Chamber and committees

Can I take that as a yes?

I will bring in Teresa Medhurst in a minute. Are you taking legal advice on that?

One of the other dimensions is in evidence that we took on 14 March from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons in Scotland, when we were told—this language was used—that there were “human rights breaches”, and particular reference was made to prisoners not receiving access to medical treatment and hospital appointments, which is a denial of their human rights. Have you taken legal advice on that?

As the Public Audit Committee we have taken evidence from the Auditor General, a member of staff from Audit Scotland and staff from HMIPS, who have all talked about human rights breaches and the risk that is posed.

So, Scottish ministers could face prosecution, not GEOAmey or the chief executive of the SPS?

If you need to, you can reply to any of these questions in writing afterwards We would rather have accurate information than speculative information.

Not you, is what I think he means. You do not have to respond.

Going back to the procurement process, I am interested in what kind of support your sponsor division gives you. The Scottish Government has a whole procurement team. It has a lot of experience in placing contracts and doing due diligence around contracts, yet Wendy Sinclair-Gieben told us that the contract has not worked since its inception. What support are you getting from the sponsor division?

I invite Colin Beattie to put some questions to you.

Willie Coffey has some questions to put.

Thank you very much. On that note, I will draw this morning’s evidence session to a close. I thank Teresa Medhurst for her evidence this morning. I thank Gerry O’Donnell and Allister Purdie for the information that they have given us and that they are going to give us when they get a chance to put some things in writing to us. I also thank Neil Rennick and Catriona Dalrymple for their evidence to us this morning, which will, I am sure, inform the work that we are continuing to do.

As I said at the start, the report is a section 22 report into the Scottish Prison Service, which is a signal that the Auditor General has some real concerns about the operation not just of the GEOAmey contract but more widely about the way the prison service is in terms of overcrowding, the estate and so on. As Jamie Greene finished on, that is important from the perspective of rehabilitation and the differences that imprisonment will make.

Thank you for your evidence this morning. I will now move the committee into private session.