Chamber and committees

Before I bring this part of our meeting to a close, I ask the cabinet secretary for any information that he can provide on the timetable for the review that has been mentioned. Will details of the findings of the review or any adjustments that are proposed be shared with the committee?

I see that Katy Clark wants to come in. Is your question on this topic?

Good morning. Welcome to the first meeting in 2022 of the Criminal Justice Committee. I hope that you all had a pleasant break.

I ask everyone to ensure that their mobile phones are switched to silent, and to wait for the sound engineer to switch their microphone on before speaking.

Our first item of business is consideration of the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2021. I welcome Keith Brown, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans, and, from the Scottish Prison Service, Teresa Medhurst, interim chief executive, and Fiona Cruickshanks, head of operations and public protection.

I intend to allow up to one hour for this evidence session. I refer members to papers 1 to 3. I invite the cabinet secretary to make some brief opening remarks.

We move to questions. I will kick things off with a general question, after which I will hand over to Russell Findlay.

Cabinet secretary, it is interesting to note the early feedback since the introduction of the changes. You mentioned that concerns had been expressed about a lack of wider consultation before the regulations were made, although we appreciate that the Prison Service was keen to make progress on the matter before the festive season. Are there any plans to carry out a review of the new powers, in which input could be sought from those who work in the field and a wider range of experts as part of that?

I will bring in Fulton MacGregor to ask questions on photocopying and testing.

Thank you—that is helpful.

There is a lot of interest in the issue, and we have a lot of questions on it. I hand over to Russell Findlay.

I invite Ms Medhurst to respond.

The range of Covid challenges experienced by many of my constituents has highlighted Scotland’s critically important role in leading and delivering world-class Covid-19 research, particularly as we respond to variants such as omicron. What assurance can the First Minister provide that everything possible will be done to support continued funding opportunities for research activity in the short and long terms?

I will hand back to Rona Mackay, who we lost previously, so that she can pick up on her previous line of questioning, and then we will move on to Pauline McNeill.

I will bring in Rona Mackay before we move on to questions on the role of the advocate depute.