy to do that. It is entirely right that we in Scotland and throughout the United Kingdom play our part to settle refugees who have been displaced from their own countries in conflict, war or persecution. There has been much said about the UK Government today, but the former Prime Minister, David Cameron, made it quite clear that he was to have a commitment to provide refugees to 20,000 refugees by 2020. That would focus specifically on individuals who require support and are more vulnerable. It is the principle of accepting refugees, and we need to make sure that we match that with meaningful integration in our society. I note that that has happened across many council areas and sectors in Scotland. There has been an opportunity for people to integrate, but it also has to be noted that there have been some alarm bells, too, about how things have not worked especially well. We need to acknowledge that, including the department from international development's Syrian crisis report that said that there was entirely success happening across Scotland and that it looked at two specific areas, and they need to be talked about today. The report indicated that employment rates for new refugees in Scotland were particularly low. When we get them here, they have been through our real trauma, and we need to try and manage to get them engaging within our communities. That has happened, but if we are not able to get the next step to ensure that they get the opportunities, we need to look back at that. They also talked about the occasions from time to time that they were struggling to access higher education, and that needs to be looked at as well because all of us want to support them to ensure that they get the better life when they come to this country. The inequalities and the failure to facilitate integration of refugees and their families must be addressed, and the UK Government must take that on board.  Taking refugees needs to be backed up with adequate support in the communities that accept them. Those individuals need help integrating, particularly in language lessons, and the impact for local services and communities should be closely monitored. I know from my own council in Perth and Cynos Council that I am still a serving councillor there that that has taken place. It is also very encouraging to hear from the examples that we have seen that local authorities, communities, voluntary groups and families across the country have invested their time and talent to help people. That has been a great opportunity. As I said, those individuals have arrived here, they are escaping violence, they are escaping war and they are escaping persecution, and it is vitally important that they get that support. Many individuals have been absolute superb. They have been ambassadors, the charities that have put out time and effort to ensure that those individuals are catered for. Many unsung heroes are in our communities, and they require to be given recognition. As I have said, within my own councillor of Perth and Cynros, we have used the good relationships with landlords and private rented sectors and letting agents to ensure that refugees are given houses. Moreover, we have sought to bring together a wide range of council services and departments to ensure that we are ready to provide the necessary practical, emotional support that those vulnerable individuals require. The issue of refugees settlement must not be looked at in isolation. It is extremely important that we are clearly here and tackle the root cause of the crisis. The Government of the United Kingdom has invested heavily in humanitarian aid in the Middle East. Since 2012, the UK has committed £2.3 billion to help to meet the pressured needs of vulnerable refugees within the region. Already, we have found that funds and funds of millions of pounds are being pumped into food rationing, medical consultations, relief packages and supported over half a million people to provide them with shelter. All of those are very important, and the commitment that 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product is being targeted for international development funds, and those funds have been a lifeline to many refugees. We must ensure that all we can to support and welcome these refugees who have settled in Scotland, but also commend the UK Government for doing all that it can to support them. Today, we have heard some very passionate speeches, and Mary Todd came across what she really felt, and that was very passionate. Rachel and Graham Simpson from my own side have put forward their case, and Ross Greer and Mike Russell from the Greens. I would not necessarily agree with everything that you have said, but at the same time you have put forward your case, and that needs to be acknowledged within this place, and I do that most successfully. Therefore, to celebrate what we have achieved is good, but we need to do more, and everyone within the chamber is of that opinion. We need to be looking forward to what can be achieved to manage the crisis. The UK and Scotland are on a global force of good to deal with all that. It is very important that we do all that we can on the world stage that shows what we are doing. Much has been done to date, much has been done now, but we all understand that much more needs to be done to ensure that we all play our part in supporting and ensuring that those individuals who have