Chamber and committees

I think that Mr Adamson is also quite keen to say a few words on the subject.

I ask you to be as brief as you can, Mr Watt. I will then bring this evidence session to a close.

I know that we probably did not get through a lot of the questions and responses that we would have liked to, so I extend an invitation to the witnesses: if you wish to raise any outstanding points with the committee, please feel free to contact us in writing, and we will very much take your evidence into account.

I extend my thanks to all our witnesses today. Thank you very much for your contributions. We will now take a short break before we hear from our next set of witnesses.

I have a follow-up question for Ms Fraser and Ms Dyer. How can the important principle of judicial independence be implemented throughout Scotland instead of only in a few areas or sheriffdoms? As we have seen from Audit Scotland’s work, sentencing data show some geographical variation in the use of community sentences. For example, in 2019-20, the number of community payback orders per 10,000 of the population ranged from 16 in East Renfrewshire to 69 in Clackmannanshire. Do you have any comments on or response to that?

Do you have any further questions, Mr Greene?

If there are no more questions on that topic, I am keen to move on to alternatives to custody and diversion from prosecution, before we go on to community sentencing.

Perhaps Mr Rennie can pick up those questions.

I will bring in Superintendent Convery on the back of Mr Rennie’s response, if he would like to pick up on some of those points.

In the spirit of timekeeping and of keeping to our themes, I suggest that this is an opportunity to bring in Professor McNeill, who I am aware has been keen to come in.

This is obviously a topical discussion. I see that Diane Dobbie would like to come in, and we will then finish off the discussion with some comments from Professor McAra.