Chamber and committees

During last week’s Prime Minister’s questions, Rishi Sunak committed to supporting the north-east energy sector. Does the minister agree that the Prime Minister should put his money where his mouth is by matching the Scottish Government’s £500 million just transition fund, and that he should stop delaying investment into the Acorn carbon capture and storage project, which has been left completely in the lurch?

I want to clarify the language that the member used. He said that the drug harm issue is “out of control”. Is he aware that the most recent statistics on drug-related deaths showed a decrease—albeit a small one—in the numbers? However, I am absolutely not playing down the issue.

I do not think for one second that any of my SNP colleagues underestimate the challenge ahead.

One thing that I would put to the member is in relation to the UK Government’s consultation on its white paper. It focuses on demand, possession and use, and it continues to take a justice-orientated approach. Would the member not agree that, when it comes to use and possession, a public health approach, which the Scottish Government is attempting to take, is much more appropriate?

The Climate Change Committee’s report recognises key policy areas, such as industry and electricity supply sectors, that are reserved to the UK Government. To what extent is meeting our net zero targets here in Scotland reliant on decisions that are taken by the UK Government, and how is the Scottish Government working with the UK Government to ensure that our ambitions in Scotland are matched by the rest of the UK?

A very good morning, and welcome to the first meeting in 2023 of the Criminal Justice Committee. I wish everyone a very happy new year. Apologies from Pauline McNeill have been noted.

Our first item of business is an oral evidence session on the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill. Consideration of the bill will be our main item of business over the next few weeks.

Two panels are joining us today. Our first witnesses are Kate Wallace from Victim Support Scotland and Emma Bryson from Speak Out Survivors. I welcome both of you.

I refer members to papers 1 and 2. I intend to allow about 60 minutes for this session. As ever, I would appreciate fairly succinct questions and responses. As time is quite tight, we will move straight to questions.

I will open with a general question for Kate Wallace. We thank you for the submission that Victim Support Scotland has provided to us. In that submission, Victim Support Scotland set out its general concerns about the proposed provisions relating to the use of bail and remand. Will you update members on the details of your concerns, particularly about the new test? I will also bring in Emma Bryson on that.

I will just ask a quick follow-up to that and then bring in Emma Bryson. Going back to the sessions that we had, I was not surprised that one of the people to whom we spoke told us that she received a lot of information from the police. In your view, who should have responsibility for communicating with a victim, particularly around, for example, the outcome of a bail appeal or a bail review and some of the other decision making that takes place? Who do you feel is best positioned to have responsibility for that role, or does it stretch across different organisations such as Victim Support and the court system?

Of course.

Lesley McAra, if it is remotely feasible to give me a succinct answer to the question, I will bring you in.

Thank you very much indeed. On that note, I thank all our witnesses. We could probably speak for another couple of hours on this.

We will have a short suspension to allow our witnesses to leave.

Are you happy with that, Russell?