Chamber and committees

I will come back to the member if I can.

The secure care estate may need to be reconfigured so that the very small minority of young people aged 18 or under who may present a risk to others can be held securely while the risk of them harming themselves or others is minimised. The committee also heard that, in future, consideration should be given to having a more flexible, individualised system rather than one that is based on age criteria alone.

The second issue that we considered was the rights of children who are held in police custody. Although we broadly welcome the bill’s provisions, we again seek assurances about resources. We recognise the funding implications that arise for local authorities from their proposed new role of providing an alternative place of safety for a child, rather than their being held in a police cell.

This is an important bill. Although it was not for our committee to reach a conclusion on its general principles, we heard support for the two main provisions that I have covered in the short time that was available to me today. I thank my fellow committee members for their constructive and collegiate approach to scrutiny of those provisions and I thank all the witnesses who engaged with us.

We almost did it.

Our final item of business is consideration of correspondence on the issue of policing and mental health. I refer members to paper 4.

I thank the cabinet secretary for her helpful update and certainly welcome the creation of a cross-ministerial working group on this important subject. I hope that the committee’s interest in the issue, and the priority that we have given to it, is beginning to have an impact. We are beginning to see some progress on addressing the matters that we have highlighted.

Do members want to raise any points about the cabinet secretary’s letter or ask any further questions?

Another couple of members want to come in.

Absolutely. As the minister said, one of the important areas of work is the preventative work that is being done. I suppose that prevention and intervention are absolutely key.

I think that you might have jumped ahead to our next agenda item.

Where there is on-going dialogue between the two Governments in relation to how legislation is being developed in bills, it is not clear to me that the Scottish Parliament is aware of what those discussions might involve. It might be helpful for us to have some understanding of that process and the issues that are being raised.

Would our clerk like to add anything to that, or does that pretty much cover the position?

We have a lot on the agenda today.

No worries at all. We are getting near summer recess—that is fine.

Is the committee in agreement that the Scottish Parliament should give its consent to the relevant provisions in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, as set out in the Scottish Government’s draft motion?

Members indicated agreement.

Thanks. As you know, the committee has been looking at the broader issue of online child sexual exploitation and the escalating incidence of it. Our discussions have obviously incorporated the bill and its progress. We hope that we will remain sighted on the Government’s position on the bill, in particular, because the committee is very interested in that issue.