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That completes our deliberation on the SSI and the public part of our meeting.

Okay. Thank you, Maggie. On that very powerful final note, I will bring the session to an end but will hand back to you in case you want to make a very final point.

Thank you very much. As no other members wish to make a declaration, I refer members to papers 1 to 4.

I welcome Ms Stephanie Bonner to the meeting. It is vital that we hear the views of those who have personal experience of the police complaints system. The committee is very interested to hear your perspective on what is proposed in the bill.

I intend to allow around 45 minutes for the evidence session. By way of opening things up, I will ask a fairly simple question. Based on your experience, what should be changed about the police complaints system?

Can I ask you a question about the PIRC? Please tell us what you think about the introduction of a legal requirement for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority to respond to recommendations that are made by the PIRC after it has dealt with a review. Do you have any thoughts on that?

That is very helpful.

Do any other members want to come in?

I know that this is extremely hard for you, Stephanie, so just take your time. We can easily suspend the meeting for a couple of moments if we need to.

That makes sense, thank you for that. That is a helpful response. One of the things in my mind is the role of family liaison support or a family liaison officer. Do you have any views on the benefit of that? Is it something that you were offered?

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

I welcome Mr Bill Johnstone to the meeting. Good morning, Bill, and thank you for taking the time to attend today’s meeting. We are very grateful to you for doing so—it is very much appreciated. I also thank you for kindly providing background information about your experience.

I intend to allow about 45 minutes for this session. Before we get under way, I turn to Russell Findlay, as I believe that he would like to declare an interest.

Thank you.

I will open with a general question. What should be changed about the police complaints system as it stands, based on your experience?