Chamber and committees

I think that we have lost the connection to Ms Medhurst.

Mr Purdie, could you pick up that question while we try to get Ms Medhurst back?

There were some questions earlier about drugs in prisons. I would like to jump back and allow members to ask some further questions about that. We will then return to modernisation for a couple of final questions.

Ms McNeill has touched on the issue of deaths in custody. I have a follow-up question, which should perhaps be directed to Hannah Graham. Do you have any concerns about deaths in custody or deaths following custody? That could involve delays in fatal accident inquiries, a lack of findings of concern or a lack of support following release. Is there anything that you would like to pick up on in that respect?

Thank you very much. I will bring in Ms Dyer, after which I will ask Hannah Graham to respond.

Our next item is consideration of two affirmative instruments. I welcome to the meeting Ash Denham, the Minister for Community Safety, and from the Scottish Government legal directorate Susan Black, senior policy officer, civil law and legal system division, and Jo-anne Tinto, solicitor, constitutional and civil law division.

I refer members to paper 1 and invite the minister to speak to the draft Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Immunities and Privileges) (Scotland) Order 2021.

The next item is formal consideration of the motions to approve the two affirmative instruments. I invite the minister to move the motions.

Motions moved,

That the Criminal Justice Committee recommends that the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Immunities and Privileges) (Scotland) Order 2021 [draft] be approved.

That the Criminal Justice Committee recommends that the European Union and European Atomic Energy Community (Immunities and Privileges) (Scotland) Order 2021 [draft] be approved.—[Ash Denham]

Motions agreed to.

I invite the committee to delegate to me the publication of a short factual report on our deliberations on the affirmative Scottish statutory instruments that we have considered today. Are we agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

Our next agenda item is a round-table discussion about prisons and prison policy. I refer members to papers 3 and 4. We will take evidence today from a round table of witnesses, who will be joining us virtually. I am sorry that you cannot join us in person, which is due to the current rules on social distancing.

I welcome our panel of witnesses. Alan Staff is the chief executive of Apex Scotland; Mr Bruce Adamson is the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland; Wendy Sinclair-Gieben is Her Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons for Scotland; Dr Katrina Morrison is committee secretary of the Howard League Scotland; John Watt is the chair of the Parole Board for Scotland; Mr Phil Fairlie is the assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers Association Scotland; Professor Fergus McNeill is a professor of criminology and social work at the University of Glasgow’s Scottish centre for crime and justice research; Ms Teresa Medhurst is the interim chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service; and Allister Purdie is the Prison Service’s interim director of operations. We very much appreciate your taking the time to join us this morning. I thank witnesses who have provided written submissions, which are now available online.

I intend to allow around an hour and 15 minutes for questions and discussion. I ask members to indicate to which witness they are directing their remarks. We can then open the floor to other witnesses for their comments. If other witnesses wish to respond, I ask them to indicate that by typing R in the chat function in BlueJeans. I will bring you in, if time permits. If you agree with what another witness is saying, there is no need for you to intervene. Other comments that you make in the chat function will not be visible to committee members or recorded anywhere, so if you want to make a comment, please do so by requesting to speak.

We will move directly to questions. I ask members and our invited guests to keep their questions and comments as succinct as possible. I am keen to encourage a free-flowing discussion.

I start by inviting Ms Pauline McNeill to ask some questions. I will then bring in Rona Mackay.

I believe that Alan Staff would like to respond, too.