Chamber and committees

Thank you, Jamie.

I thank our witnesses for attending. That concludes the public part of our meeting. Next week, we will hear from the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care as part of our scrutiny of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.

We now move into private session for the final item on our agenda.

Thank you. That is a really interesting point.

Thank you, Charlie. I will bring in Lynne Thornhill on that issue.

Thanks very much. I want to ask Gillian a follow-up question. It relates to the comments in the submission from South Lanarkshire Council on the removal of bail restrictions. Your submission suggests that you feel that that would be

“a positive addition as there are people being remanded that potentially could be safely and appropriately managed within the community”.

We are at a very early stage in our evidence gathering, but there is perhaps some confusion or difficulty in understanding how this would work in practice. I am interested in any comments that you have on that proposal and how you see an alternative working.

Thank you. Rona, do you want to come in on this? I know that Katy would like to come in on the subject of release from custody.

That raises some key points about communication and how important the relationships between, for example, a GP practice and local pharmacies are, and also the third sector organisations that are the first point of contact for someone on release. You have spoken about the part that IT systems and better use of IT can play in that. Can you make any other comments about where that communication process and joined-upness should be improved, regardless of whether we are discussing it in the context of the bill or not?

I welcome our second panel of witnesses: Rhoda MacLeod, head of adult services for sexual health, police custody and prison healthcare at Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership; Sandra Cheyne, national career information, advice and guidance policy and professional practice lead at Skills Development Scotland; and Gillian Booth, justice service manager at South Lanarkshire Council. A very warm welcome to you all. We appreciate the time that you have taken to join us this morning.

I intend to allow about one hour for questions and answers. As before, it would be helpful if members indicated whom their questions are for and if the witnesses indicated, in the online chat function, whether they would like to respond to a specific question.

I will open with a very general question for Gillian. We are looking at the bail provisions in the bill. As you know, the bill will require a court to allow justice social work the opportunity to provide information that is relevant to bail decision making. In broad terms, do you support having that requirement in the bill? If so, why?

Very quickly. Then I will bring in Pauline McNeill, who also has a supplementary question.

We are just about up to the half hour, so I will finish off with a question. Rhoda MacLeod, the committee has been looking at continuity of access to prescription medication for people on release from prison, which we touched on this morning. Will the proposals in the bill do anything to ensure that the gaps in provision are addressed and that people who come out of prison and go back into communities can access general practitioner and other support when they need it, which is often pretty much immediately after their release?

I can come back to you if there is time.