Chamber and committees

With regard to the SPA budget, I note the information that has been provided regarding the figure that has been allocated for

“police assets including the estate, fleet and technology”,

as Russell Findlay has just outlined.

The committee has been interested in body-worn cameras for quite some time, and we received an update from the cabinet secretary—I would not care to guess when exactly that was, but it was fairly recently. Again, that is an operational decision for the chief constable, but there is general support for such cameras to be introduced and rolled out. I do not think that there has been any further update on that, has there?

Which paragraph of the note are you referring to?

Yes.

I can. Collette?

The key thing there is how the additional funding will be used. That is perhaps a question for Police Scotland as well as for the cabinet secretary. Is that right, Jamie?

I bring in Stephen Imrie on that point.

That covers what I was going to suggest. The points that members have made are valid, and it is not just one or two points; we have picked up issues across a number of the specific areas in which the SSI is relevant. I am grateful to members for highlighting their concerns and thoughts, and we now have them on the record.

To sum up, unless anyone is planning to lodge a motion to annul, which we have spoken about, we have no further recommendations to make, and we will proceed as planned. It is important that we use the opportunity to draw to the attention of the Parole Board and the cabinet secretary the matters that have been raised. Perhaps we can incorporate further work on that at a future point. I am grateful to members for raising their points.

Are members content not to make any recommendations to the Parliament on the instrument, with the caveat that we do some further work on the points that have been raised?

Members indicated agreement.

Do you want to speak to Stephen Imrie separately on that, or do you want to do that just now? Do you want clarity on something?

We have covered a wee bit there.

On the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service funding, it is pretty clear that there is an interest in whether what has been provided is sufficient. I think that it is £32.5 million for the capital budget, and I think that the mood in the room is that that is probably not sufficient, given the scale of reform or modernisation that is required. We could write to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to ask how it will be spent and, importantly, what the shortfall might be on it. I suspect that there will be a shortfall and that it might be significant.

If members agree, I am happy that we correspond with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on that.

Does anybody else want to come in?