Chamber and committees

On that point, I will bring the session to a close. I thank the cabinet secretary and his officials for a very interesting session.

I am aware that some of the issues that were covered this morning are of interest to the people’s panel, which has been mentioned throughout the session. I hope that this evidence session will inform some of the panel’s further deliberations during its final meeting, which will take place this weekend.

That completes the public part of our meeting.

Before I bring in Annie Wells, I have a quick supplementary question on funding. I am a bit like a broken record when it comes to the issue of multiyear funding. I know that there are some signals that the new UK Government is slightly more willing to look at the option of multiyear funding. All committees hear about the benefit of multiyear funding, and Mr Foggo’s point about whole systems working together is certainly relevant to that in the criminal justice space. Notwithstanding the point that the cabinet secretary made about local decision making, would the Government want multiyear funding in this space, given the significant role that the third sector plays in the area?

We turn to questions from Pauline McNeill and then Paul O’Kane.

Before I bring in Jeremy Balfour, I will pick up on Mr Foggo’s point about the helpful update on the challenges relating to the prison population. The Criminal Justice Committee and the wider Parliament are obviously interested in that. I am aware that naloxone is now available for use in the prison estate. Cabinet secretary, you gave a helpful update in September in response to a question that was asked in the chamber about the work that is being done by the UK Government to make naloxone more available. Could you provide an update on that?

Our main item of business is an evidence-taking session on tackling drug deaths and drug harm. I am very pleased to welcome Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, and from the Scottish Government, Mr Richard Foggo, director of population health, and Ms Maggie Page, unit head, drug strategy unit. I refer members to papers 1 and 2.

I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for providing some written evidence in advance and invite him to make some brief opening remarks.

We have a few minutes left, so I will bring in Sharon Dowey for a final question.

There is a lot of interest in this issue, and there are many areas to cover. I now open it up to questions from members.

Bob Doris, do you want to come in with a follow-up question?

We have a couple more areas of interest. I will bring in Fulton MacGregor on criminal justice social work, and then I will bring in Sharon Dowey on a couple of legislation questions, if Sharon still wants to ask them.

You mentioned the UK Government. The UK budget process has recently been completed but the Scottish budget has not yet been announced. Has there been any early consideration of the impact that UK budget announcements will have on justice? For example, we are aware of some possible concern regarding the impact that the budget might have on third sector organisations and know that those organisations are a big part of some service delivery within justice. Has there been any early consideration of what the budget for the justice sector might look like?