Chamber and committees

Good morning. My first question is for Phillip Chapman. Witnesses have raised with us the time taken to complete investigations and the lack of transparency in the system. One witness said that the system does not work for police officers or for members of the public. Do you think that the bill does enough to address the issue of lengthy timescales and the problems associated with that? Perhaps you could explain your thinking on that and say whether you think that things are going to improve, because we heard that that was definitely a problem.

Thank you.

Mr Kennedy, I was interested in your response to the convener’s questions about duty of candour. I do not know whether you are aware of the evidence that we have heard in the past few weeks. I would like to turn the dial back to the experience of police under disciplinary procedures and the public. Quite honestly, that evidence was pretty shocking.

You are on record as saying that you do not think that there is a need for the bill. How does that square with what we have heard? I appreciate that it is a minority of officers who were involved in some of the things that we have heard, but are there no aspects of the bill that could be used to improve the experience of victims and witnesses?

Some of the evidence that we heard was from police officers.

I want to ask about the culture in Police Scotland. The current chief constable and previous chief constables have made statements to the effect that they believe that the force is institutionally racist and discriminatory. What is your impression of the bill in relation to whether it goes far enough to counter that? Could more be done? I know that that is quite an ethereal question, but any comment would be welcome. Stephanie Griffin, do you want to come in?

Do you have a view on that?

It can be done. Stephanie Griffin, do you have any comment on independent scrutiny?

Chief Superintendent Hay, I am sure you want to respond to that.

You are unsupportive.

Whose responsibility is it to use them?