Chamber and committees

Are members content to delegate to me the publication of the report that summarises the outcome of our deliberations on the LCM?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you, members—that has been helpful.

I will add a few personal comments. Jamie Greene talked about the correspondence between the Lord Advocate and the secretary of state. The Lord Advocate’s most recent correspondence was on 10 October, when she wrote to the new Northern Ireland secretary and outlined suggestions on the bill. As far as I am aware, the Lord Advocate has not had any response to that. On that note, the bill is nearly complete and through its journey, so I am concerned that nothing has come back from the UK Government in response to the Lord Advocate’s correspondence.

Secondly, I want to point out some comments from the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights that the bill runs the risk of being found to be non-compliant with human rights. Indeed, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission also expressed grave concerns about the bill and its incompatibility with the Good Friday agreement. The cabinet secretary alluded to that in his statement when he joined us a couple of weeks ago.

Finally, I am uncomfortable with the notion that the ICRIR would have a role in Scotland that could impact on people’s access to justice, whatever that might be. I am also uncomfortable with the notion that the role and function of the Lord Advocate could be affected.

Does the committee agree with the Scottish Government that the Scottish Parliament should not consent to the relevant provisions in the bill as they have been set out in the Scottish Government’s draft motion?

It is probably best to go round the table and let members indicate their position.

For

Clark, Katy (West Scotland) (Lab)
MacGregor, Fulton (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)
Mackay, Rona (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP)
McNeill, Pauline (Glasgow) (Lab)
Nicoll, Audrey (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
Stevenson, Collette (East Kilbride) (SNP)

Against

Findlay, Russell (West Scotland) (Con)
Greene, Jamie (West Scotland) (Con)

We are at 10 past 11, but I am happy to bring in Katy Clark if things are kept as succinct as possible.

In the spirit of our coming up to the festive season, I will allow Fulton MacGregor to come in with a final quick question. We will then need to bring the session to a close.

Thank you. Do you want to come in, Sandra? I will then hand over to Rona Mackay.

Yes, of course.

Okay. Thanks very much.

I see that Rona Mackay wants to come in. After that, though, I would like us to move on to questions on release from custody.

I think that Sharon Stirrat would like to come in.

We are almost out of time. It just remains for me to thank you all for attending. It has been a really useful session. If there are any outstanding points that members have or that the witnesses feel the committee should pick up, we can write about that.