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Thank you. The issue of recruitment was considered during the passage of the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill. Personally, I am quite relaxed about it. I think that there is a need for a proportion of PIRC staff to have a real understanding of processes and procedures within policing, but I acknowledge some of the concerns that were raised around that. Will that issue need to be reviewed or considered, or are you content with the approach as it is at the moment?

Thank you for those really well-made points.

Thank you for that interesting update. While you were responding, I was wondering whether you have engaged with relevant partners on the change. You spoke about working on a business case and about engagement that is under way with the Scottish Government, so it will be interesting to monitor how that progresses.

Thank you very much. One of the key things that you referenced in your opening remarks was the substantial increase in your workload, and you mentioned the complex and evolving nature of the type of investigations that you undertake. The report provides further detail on that.

I will pick out a couple of things. The examination of on-duty allegations of assault made against police officers remains one of your biggest areas of work, and the report highlights that the nature and type of referrals continue to evolve. For example, the report references referrals relating to the discharge of firearms by firearms officers during incidents involving XL bully dogs, so there are new and emerging types of activity. I am interested in hearing a wee bit more about what that looks like more broadly.

In regard to having constituents who are very familiar with the work of the PIRC, that probably goes for us all.

If nobody else has any questions, I want to clarify one final point, which relates to Pauline McNeill’s question about the proposals on the presentation of cases at senior officer misconduct hearings. We did a wee check back of the Government’s response to our stage 1 report, in which the cabinet secretary said:

“Whilst this is not for the Bill itself, on balance, our intention is to consult on this when considering regulations with the Scottish Police Consultative Forum. My view is that PIRC are best placed to carry out this role. PIRC will have conducted the initial assessment, carried out the investigation and have all the documentation to present the case, though they may opt to procure the required skill set when necessary.”

I just wanted to put that on the record in response to Pauline’s question. You may not be bothered about that, Michelle, given that, as I understand it, you conclude your tenure in early 2025.

Good morning, and welcome to the second meeting in 2025 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received no apologies from members. Fulton MacGregor joins us online.

The first item of business is a decision on whether to take item 3 in private. Do we agree to take that item in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The next item of business is to hear from the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner team on its work in the past year and its plans for the future. I am pleased to welcome to the committee Michelle Macleod, the commissioner; Sharon Smit, the accountable officer; and Phil Chapman, the director of operations. I refer members to papers 1 and 2. I intend to allow about 60 minutes for the session.

Before we move to questions, I ask the commissioner to make a short opening statement to highlight the main points from the annual report.

We are now joined by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs and her officials. I wish you all a happy new year. Accompanying the cabinet secretary from the Scottish Government, I welcome Lynsey McKean, policy team leader in the police division, and Alasdair Cook, principal medical adviser with the mental health division. I refer members to papers 1 and 2. I intend to allow about 75 minutes for this evidence session.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make some opening remarks.

The submissions from Police Scotland and others have helpfully set out some of the work that has been going on, which is welcome to see.

I bring in Dr Robby Steel.

I will bring the evidence session to a close with a final question, cabinet secretary. It relates to the review of psychiatric emergency plans. I do not think that we touched on it in our previous evidence session, but we are aware from the update that you provided that a review has been going on and that the work was expected to be completed at the end of last year. We hope to see a template and guidance towards the spring of this year.

I highlight a comment that HMICS made in its review into mental health. It outlined that there was “a lack of consistency” in the expectations on the police within different PEPs. It also

“found varying levels of awareness of the PEP among senior officers in local policing divisions.”

Do you have any further comments on the PEP review? Where do you see PEPs fitting into the other work going on at the more strategic level that we discussed?