Chamber and committees

The next letter is from the Scottish Prison Service and is about access to fresh air. We have some confirmation of the provision that is in place for that. Do members have any comments?

Exactly. That issue in relation to health boards, as opposed to NHS Scotland oversight, was highlighted a couple of times.

Yes. I agree.

That would be perfect. Are members happy with that approach?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you very much.

The next letter is correspondence from the Crown Agent on centralisation of case marking. Do members have any comments? I think that our colleague Pauline McNeill first raised the issue.

I agree with your assumption that that would not be considered as part of the centralisation process. That issue might come up in the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill.

We are getting there. Our next letter is from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, which provides an update on its use of naloxone. Again, I am happy to open the floor up to members.

Agenda item 2 is consideration of a negative Scottish statutory instrument. I refer members to paper 1.

The SSI adds

“A United Kingdom photocard driving licence”

as a valid form of identification for the purposes of a defence to two new criminal offences under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 operating in Scotland. The two offences are, first, an offence under section 39 relating to a delivery company delivering bladed products, sold by a UK-based seller, to a person aged under 18 at residential premises; and, secondly, an offence under section 42 relating to a delivery company that has entered into an arrangement with a seller that is based outside the UK to deliver a bladed article to a person under 18.

As there are no questions, are members content not to make any recommendation to the Parliament on the instrument?

Members indicated agreement.

I see that no one else has any other comments.

Thank you for those helpful views. Based on my professional experience, I absolutely agree that the historical rationale for cross-border placements probably made sense at the time, but we are now in 2022 and our thinking has moved on. It is definitely a real issue.

Jamie Greene referred to the children’s care and justice bill that was mentioned in the programme for government yesterday. Do members agree that we should come back to the issue, perhaps in the autumn, once we can see where the bill is going? In the meantime, we can flag our interest to the lead committee and to the Parliamentary Bureau when the bill is published. Are members happy with that proposal?

Members indicated agreement.

Our next letter is correspondence from Martyn Evans, who is the chair of the Scottish Police Authority, about changes to the police pension scheme. There is also an associated letter from David Page, who is the deputy chief officer at Police Scotland. Again, I will open up the floor to comments. The letters were in relation to some correspondence from us requesting an update on progress around the impact of the pension scheme changes.