Chamber and committees

Teresa Medhurst is keen to come in on that.

I am most interested in the first part. What adaptations can be made in the short term to alleviate some of the issues that we know prison and healthcare staff face when they are caring for people who perhaps have additional health, physical capacity or general wellbeing needs?

I would like to move on to issues around purposeful activity—Collette Stevenson wants to come in on that. I will then bring Pauline McNeill back in to look at issues around drugs.

I will draw this evidence session to a close. Thank you both for coming along today. If there are additional bits of information that you would care to share with the committee in writing, please do so.

I endorse the comments made by members today to acknowledge the work that all prison staff have been involved in, particularly during Covid—and, hopefully, coming out of it. We very much appreciate it. Thank you very much for attending today.

That concludes the public part of the meeting. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 10 November, when we will complete our pre-budget scrutiny and hear from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans.

Thank you—that is helpful.

I will stick with recruitment. Prosecution is a career choice for many, and I am interested in the comments from Fiona Eadie, in the FDA union submission, about the important role that more experienced staff have in mentoring and supervising younger, less experienced solicitors or procurators fiscal who are coming through the system. That issue does not arise solely in the court system, of course, but nonetheless I am interested in its impact there.

What do you see as the priorities, in the context of mentoring and supervision, in enabling younger, less experienced staff to learn on the job and build up their own experience while allowing more experienced and senior staff to manage their own casework alongside fulfilling that important role? Again, I am looking at the issue from a budgetary point of view, and I would be interested to know what you see as options in the court system for balancing those elements as well as possible.

Thank you. Bearing in mind that I am keen to keep the session on track around budget scrutiny, does Mr O’Donnell have anything to add to that?

Thank you. I will stick with the issue around staffing because I know that other members want to come in on that.

I would like to open with some questions on the back of your opening statement, Lord Advocate. First, you raised the issue of recruitment in your statement, and casework complexity has been highlighted in previous submissions. We know that 70 per cent of the cases that are being dealt with in the High Court are serious sexual offence cases, the number of serious and organised crime cases has increased and the number of petitions in homicide cases increased by around 31 per cent in the past financial year. This morning, and in previous submissions, you have helpfully set out your plans for recruitment and increasing overall staff numbers, but I wonder whether you can provide a wee bit more detail on the matter, particularly given the growing specialist nature of casework and the high tariffs that are associated with the cases that are being dealt with.

Secondly, what budgetary challenges might you face with regard to recruitment, especially in the short to medium term?

We are coming to the end of this evidence-taking session, but I think that Collette Stevenson wanted to ask about outturn figures.

I will hand over to Rona Mackay to look at issues around secure care, and then to Collette Stevenson.