Chamber and committees

I ask DCC Graham to come in and to be as brief as he can.

Yes. We can extend the meeting by about 15 minutes but I remind everyone that succinct questions and answers would be helpful.

Thank you, cabinet secretary. I appreciate those comprehensive opening comments. Before we move to questions again, I remind members and witnesses to keep questions and answers as succinct as possible.

I will kick things off with a general question relating to your recent announcement regarding the establishment of the governance group to progress the detailed consideration of the Lord Justice Clerk’s recommendations. Can you outline in a little more detail the remit and timetable for the work of the governance group? In particular, how will you ensure that the group’s work does not duplicate the review that has already taken place and that it focuses on making real progress on the review recommendations and how to take them forward?

Katy Clark and Rona Mackay have some follow-up questions about the governance group.

Thank you very much for giving us your time, cabinet secretary—it is very much appreciated. As we always do, we have run out of time. We appreciate your forbearance in letting us run over a little. The same goes for Mr Cowan. There are some other questions that we would like to have asked, but we will follow that up in writing.

We will have a short suspension before we move on to the next agenda item.

Thank you, cabinet secretary. Just for clarity, those remarks were in relation to the Judicial Review and Courts Bill. That is absolutely fine. Could you also make your remarks in relation to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill LCM? We can take any questions after that.

Thank you, cabinet secretary.

I ask members to indicate by putting an R in the chat box or raising their hand if they have any questions on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill LCM. I am not seeing anything, which is fine.

Likewise, do members have any questions in relation to the Judicial Review and Courts Bill LCM? There are no questions, so we will move on to the next item of business, which is consideration of any issues for our final reports on the LCMs.

I will again start with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill LCM. Do members have any final views that they wish to include in the committee’s report on the LCM?

Members have raised no issues, so does the committee agree that the Scottish Parliament should give its consent to the relevant provisions in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, as set out in the Scottish Government’s draft motion? We are agreed.

Are members content to delegate to me the publication of a very short factual report on the outcome of our deliberations on the LCM? Members are content. The issue will now move to the chamber for all members to decide on the basis of the report that we will prepare.

I turn to the second LCM, on the Judicial Review and Courts Bill. I invite members to share their views on any issues that they would like to include in the committee’s report on the LCM.

Members have raised no issues, so does the committee agree that the Scottish Parliament should give its consent to the relevant provisions in the Judicial Review and Courts Bill, as set out in the Scottish Government’s draft motion? We are all happy with that.

Are members content to delegate to me the publication of a very short factual report on the outcome of our deliberations on the LCM? Members are content. As with the previous LCM, the issue will now move to the chamber for all members to decide, on the basis of our report.

That concludes our consideration of the two LCMs. I thank the cabinet secretary and his officials for their attendance.

That concludes the public part of the meeting. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 22 December, when we will take evidence from the Lord Advocate on prosecuting cases that involve violence against women and girls.

Welcome back. I am pleased to welcome our second panel of witnesses: Keith Brown, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans, and Mr Willie Cowan, the deputy director of the Scottish Government criminal justice division.

I ask everybody to keep questions and answers as succinct as possible. I will allow up to an hour for this panel.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make some brief opening remarks before we move to questions.

I am very aware that time is tight. The cabinet secretary is waiting, and we have already pushed him back. I suggest that, with members’ agreement, DCC Graham should respond to Katy Clark’s question in writing. That would be helpful.

Pauline McNeill would like to come in briefly on this topic.