Chamber and committees

Absolutely. I agree with that, Fulton, and maybe we should think about staff members in that regard, as well as police officers. I propose that we keep the issue on our programme and come back to it down the line. Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.

You are correct. It works with offenders in that field.

Item 3 is consideration of a number of items of correspondence that the committee received during the summer recess. I refer members to paper 2. As you will see, the clerks have suggested some follow-up actions in the table in paragraph 3.

I propose that we take each letter in turn. I will ask the committee for any views, and then for agreement, on how we wish to proceed with each of them.

We will start with the letter that the committee received from the Minister for Community Safety in relation to legal aid. Do members wish to make any comments on the correspondence?

Thank you very much for that. Members have made valid points, not least in recognising what, at this point, the committee’s role is and is not.

I found both sets of correspondence to be comprehensive and helpful in setting out the historical context for today’s legal aid provision. It is clearly not a straightforward situation and challenges remain with regard to everyone getting to where they would like to be. I agree with Collette Stevenson about our ideally having a system that meets the needs of those who work in it and those who are in receipt of the services that are provided through legal aid.

I do not want to repeat the points that members have already covered. I am therefore happy to pick them up and link with SPICe to get further information on the context of all of this, as well as the timeline that Jamie Greene has mentioned, which would be helpful.

I note that the Scottish Government is currently in negotiations and has undertaken to update us on their progress, as well as on the review of the Public Defence Solicitors Office. I am happy for us to write the minister for an update on that progress and to refer to the Edinburgh Bar Association letter that we received yesterday. We will also cover the issue in our budget scrutiny, as it will form an important part of that forthcoming process.

I therefore propose that we link with SPICe and write to the minister on the points that we have raised. Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.

I move to our second letter, which is from the Scottish Government and outlines its plans following the consultation on the not proven verdict and other matters. Yesterday in Parliament we heard an update in relation to the programme for government around the proposals to abolish the not proven verdict.

Do members wish to make any comments on that correspondence?

If there are no other comments from members, I am happy to write and ask for that information.

The next letter is from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans on the funding for recovery cafes in Scottish prisons. Are there comments on that correspondence? Obviously, we are aware of the statement on the national mission that will be made in Parliament—I think tomorrow—which might also incorporate an update on work to progress provisions such as recovery cafes. Are members happy to agree to the suggested recommendations in regard to that letter?

Members indicated agreement.

Yes.

I agree. I found the letter very helpful in setting out quite a lot of information that had either slipped off my radar or that I was not aware of.

Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.

I will pull things together from both pieces of correspondence. Mr Evans’s update tells us that the SPA’s people committee is leading its oversight of police numbers. The SPA received an update in June, and at that time it was satisfied with where work was taking Police Scotland in responding to the numbers of people who are leaving. The SPA asked for further information on the leavers’ reasons for leaving, and that is set out to an extent in the correspondence.

On policing performance, Mr Evans’s update informs us that the appropriate SPA committee—the policing performance committee—is monitoring that issue. I took a little bit of reassurance from that.

Then there is the important area of wellbeing, which the committee has looked at recently. Members will know that we have a session coming up in which we will consider policing and mental health, including both the response to poor mental health in communities, which we have spoken about, and the impact of the demands of policing on police officer and staff mental health. In that session, I would certainly want us to probe the issues that we have spoken about today.

On the financial issues that we have raised and the coming budget constraints, we will obviously consider those closely during our forthcoming budget scrutiny process, which will be in late October.

There is a lot for us to think about and discuss. I anticipate that both Mr Evans and Mr Page will be invited to give evidence at our evidence sessions on the budget. If members agree, we will take forward in those two forums the issues that we have discussed today.