Seòmar agus comataidhean

I did not catch the beginning of your answer—I do not know whether it was a tech problem. Are you saying that you do not agree with your predecessor Mr MacAskill?

That has not happened yet, but there is a possibility that it might. The question is: what would transpire? Would a female victim be informed that the alleged rapist was choosing to identify as female?

Good morning, Mr Brown. We have heard from Police Scotland that it might record rape as being committed by a woman when the alleged male-born rapist does not have a gender recognition certificate. There are many concerns about that, not least that it could corrupt crime statistics. You spoke in your opening remarks about the importance of accurate data collection. A former Scottish National Party justice secretary has called that a “legal absurdity”. Do you agree with him?

I should quickly clarify that what I meant by the phrase “new development” was the recent confirmation from Police Scotland with regard to how this could be applied.

Good morning. For the sake of the record, I will pick up on what was said about the UK Government’s decision to leave the EU. The decision was in fact the result of a referendum—the decision was made by the electorate, not the Government.

On Crown Office funding, last week, we heard evidence from the Crown Agent, David Harvie, that digital transformation is funded by capital, the budget for which has been flat for 10 years. The Crown Office has identified significant opportunities for improvements with investment, yet the capital budget is expected to rise by around only £500,000 next year, and remain at a standstill thereafter. Is that sufficient to clear the huge backlog that exists and give the Crown Office and its partners the required infrastructure to tackle the backlog?

Is the Crown Office satisfied with the fairly modest rise in the capital budget? Have you had any feedback from it? Is it content?

We will just have to agree to disagree, but thank you.

Going back to some of the points that Katy Clark raised, although I am mindful that this evidence session is on the budget, I note that there were predictions before COP26 that there could be up to 300 arrests per day. That has not transpired—the most recent figure that I have seen was that there were 50 arrests in the first week.

Police Scotland previously told the committee that the total policing bill would be in the region of £150 million. Over the past week, the streets of Glasgow have often resembled the Edinburgh festival rather than the end of days. Is there any sense in policing circles that there might have been a bit of a misjudgment and that the costs could have been more modest? I know that it is a difficult call, but do you have any thoughts on that?

Are those sums for the Crown Office?

In 2021-22, the budget for Victim Support Scotland and witness support was cut from £18.7 million in the previous year to £18.2 million. Does that give the impression to victims of crime that they are not always given due consideration? There is sometimes a perception that the system is geared towards the rights and considerations of those who commit crimes.