Chamber and committees

That concludes our business in public. Next week, I expect the committee to consider several statutory instruments relating to the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022. We will also consider a draft report on the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill and have an initial discussion about our approach to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, which has just been introduced.

The next agenda item is consideration of correspondence that we have received in relation to policing and mental health. I refer members to paper 2.

Before I open the discussion to members, I thank the Scottish Police Authority and all the attendees at last week’s conference on workforce trauma. It was a worthwhile event that included contributions from a range of stakeholders. There were some very powerful lived experience contributions. It was reassuring to hear about the level of commitment to make positive and lasting change for officers and staff. We heard about what is already in place and a bit about the work that is under way to effect the change that is needed. There was quite a lot of honesty in the room, particularly around the role of supervisors and leaders, which led to a constructive session.

We have received correspondence from Police Scotland, the SPA and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland. Members will find a summary of each of the responses at the beginning of paper 2. I will open the discussion to members.

Does anyone else want to come in? Russell Findlay can come back in, and then I will wind things up.

I agree. The information that we have in relation to the blue-light collaboration is light. That is possibly because it is at an early stage and work is still under way to really focus on which projects and work the collaboration will support. I might come to that under the next agenda item, but your comments are noted.

In relation to your point, Jamie, I agree that SPICe is probably our first port of call in order to get more clarity on the accounting side of the police budget with regard to the slippage that you reference. I am happy to take that away.

Would anybody else like to come in?

That is a good suggestion. Our challenge might be around fitting in that discussion but, given that we have taken a lot of time to explore the issue, I am sure that we could fit it into our work programme along the way.

Thanks for that, Fulton.

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in the use of diversion from prosecution in Scotland. (S6O-02144)

Diversion from prosecution provides an accused person with support to address the underlying causes of their behaviour and, as the cabinet secretary has outlined, the number of diversion cases commenced rose by 12 per cent between 2019-20 and 2020-21.

The cabinet secretary also referred to the joint review of diversion from prosecution, which found that, although some community justice partnerships expressed readiness to respond to an anticipated increase in referrals, others were less confident about their capacity to manage an increase against the backdrop of already stretched resources.

I acknowledge that prosecution policy is a matter for the Lord Advocate but, given that future reform of, for example, bail and release from custody is likely to place additional demands on community justice agencies, can the cabinet secretary provide an assurance that the Scottish Government will review funding arrangements to maximise use of diversion at the earliest opportunity, as was recommended in the report?

The Scottish Government’s commitment to agree a new deal for business has received an extremely positive response from the business community, and we all agree that it is absolutely vital that we work together constructively to develop our wellbeing economy.

Given the substantial pressures that many businesses are facing from rising costs and a disastrous Brexit, it is clear that urgent and sustained action is needed to maximise the support that is available to them. Can the First Minister say any more about the steps that the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that it can best support our businesses using the full amount of policy levers that it has at its disposal? Does he agree that we would, if full powers over our economy rested with this Parliament, be much better placed to support our businesses to thrive?