Chamber and committees

My ever-helpful clerks have just confirmed that that appears to be connected to a freedom of information request that was submitted by our Liberal Democrat colleagues. It should be in the public domain, but we will see whether we can find it, circulate it to members and incorporate it in our on-going correspondence.

I have jotted down some of the points that members have made. It is clear that concerns still exist about the response that we received from Police Scotland. In relation to that correspondence, I still have questions about training, which I am very interested in, and, in particular, supporting operational supervisors to recognise and respond to changes in a member of their staff, and to instigate the appropriate support before things escalate for them.

In the correspondence from the SPA, I noticed that some of the timescales for processing retirements seem exceedingly long. That raises a concern, particularly where there is a health and wellbeing issue connected to that. For me, the other question that remains is around access to, and referral to, specialist support in circumstances in which the mental wellbeing of an officer or a member of support staff has declined to a point at which referral and access to more specialist support is appropriate. The timescales around that are difficult. Those are some of the issues that I am interested in continuing to scrutinise.

We have covered a number of issues: obtaining data on suicides; establishing whether there is a link with officers’ work roles and the collection of data on that; and the possibility of FAIs. It is important to acknowledge that HMICS, the SPA, Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Federation are committed to addressing the issue, but the view that there is a lot more work to be done is loud and clear. Fulton MacGregor spoke about widening access to the police treatment centres, which is a good point, and the situation with regard to vaccinations, which Pauline McNeill raised, is an issue that has attracted scrutiny and criticism in the past.

Going forward—to pick up on Jamie Greene’s point—it is important that the SPA and Police Scotland have an opportunity to respond. I am happy to propose that we give them some time to respond on the notes of meetings with officers and the suggested follow-up. We could also invite the federation and even the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents to comment, perhaps in 2023. In the meantime, I am keen that we write again to Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority to request a full and detailed response to the correspondence that we have sent them.

I also propose that we engage with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, perhaps on cases around FAIs, which Russell Findlay raised, and suicides, and raise those issues with it. As I said, we can certainly track down the information around the FOI that was referred to earlier.

Are members happy with that proposal? There is still a wee bit of work to do, but it is all important stuff.

Okay. Perhaps what you were referring to was in relation to the previous agenda item, but we picked up the key points that you were making on that.

A very good morning and welcome to the 31st meeting in 2022 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received no apologies this morning, but I should say that Collette Stevenson has had to leave the committee room. Hopefully, she will be able to rejoin us soon.

Agenda item 1 is an evidence-taking session on the legislative consent memorandum to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill. I welcome to the meeting the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans Keith Brown and, from the Scottish Government, Helen Nisbet, deputy director, defence, security and cyber resilience; Michael Sim, defence policy manager; and Nicholas Duffy, senior principal legal officer. I refer members to paper 1.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make a short opening statement.

I missed a bit of what you said, Fulton. Did you suggest exploring opportunities for retired officers and staff to access the treatment centres?

Are you looking at the correct paper?

You are way ahead of us.

Our next item of business is consideration of two items of correspondence that the committee has received. The details are in paper 4. Do members wish to comment on the suggested course of action on those items?

I will start with the letter from NHS Scotland on medical prescriptions for prisoners on their release. Does anyone wish to comment on that? Are we happy with that? There is a helpful outline of the situation in NHS Scotland with specific reference to access to medication. I note that, at the end of the letter that we received from Caroline Lamb, she has undertaken to

“ask Health Boards to work with the Scottish Prison Service to consider the issues raised by the Committee and the Wise Group and identify any practical actions that could help ensure people leaving prison can access prescriptions.”

Are members happy to note the information in the letter and to await a further update?

Members indicated agreement.

Okay—we will note that point.

If members have nothing to raise on the letter from Police Scotland, I will bring the public part of the meeting to a close. The next meeting will be on Wednesday 14 December, when we will start our oral evidence taking on the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill. We move now into private session.

Thank you very much indeed, cabinet secretary. I open it up to questions from questions. If anyone has any questions, they should indicate as much now.

I call Jamie Greene.

I might come back to you. I still have a number of members to bring in, so I would appreciate as succinct questions and answers as possible.