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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 25 November 2024
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Displaying 806 contributions

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Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

The success rate in prevention of reoffending seems to be good.

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

If multiple agencies were inputting information, would there be implications for how long it would take to get a decision made?

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

Just to clarify, are you suggesting that the first step in the application would be to contact a third sector organisation that has been working with the person?

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

Tracey, may I have your views?

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

Is there a risk that some people might fall through the net if they are not connected to a third sector organisation and are not getting support?

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

Very briefly—

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

Good morning. From your submissions, you seem to be broadly supportive of the bill, although you highlight resources as an issue.

I want to ask a wee bit more about the suggestion that third sector organisations, when working with individuals in a case, should be able to provide input to help to inform decisions. How would that work in practice? Are there concerns in general about how that might delay the process? What are the timings likely to be in the whole court system, if several organisations are inputting and may be working to different timescales? Has the system suffered because of a lack of information from third sector organisations until now? I think that you believe that the bill should provide the opportunity for third sector organisations to do that, so I ask you to talk a wee bit about that.

I will go to Charlie Martin first.

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

Thank you, convener. This is for Gillian. It is a brief question about the pilot in South Lanarkshire that she mentioned.

Will you elaborate on the similarities between what you are doing and what the bill proposes to do? How successful has the pilot been? Has it finished? If not, how long has it got to run? What have the cost implications been for you so far? I think that you said that you could not possibly roll it out permanently. It would be good to get an idea of the level of that.

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

That is really helpful.

Criminal Justice Committee

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 December 2022

Rona Mackay

Going back to the issue of women in custody, which is an area on which I am particularly focused, I have what I know is a very broad question for Suzanne, Sharon and Keith. Nevertheless, I am interested in hearing their responses to it.

Do you think that the bill will bring about the necessary changes? As has been said, most women who are on remand or in custody should not be anywhere near prison, and it would be a fantastic outcome if the bill were to facilitate keeping them out of it. Do you think that there is a possibility, albeit with the necessary resources and interagency management, of the bill helping to keep women out of custody or remand?

Suzanne, could you answer that first, please?