Chamber and committees

Good morning, and welcome to the 25th meeting in 2022 of the Criminal Justice Committee. There are no apologies.

Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take item 3 in private. Do members agree to take item 3 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

That is a good point. In the letter that we received from the minister, there was reference to information on the offence being included in the Scottish Government’s annual fireworks campaign. I do not know what the starting date for that is, but we could perhaps go back to the Government for clarification.

The second letter is from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans and is on charging fees for access to court transcripts. Again, I will open up to members for any comments.

I do not disagree with that point. However, I come back to the letter that the minister sent the committee. One section in it relates to information on the proxy purchase and supply offence

“being included in the Government’s annual fireworks campaigns.”

Further on in the letter, the minister refers to the fact that her officials are

“developing a bespoke programme of communications with partners, in addition to the annual fireworks season campaigns, to support commencement of the proxy purchase and supply offence and emergency workers aggravation and publicise these coming into force.”

Nonetheless, the point that has been raised is fair. As I said, I am happy for us to go back to the minister and her officials to raise the particular issue of timescales, given that we are discussing it on 5 October and the date that has been set out for the new offence coming into force is in five days’ time. If members are in agreement with that, we will write back to the minister.

Members indicated agreement.

As there are no more questions, I invite the minister to move motion S6M-05162.

Motion moved,

That the Criminal Justice Committee recommends that the Advice and Assistance (Summary Criminal Proceedings) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2022 [draft] be approved.—[Ash Regan]

Motion agreed to.

Good morning, and welcome to the 24th meeting in 2022 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received no apologies. Our first item is a decision on whether to take item 6 in private. Do members agree to take item 6 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Thanks for that, minister. I will open it up for members to ask questions.

Did you want to come in, Fulton?

I thank the minister very much for attending. That concludes our consideration of the SSI.

We now move into private session. Details of the next meeting will be announced in due course in the Business Bulletin.

The committee will now consider an affirmative Scottish statutory instrument. I refer members to paper 1. The SSI seeks to amend the current advice and assistance regulations to support a sheriff court initiative that seeks to encourage appropriate early resolution of summary criminal cases.

I welcome Ash Regan, the Minister for Community Safety, and her officials to the meeting, and I invite the minister to make a short statement on the SSI.