Chamber and committees

If you move it now, I will ask you later whether you intend to press or withdraw it.

I invite the cabinet secretary to respond.

Thank you, cabinet secretary. I thank John Watt of the Parole Board for the briefing that he provided to committee members, as it was helpful in informing today’s debate.

I agree. That is a helpful suggestion.

Thank you for that. I concur with the comments that members have made.

To pull things together, I propose that we write to the cabinet secretary to ask for more detail on the scope of the new contract and to ask why that detail could not have been provided earlier, as Jamie Greene pointed out.

There is scope for us to build more of a case around the provision of transcripts for those who seek copies. It might also be helpful if we were to ask, for example, Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland—which will be interested and following the matter—for an update on how easy or challenging it currently is for individuals to obtain copies of transcripts. Is there still a significant cost or has anything changed in that regard? It would perhaps be helpful for us to get some insight into that.

Are members happy with that proposal?

That is noted. We can follow that up to get an up-to-date position on that.

If there is nothing else, we will bring this item to a close. If members want to make additional comments on the action plan, I am happy for you to link directly with the clerks—if it is more of a technical update. I appreciate that we have worked through that quite quickly.

We will return to our action plan later in the year to see what further progress is being made to deliver on the recommendations and actions that we have set out.

Thanks for that. I still propose that we note the discussion today and that we await the introduction of the forthcoming criminal justice reform bill. I note Jamie Greene’s comments and his preference, but if committee members are agreed, I propose that we note the discussion.

I am conscious of the time, and we still have a number of agenda items to work through. We will circle back to the section on the misuse of drugs, which starts on page 17. There are no particular updates or additions to that, so I move us swiftly on to the next section, which starts on page 23 and is on violence against women and girls. If there is nothing that members wish to highlight on that, the next section is on victims’ rights and victim support, which begins on page 28.

I totally agree with that. Quite a lot is coming out of our discussion, so the clerks will update the action plan accordingly on our behalf. If members want to make any technical additions to the action plan, I am happy for them to contact the clerks direct with those updates.

The next section is on reducing youth offending. It begins at page 32.

Thanks, Katy. I am happy with that, and we have taken a note of that suggestion.

Where did we get to? We were on page 32. The final section, which is on page 36, is on legal aid.