Chamber and committees

Thank you very much. It will come as no surprise that we have a number of questions about conducting court business by electronic means.

I will bring in Jamie Greene. I know that you have questions on the issue of early release, but can we stick with electronic court options for the moment?

Good morning, and welcome to the ninth meeting in 2022 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received apologies from Pauline McNeill and Collette Stevenson.

Our first item of business is an evidence session on the justice provisions in the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill. I refer members to papers 1 and 2.

I am pleased to welcome our first panel of witnesses. Kenny Donnelly is procurator fiscal for policy and engagement at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and David Fraser is executive director of court operations at the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. It is nice to see you both. We appreciate the time that you are taking to join us.

We move directly to questions. We have around an hour and 15 minutes or so. I will start things off.

The written submissions that you have sent in advance to the committee have been helpful to our understanding of the perspectives of your respective organisations on the provisions of the bill, and of the next steps and opportunities to make some of the Covid provisions permanent. Before we get into other members’ questions, it might be helpful to have a general update. How are the courts and casework at the Crown Office beginning to adapt, now that restrictions are easing and we are beginning to move to a new normal?

I apologise, cabinet secretary—I was just very aware of the time, which is why we went straight to questions. I am sure that members will have further questions to ask.

Is that you, Jamie?

In the spirit of timekeeping, we will bring the matter to a close. I apologise once again for my sloppy convenership in forgetting to bring you in, Fulton, and for not allowing you to make your opening statement, cabinet secretary. You are, of course, welcome to make any additional final comments now or share information with the committee in due course. Finally, I ask for reassurance that the committee will be kept updated on the on-going review.

As members have no more questions, I thank all our witnesses for attending.

We will take a short break to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

I want to follow on from Jamie Greene’s line of questioning. I am very concerned about the provisions in the bill on the proposed extension of time limits, particularly in the current context of remand, which Jamie has just highlighted.

I want to pick up on Stuart Murray’s previous points about virtual court proceedings. I think that we agree that there is benefit from a virtual option to expedite court proceedings, without it being at the expense of their quality. Perhaps virtual proceedings have their place in helping to reduce the backlog by allowing cases to be processed in a more timely manner.

On one hand, you expressed some concern about virtual court proceedings as an option. On the other hand, in the circumstances that we face post-Covid, are they a legitimate option in the court process, particularly in the context of avoiding extended timescales for court proceedings to be undertaken and completed, thereby potentially avoiding the necessity for time limits to be extended permanently?

Thank you for that. Does Vicki Bell want to add anything to that response? I am aware that colleagues also want to ask questions around time limits.

Thank you. I will leave it there and hand back to the convener.

Minister, you may have answered my question in your response to Pauline McNeill. You have shared some helpful correspondence, in which you outline some of the short-term and long-term measures that you are looking at and the legal assistance measures that will be considered. The legal aid reform bill is also coming.

Given your previous response, it sounds as though there will be opportunities to reconsider legal fees. Why is the 5 per cent increase being introduced now? Could it have been rolled up in work that will come later?