Chamber and committees

Rachael Hamilton has a brief supplementary question.

As there are no further questions, I thank all the witnesses for coming along today and for their forbearance before the start of this evidence session.

That concludes the public part of the meeting.

Karen Adam has a question, so maybe you could come in on that. I am conscious that there are still a fair number of areas that we are hoping to cover.

I think that we will have to stop there, but there will be time for you to come back in.

I have to move on to the next questioner, who is Pam Gosal.

Seamlessly, I will bring in Lucy Hunter Blackburn, who has been keen to come in. A lot of the work that Dr Coleman has talked about is in relation to the estate in England, and Lucy wants to talk about the Scottish Prison Service. Please be brief, because we are short on time.

I am sorry to interrupt, but there are too many people talking at once.

In that case, I will bring Fulton in first, because he has been waiting patiently. We have another panel coming in and we need to be respectful of their time, too.

I welcome to the meeting our second panel of witnesses: Catherine Murphy, executive director, Engender; Sandy Brindley, chief executive, Rape Crisis Scotland; Naomi McAuliffe, Scotland programme director, Amnesty International Scotland; and Jen Ang, director of policy and development, JustRight Scotland.

I invite our witnesses to make short opening statements, starting with Catherine Murphy.

Our next item is to continue taking evidence on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

I welcome to the meeting our first panel. Lucy Hunter Blackburn is from MurrayBlackburnMackenzie; Susan Smith is co-director of For Women Scotland; Dr Kate Coleman is director of Keep Prisons Single Sex; and Malcolm Clark is head of research at the LGB Alliance.

I refer members to papers 1 and 2.

I invite Lucy Hunter Blackburn to make a short opening statement.