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Thank you. That is very clear. Perhaps the wording of the bill has to allow for that interaction between the duty of candour and the points about self-incrimination that you have set out.

I go to David Malcolm to pick up the same question.

Thank you, that has given us a helpful bit of background.

Genevieve Lennon, the point about monitoring was touched on in the SIPR submission. It is all very well to have a code of ethics that looks nice and shiny and new, but what is important is the application of the code of ethics and ensuring that its effectiveness continues as, for example, new officers come in, policing functions change and so on. Can you expand on what was in your submission on that point?

Thank you for that. I understand what you are saying—you have set things out very clearly. The evidence that we have had so far suggests that there is support for a duty of candour, and that it perhaps reflects a robust approach to dealing with complaints and conduct issues, and transparency. Given what you have said, would the establishment of a duty of candour necessarily change what you have described? You do not see that there is an issue. I want to be clear about why a duty of candour would necessarily change that.

Okay. Thank you very much.

I open it up to questions from members. I will bring in Katy Clark and then Russell Findlay.

Okay, and then I will bring in Fulton MacGregor.

That is a helpful point.

Kate, this is a big question but, given that Victim Support Scotland is such a front-facing organisation, I am interested in hearing your views on your experience of engaging with the PIRC.

Okay. I am going to pull the evidence session to a close. Thank you all for joining us and for your time. It has been a really interesting session.

We will have a short suspension to allow a changeover of witnesses.

That is a helpful clarification.

This has been an interesting session, and we have covered quite a lot. Thank you for coming along today; we appreciate your time.

That concludes the public part of our meeting, and we will now move into private session.

I am sure that members will come back with some more questions on that interesting notion around an ethics culture survey. That is certainly a new one on me.

I have one follow-up question around breaches of the code and the implications of breaches. What came into my head when you set that out was how easy or difficult the practicalities of being able to respond to breaches of the code would be, given the vast range of breaches that could take place. Do you have a view on that?

Recommendation 6 in the “HMICS Thematic Inspection of Organisational Culture in Police Scotland”, which was published in December last year, is:

“Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority should reinforce the human rights and ethics-based approach for all policing activity.”

I think that Victim Support Scotland’s submission refers to that. It seems that different areas of work are all coming back to the same conclusions. I open this question up to all members of the panel. Will the bill in its current form address that recommendation and what we have just heard regarding the public sector equality duty?