First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 19 December 2024.
Daniel Johnson
Labour
I remind the chamber of my entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that I am the director of a company with retail interests and am a member of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers.
The First Minister might have read an article that was published two days ago on the BBC website highlighting a spiralling pattern of violence against retail workers in my Constituency. It detailed various incidents, including a business owner having a knife drawn on him, a customer being hospitalised, a shop owner being punched and a store manager being throttled. Those are not isolated incidents. Last year alone, 5,500 incidents were recorded under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) Act 2021, which I took through Parliament. That was a 46 per cent increase in the rise of such incidents.
Does the First Minister agree that greater priority needs to be given to community and response policing so that such crimes can be treated with the expediency and seriousness that they undoubtedly deserve? Perhaps above all else, at this time of year, when many of us will be using the shops, does he agree with the campaign that is being run by the Scottish Retail Consortium and USDAW to urge the public to treat retail workers with kindness at Christmas?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
We should treat retail workers with kindness 365 days a year. At the root of the issue that Mr Johnson raises is criminal conduct and the fact that people are not behaving appropriately. Whether that is about criminal conduct or disrespect to retail workers, it is part of the same pattern. I agree with the sentiments that Mr Johnson expresses.
The Government has put £3 million into the budget as a specific Intervention to tackle retail crime, which will be taken forward as a partnership between the retail sector and the police. That will be in addition to an investment of a record £1.62 billion next year for policing, which is an increase of £70 million on 2024-25 and which I think provides the resources for effective community policing. I am advised on that point by the chief constable of Police Scotland.
All that we need to do is pass the budget. I leave Mr Johnson that message and clarion call to support the Government so that we can get on with tackling the legitimate issue that he puts to me by ensuring that the Government’s budget is passed in February.
Alison Johnstone
Presiding Officer
That concludes First Minister’s Question Time.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
