Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you very much. That brings us to the end of the evidence session, and I thank the witnesses very much for their attendance.

There will be a very short suspension before we move on.

Our final item of business today is to review a supplementary legislative consent memorandum on the UK Government’s Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.

The LCM has been lodged because a small number of relatively minor amendments have been made to the bill since we last considered the issue of consent, and they impact on devolved competences. As outlined in the LCM, the new amendments fall within the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence, as they relate to the way in which the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery carries out its functions, in so far as they relate to Scotland, with regard to criminal investigations and the review and investigations of deaths or harmful conduct. The amendments therefore require the Scottish Parliament’s consent.

Before we start, I point out to members that the new amendments do not affect the key parts of the bill that we have looked at and the Scottish Government has not changed its view that the Scottish Parliament should not consent to the relevant parts in this bill for reasons that we have already discussed and, after a vote, agreed with. I should also point out that, because of the timetable in the UK Parliament and our recess, the bill passed into law last night. Therefore, all we need do today is note this development.

If no one has anything else to add, do we agree to note the supplementary LCM?

Members indicated agreement.

That concludes our business. Next week, we will be joined by Gill Imery to review the work of the response to deaths in prison custody group, and we will also consider our approach to the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill.

Our next item of business is the start of our pre-budget scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s 2024-25 budget. We have two evidence panels today, and I intend to run each for up to 90 minutes.

I am pleased to welcome our first panel of witnesses. They are Deputy Chief Constable Jane Connors, crime and operational support; David Page, deputy chief officer; and James Gray, chief financial officer, all from Police Scotland. We also have with us Lynn Brown, who is the chief executive of the Scottish Police Authority, and, from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Ross Haggart, chief officer; Stuart Stevens, deputy chief officer; and John Thomson, acting director of finance and procurement.

I refer members to papers 1 and 2, and I thank the witnesses who provided written submissions. I also thank the Scottish Police Federation and the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents for their written submissions, which were received after we put out our meeting papers. I also thank the Fire Brigades Union for its submission, which, likewise, was received after the papers were published. Those submissions have all been sent separately to members and are now published online.

Given the size of the panel of witnesses, I ask everyone to be succinct as possible in their questions and answers. If they can, members should direct their questions to one or more of the witnesses, at least initially. I invite each organisation that is present to try to field just one person to respond, initially.

Having said that, I will begin with an open question to get the evidence session under way.

During last year’s budget scrutiny, all three organisations that are here today painted a challenging picture of the state of their budget, although that was relieved in part by extra money that was allocated by the Scottish Government. I invite Police Scotland, the SPA and then the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to tell us briefly how the finances for 2023-24 have worked. What financial situation have you been working in, and what concerns or commentary do you have as we approach the 2024-25 settlement? I go first to Mr Gray.

Lynn Brown, I will come to you next, if you want to add anything to what we have already heard.

A very good morning, and welcome to the 21st meeting in 2023 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have apologies from Sharon Dowey.

Our first item of business is to welcome John Swinney to his first formal meeting of the Criminal Justice Committee. Sharon Dowey will attend her first meeting next week, because she has a prior commitment in London with the Public Audit Committee. I look forward to working with them both, and I repeat our thanks to Jamie Greene and Collette Stevenson, whom they replace.

I invite John Swinney to declare any interests that are relevant to the committee’s remit.

I will bring in DCC Connors in a second. David Page, is there anything that you want to add?

DCC Connors, I come to you now.

I will now bring in Pauline McNeill, followed by John Swinney.

Thank you. I will bring in Rona Mackay and then Katy Clark.