Chamber and committees

The next item is consideration of an affirmative instrument. I am pleased to welcome Angela Constance, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, and her officials to the meeting. From the Scottish Government, we have Walter Drummond-Murray, who is head of the civil courts unit; Conor Samson, who is justice co-operation policy manager; and Emma Thomson, who is a solicitor in the legal directorate. I refer members to paper 1, and I invite the cabinet secretary to speak to the instrument.

There is an escalating issue and challenge, so we need to think about how to direct resources to address it.

Thanks very much. There is a lot to think about. Martin MacLean wants to come in at some point, but first I will let Jamie Greene come in with his question.

Thanks very much for that helpful clarification. I am going to draw this session to a close. It has been fascinating and there is a lot for us to think about with regard to the work that is clearly going on. It is welcome to hear about the commitment in and around these issues, but also the challenges and the work that is required.

Thank you all for your time today. We will suspend the meeting very briefly to allow our panel members to leave. Thanks very much.

No one else wants to come in. Thanks very much, Rona and Jamie. I have noted your comments about timescales and I do not disagree. We seem to have been looking at this for quite some time. If it is helpful for members, I flag that last week, in response to a question that I asked in the Conveners Group meeting, about progress on access to court transcripts, the First Minister said:

“The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs was planning to write to the committee this week expressing the Government’s commitment to supporting a pilot to support access to court transcripts, initially focused on complainers in sexual offence cases. So it is an issue that I am well aware of, given my previous role as a cabinet secretary for justice. We will absolutely commit to a pilot focused initially on complainers in sexual offence cases.”

I am certainly happy to hear that. That is where we want to be. I absolutely take the point about timescales. If members wish, I am happy to write to the Government seeking a bit more clarity on timescales. I also suggest, if members are in agreement, that we send a copy of the cabinet secretary’s letter to Rape Crisis Scotland for its information and to Scottish Women’s Aid and Victim Support Scotland, which have all been interested in and active on this issue, for their information. Do members agree with that proposal?

As members have no further questions, I invite the cabinet secretary to move motion S6M-08712.

Motion moved,

That the Criminal Justice Committee recommends that the International Organisations (Immunities and Privileges) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2023 [draft] be approved—[Angela Constance].

Motion agreed to.

I apologise for the interruption—we have the windows open, because it is quite warm in the committee room. I think that we are fine now.

I am sure that there are points in your opening remarks that members will want to come back to. I will bring in Stuart Allardyce now.

Thank you. That is very helpful. We now open up to questions. I think that you covered this in your opening remarks, cabinet secretary, but can you confirm that the provisions that we are looking at would be for the duration of the general assembly event only and do not stretch beyond that? The policy note that we have says:

“it is necessary to grant INTERPOL the relevant privileges and immunities required to operate effectively across Great Britain and Northern Ireland on an ongoing basis.”

Can you confirm that that does not mean that, once the order is in place or if it is agreed to today, it would be a permanent provision?

On that note, I thank the cabinet secretary and her officials for their time. I suspend the meeting briefly to allow for a changeover of witnesses.