Seòmar agus comataidhean

As members have no further questions, I thank the cabinet secretary and his officials for attending. I will suspend the meeting for a short time before we move on to the next agenda item.

Item 4 is the committee’s consideration of the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Rules 2021. Do members have any comments on the SSI?

As no further members have indicated that they have comments on the specific content of the letter, we will write to the Public Audit Committee and invite further correspondence from the relevant minister.

That concludes the public part of the meeting. Our next meeting will be on 6 October, when we will begin our budget scrutiny.

I agree with the comments that have been made, so I will not repeat them. Does Mr MacGregor wish to add anything?

For clarity and to recap, the SSI has been laid under the negative procedure, which means that there is no requirement for us to endorse the SSI or vote for it to come into force. The SSI will come into force unless Parliament agrees a motion to annul.

However, we have shared some concerns about the provisions in the SSI. I suggest that the minute of the meeting states that the committee makes no recommendation on the SSI but notes that some committee members have expressed concerns about certain provisions of the SSI and notes that those concerns are set out in the public record in the Official Report of the meeting.

Are members content with that?

Members indicated agreement.

Okay. Thank you very much.

In light of our discussion, I propose that we write in due course to the cabinet secretary and the Scottish Prison Service to raise additional points, and that we invite the cabinet secretary back to provide further updates on the situation in relation to the provisions of the SSI.

Thank you very much, Professor Paterson. Ian Moir, will you come in on that?

The committee will look at the fee structure and arrangements in due course, but thanks for that. Russell Findlay is next.

Thank you, Dr Scott. I want to keep the discussion moving. Does Collette Stevenson have a follow-up question?

Collette, did you want to bring in our witness from Citizens Advice Scotland?