Seòmar agus comataidhean

A textbook example of Scotland’s two Governments working together. Brilliant. Thank you.

As with the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, it is good to see both Governments working so effectively and constructively together.

Minister, you spoke about the world-leading self-harm strategy. You were reluctant to call it that, but I see that the document does call it that—

The letter is detailed and much of it is welcome, but I have noticed what is not in there. We have repeatedly raised the issue of officer suicide—with the usual caveat that suicide is a complex issue—and have said specifically that the complaints and discipline process appears to have been a factor in a number of deaths. We have heard from serving and former officers who believe that that process desperately needs scrutiny by the Government, the Scottish Police Authority, Police Scotland and the Crown Office.

The letter does not really address the concerns that have been raised by officers who have attempted to take their own lives or by families grieving the loss of a loved one who has completed suicide. It is perfectly proper for the Government and others to talk about the policing of people in the community who have mental health problems and to recognise the impact that that has on officers’ mental health, but there still seems to be a reluctance to properly look at the difficult issue of where the workplace issues experienced by officers have been a contributory factor in their deaths.

We should ask at least one. The minister has come all this way. [Laughter.]

Thank you.

The Scottish Government’s policy note, which is annex A in our papers, says:

“This instrument allows for the preparation and publication of the constitution of the Police Negotiating Board for Scotland”.

If I understand you correctly, the constitution has now been published, but the policy note says that the instrument

“allows for the preparation and publication”

of it.

The instrument’s purpose is that it

“allows for the preparation and publication of the constitution”,

but that has happened already. It has been published.

We cannot amend what is in front of us today. The Scottish Police Federation has brought us five quite specific concerns and I am still not entirely clear whether those have been considered by the Government, because they do not feature in the constitution that has now been published, or whether there is any scope for the Government to look at that again and to amend the constitution.

I presume that the Scottish Police Federation made those points at the consultation stage, and that a decision-making process led to the constitution as published, which means that what the federation is now referring to is water under the bridge.

Was the constitution submitted to the Criminal Justice Committee? Did we have sight of it?