Chamber and committees

Thank you, Fulton. Russell Findlay wants to come in.

I will pick up quickly on the questions that Katy Clark asked about importing fireworks—from, say, south of the border. Do any panellists have views on the risk of that being linked with stockpiling ahead of bonfire night, for example? We have had a bit of evidence on that potential risk. I ask Chief Inspector Robison for any comments, and then I will come back to David MacKenzie.

I will bring in Katy Clark, who has a question about imports.

I would like to keep things moving. We are just about at half past 3 but, if I may, I would like to carry on for another 10 minutes or so. It is important that we consider some more questions, in particular on pyrotechnics. I will bring in Russell Findlay on that.

However, before I do so, I have a question for Chief Inspector Robison in relation to our visit to Blackburn last week. Members of the Blackburn bonfire night action group raised with us their experience of promoting use of the Crimestoppers line as an option for community members to report issues with illegal fireworks anonymously, if they were worried about being identified. I am interested in your thoughts on community messaging as an option for when people want to report but they are a bit anxious about doing so.

David or Julie, would you like to come in on that?

Do not worry—that is no problem at all.

Actually, I will come back to you, Russell, because I think that you have questions on finance and funding. I am aware that you covered that to an extent, but I just want to check whether you would like to pick up anything further on that.

We have overrun, so I will bring the session to a close. Obviously, if there are any outstanding points that the witnesses would like to follow up with us, they should feel free to do so in writing, and we will be happy to take that evidence into account. I again thank our witnesses for attending the meeting.

That concludes the public part of the meeting. We will now move into private session to review the evidence that we have heard today.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the 11th meeting in 2022 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received no apologies.

Before I start the meeting, I wish to offer the committee’s condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of David Hill, our colleague Jamie Greene’s head of office, who passed away suddenly last weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are very much with all of you at this difficult time.

Agenda item 1 is our second evidence-taking session on the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill. I refer members to papers 1 to 3.

I am very pleased to welcome to the meeting Chief Inspector Nicola Robison, from Police Scotland’s partnerships, prevention and community wellbeing division; David MacKenzie, chair of the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland; and Julie Whitelaw, interim head of housing, customer and building services at West Lothian Council. We very much appreciate your taking the time to join us this afternoon.

I remind members that they should indicate whom their question is for. If members or witnesses wish to ask or answer a question, they should put an R in the chat box or make a request to speak, and I will bring them in. We have about an hour and 30 minutes for this session.

We move directly to questions. I will open with the usual general question, which is for Chief Inspector Robison first and then for David MacKenzie and Julie Whitelaw. What are your organisations’ experiences to date of dealing with fireworks and pyrotechnic articles? From your organisation’s perspective, is the bill the right step at the right time?

I will move us on to control zones. We have a wee bit to get through, as we also want to ask questions about pyrotechnics and the financial implications. I will bring in Collette Stevenson, first.