come from a traumatic experience receive the warmth and the welcome that Scotland is so well-known for receiving. Thank you, Mr Stewart. I call Angela Constance to close with the Government. Cabinet Secretary, till 5 o'clock please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am grateful to all members across the political divide who have contributed in today's debate with some very thoughtful contributions. As mentioned earlier, it is absolutely apt that, in the first week back, this Parliament debates and discusses the plight and the needs of refugees as we are an outward-looking nation and, of course, we are a welcoming nation. It will not come as a surprise to members that the Government will be supporting the Green amendment tonight. We have long believed that asylum support accommodation advice should be devolved to the spirit of the Smith commission. We have long standing concerns about the role of the private sector as a provider of asylum accommodation. We would like to see an independent review of the contract that is in place to provide accommodation to asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow. Ross Geir was right to argue for the creation of safe and legal routes, because more people are dying now than last year.  I suppose that it will not come as a surprise that I have some issues with the Tory amendment, but what I have absolutely no issue with is that it is entirely appropriate and fitting for MSPs, for this Parliament, for Civic Scotland to be calling on the Scottish Government to do more. Let me say to chamber tonight that there is no place for complacency, there is no place for conceit and there is never any monopoly of wisdom. We are and will and do everything that we can, whether that is about supporting more refugees, whether it is in and around a plight of unaccompanied children. We are well placed to support unaccompanied children, given our progressive legislation that recognises unaccompanied children as looked after children who need and would be legally afforded the protection of the state. We have our guardianship service, which was established in 2010, and that service has supported more than 200 children who have arrived in Scotland since 2010. We have made an additional investment in English as a second language services and an additional £1.4 million has went to community planning partnerships. We invest £820,000 in organisations that work and support refugees and asylum seekers. We have aided £300,000 to various humanitarian organisations on the ground in Europe, and there is a £1 million attached to the refugee summit, which is focused on mental health needs employability. Again, English language, and we are all very proud that 29 out of 32 local authorities are playing their part in supporting new Scots to make their home in our communities in every area of Scotland. I cannot get away from the fact that the Immigration Act remains reserved, that working with European neighbours largely remains reserved. I know that I can continue to write letters to the UK Government about our concerns and the poor standards of accommodation that some refugees and asylum seekers have in Glasgow. I know that I can continue to write letters to the UK Government about the narrow criteria for the family reunion programme. I know that I can write to the UK Government with regard to unaccompanied children in Europe. Of course, it is welcome that children are now being welcomed from Europe and not just their home countries. Believe me, I want to be doing much more than writing letters to the UK Government. The Government stands ready to do more for refugees and unaccompanied children, and it is particularly frustrating to watch the UK Government invest valuable resources in building a wall when that resource could be used to support around 250 refugees to come to Scotland or indeed the UK. Lewis MacDonald is entirely right that we should be building a bigger table and not building higher walls. I can say to our Labour colleagues and the Greens that we entirely accept that when we listen to the experience of refugees who have made their life in Scotland that not everything has been perfect, we have much to learn in ensuring that continuity of care, that continuity of case workers, there are indeed issues in and around employment. I want to reassure members that we agree that there needs to be a comprehensive access to services. We believe in integration based on equality, based on human rights, that it is sensitive to gender and that it is sensitive to the needs of children. I suppose that what we remain to be convinced about is the merits of legislation in terms of what it would achieve at a practical level. However, our door is open to further discussion. I said earlier to other colleagues that the New Scot strategy will expire in 2017. We will indeed have to discuss the issue and debate the issues in and around national standards. We have to recognise that integration is a long-term process, a job of work to be done for the integration forum. If we are to realise our ambition, integration starts from day 1. It is also vital that, when we talk of integration, we recognise that the benefits of integration are not just one way. Diversity has brought this country new languages, new experiences, new cultures and new skills, all of which we benefit from. By making their home here, refugees have expanded the world view