Chamber and committees

Thank you. Kate, would you like to comment?

Good morning, Kate and Marsha. You have both expressed opposition to the provision in the bill on early release of prisoners, and you have highlighted issues to do with the safety of victims. Can you give examples of the impact on victims and your concerns in that regard? Can any steps be taken to allay those concerns? That question is for Marsha, first.

I was really interested in your point about using a vulnerability and human rights-based model. In your letter, you raise concerns about the conflict with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and articles 2 and 8 of the European convention on human rights, and I would highlight that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prison for Scotland has raised concerns about children and young people, too. You say that you are not in favour of making the powers permanent, but would you be in favour if there were enough scrutiny of the matter?

So the committee would not be able to find out what measures were being implemented in any particular prison.

But you do not automatically put it in the public realm.

That is a really important point. Perhaps I can ask Teresa Medhurst for her thoughts on vulnerability and human rights-based modelling. How do you respond to general concerns that the use of early release can threaten the safety of the public, and that there is general unease among the public at the thought that it will become permanent?

Will you address the point that the Howard League made about the vulnerability of children and young people, and whether there should be scrutiny of that? That has not been done. What are your thoughts on that?

Could the committee find out that information by, say, writing to prisons and asking them for it?

I disagree with my colleague Jamie Greene—I am in favour of keeping the petition open. As the convener has said, this is a long-running petition not just from the previous session but, indeed, before that. Due to its unique nature, it would be wrong of us to close it when there are still conclusions to be reached. I see no harm in keeping it open. The issues have clearly not been resolved and we owe it to the campaign group and the families involved to keep it open. I do not want it to be closed at this stage.

Notwithstanding what Russell Findlay has said, there has been progress—it was in the SNP Government’s manifesto to do this. On that basis, we should not keep the petition open. We should follow up with a letter to find out timescales and when the register is likely to be brought in. That is my view. It has been a long-running issue, but it has reached a conclusion. We just need to find out when it is going to happen.