Chamber and committees

There will be a division.

For

Mackay, Rona (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP)
MacGregor, Fulton (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)
Nicoll, Audrey (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
Swinney, John (Perthshire North) (SNP)

Against

Clark, Katy (West Scotland) (Lab)
Dowey, Sharon (South Scotland) (Con)
Findlay, Russell (West Scotland) (Con)
McNeill, Pauline (Glasgow) (Lab)

I will have to bring in other members but, if we have time at the end, I am happy to bring members back in with any outstanding questions.

I call John Swinney, to be followed by Katy Clark.

I will bring in Rona Mackay, and then we will move on to questions around policing.

Thank you very much for that. We will move on to our final topic for questions, which is prisons. I will kick things off before I bring in other members with a question about the prison population, which we heard a little bit about in our previous session this morning. Does the cabinet secretary feel that the current prison population and remand prisoner levels are acceptable and sustainable? Does she have specific plans to address that? If so, when will those be set out for Parliament to consider, and are there any budgetary implications for justice organisations arising from them?

That brings us to the end of our time for this evidence session. I thank the cabinet secretary and her officials for joining us. We will have a short suspension before we move on to our next agenda item.

Our next four agenda items all relate to our consideration of two affirmative instruments, namely the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 (Extension and Expiry of Temporary Justice Measures) Regulations 2023, and the International Organisations (Immunities and Privileges) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Order 2023.

We will start with the extension and expiry of temporary justice measures and I refer members to paper 3 and particularly to table 1 on page 12, which contains a helpful summary of what is proposed. I also refer members to paper 4, which contains a letter that we received from the cabinet secretary earlier this week that sets out plans for a consultation on the permanency of certain criminal justice measures from the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022.

I am pleased to welcome back to the meeting the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, Angela Constance, and her officials. Susan Black is senior policy officer in the civil law and legal system division of the Scottish Government; Emma Thomson is from the Scottish Government legal directorate; Heather Tully is from the justice reform unit of the Scottish Government; Patrick Down is from the criminal law practice and licensing unit of the Scottish Government; and Nicola Guild is from the Scottish Government legal directorate. I invite the cabinet secretary to speak to the instrument.

Thank you very much for that helpful statement. I will bring in members who want to ask questions.

I know that the prison population issue is complex and that multiple factors have an impact on it. Do you think that an element of that pressure still derives from the Covid pandemic and will ease in time, or is it not that simple?

I am happy for Ms Medhurst to follow up in writing with any answers that you are seeking, Pauline.