of children from all communities and helped us to see ourselves as a globally connected nation. Jackson Carlaw was right to reflect on the role of the Jewish community in establishing the Edinburgh festival. I make no mistake about it, Presiding Officer. Syrian families are already contributing and engaging in their new communities. We know, Presiding Officer, that everyone in this chamber has a role to play in clearly communicating the reasons that refugees need our help and why we think that it is important to respond to the humanitarian crisis. When we meet refugees, I am always struck by the fact that when we speak to folk who have had to flee persecution and tortures and horrors in their own country, I am always inspired by their good humour, by their spirit and by their resilience, but absolutely no one would choose to become a refugee. By definition, refugees have had to leave their home to seek safety elsewhere, they have had to leave their work, including for some of their own businesses, and others have had to leave school, college or university and many have had to leave family behind and all will have had to have left their friends behind. Those are ordinary people who have been faced with extraordinary challenges. The First Minister said last September that we must respond first and foremost as human beings, and Scotland has responded magnificently to the challenge and will continue to do so. Our response to the crisis has shown us at our best as a nation, and I am sure that members across the chamber share that pride. However, I want to assure you that I am not just calling on the UK Government to do more. I want this Government to be empowered and to be in a position to do more, because there is much, much more to do, because the suffering has not gone away. There are between 150 and 400 unaccompanied children in Calais, as we speak. A Conservative estimate says that there are 26,000 unaccompanied Syrian children in Europe. According to Interpol, there are 10,000 unaccompanied children that have gone missing in the past two years. Where are they? What has happened to them? God only knows. Unaccompanied children are at risk of trafficking and all sorts of other absolutely unimaginable horrors. We know, and what we all have to face up to, whether it is this Government or the UK Government, is that some of that suffering is indeed avoidable. If we pull together and do more, we know that we can achieve success. The Syrian Resettlement programme is one example of that. We should celebrate and be thankful for what has been achieved over the past year, with more than 1,000 new Scots settled in our communities, but we all know that there is much, much more to do. That concludes our debate on Scotland welcomes 1,000 refugees. The next item of business is consideration of two parliamentary bureau motions. I ask Joe Fitzpatrick to move on block motion number 1341 and motion number 1342. The next item of business is consideration of two parliamentary bureau motions. Those questions will come at decision time to which we now come. There are six questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is that amendment 1322.1 in the name of Jackson Carlaw, which seeks to amend motion 1322 in the name of Angela Constance, be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are not agreed. We will move to our vote. Members should cast their vote now. The result of the vote is as follows. Yes, 31, no, 86. The amendment is therefore not agreed. The next question is that amendment 1322.2 in the name of Alec Rowley, which seeks to amend motion 1322 in the name of Angela Constance, be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are not agreed. Members should move to our vote. Members should cast their votes now. The result of the vote in amendment 1322.2 in the name of Alec Rowley is as follows. Yes, 21, no, 59. There were 36 abstentions and the amendment is therefore not agreed. The next question is that amendment 1322.3 in the name of Ross Greer, which seeks to amend motion 1322 in the name of Angela Constance, be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are not agreed. We should move to our vote and members should cast their votes now. The result of the vote on amendment 1322.3 is as follows. Yes, 84. No, 33. There were no abstentions. The next question is that motion 1322 in the name of Angela Constance, as amended, is agreed. Are we all agreed? We are not agreed. We should move to our vote and members should cast their votes now. The result of the vote on motion 1322 is as follows. Yes, 84. No, 33. There were no abstentions. The motion as amended is therefore agreed. The next question is that motion 1341 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on substitution on committees, be agreed. Are we all agreed? Motion is agreed. The next question is that motion 1342 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on committee membership, be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are all agreed. That concludes decision time and I now close this meeting.


The fear of failure tends to be a great inhibitor for entrepreneurs because the culture doesn't really encourage that. But I think that that's here at least, it's a badge of honor to have tried something and if it failed you learn from it and if you learn from it, you know, your experience would be very valuable for your next job or your next venture.