Seòmar agus comataidhean

Yes. The SPF raised, in effect, five points about the constitution, one of which, if dealt with, could probably deal with the other four. On paragraph 3, the SPF says that it would like the board to be able to

“consider matters affecting its own constitution.”

Has that been listened to and rejected by the Government, or is it news to the Government?

The constitution has just been published after consultation.

Yes, but it could be amended, if you were so minded, to deal with the specific issues that the federation raised.

Jamie Greene touched on the Scottish Police Federation’s submission to the committee. Has the Government seen that?

Just for clarification, when you say “parties”, do you mean the various entities that have an interest and not political parties?

I am slightly uncomfortable with the fact that the federation has made a couple of points in its submission about the provisions being weaker than the federation would have wanted, although there is grudging acceptance. The federation makes some very specific points, and I am still not entirely clear whether there is any mechanism for the Government to look at those points again.

I agree with Rona Mackay that we all want a system that helps police officers to get fair pay settlements. That goes without saying.

As for going down a rabbit hole, it is perfectly proper that we ask the questions. The committee has not even seen the constitution that will be adopted. The papers suggest that it will be published but we now discover that it has been published. I fully agree with Jamie Greene that to rubber stamp it today would be a missed opportunity for the Scottish Government to go back to the Scottish Police Federation and address the points that have been made. It is probably worth revisiting.

Social Work Scotland’s submission talks about the Scottish Government’s statistics on child protection register data. Right now, that does not include specific data on online harm, abuse and grooming. Is it in discussion with the Scottish Government to include that data in some way?

Thank you.

The Social Work Scotland submission also has some interesting stuff about children giving evidence outwith a court environment and the development of the Scottish child interview model. I note that the project team was first set up in 2017, so there has been almost six years of work. The submission goes on to say that the model is being implemented across all areas in Scotland. Do you have any more detail about when, what stage it is at and whether it is universal?

Good morning. I have a lot of questions. I will ask a couple now and perhaps come back in if there is time to do so.