Seòmar agus comataidhean

I congratulate you both on your new appointments.

At our 29 March meeting, we heard evidence that secure accommodation costs around four times as much as prison and that Scotland currently has 84 secure places, with the largest provider of those being St Mary’s Kenmure. Jim Shields of St Mary’s said that funding right now was precarious and that it needed certainty; Professor Lorraine Johnstone said that, at times, St Mary’s has relied on cross-border placements to ensure that it is sustainable. We heard that some English local authorities pay 35 per cent more for a place than the Scottish Government pays.

In the eventuality of more secure accommodation being needed, do you have any projections of how much more will be needed, how much it will cost and whether the financial memorandum has properly factored in the concerns that were expressed at our 29 March meeting?

Could the bill potentially include a right or a requirement for the children’s panel to inform victims of outcomes?

Okay. I know that such cases are incredibly rare, but certain young people do commit extremely serious crimes. Indeed, I can think back to one such case not long ago, in which a 16-year-old raped and murdered a six-year-old girl. In such cases, the individual will be sent to secure accommodation. I wonder whether you accept that, sometimes, in those most rare, extreme cases, such a course of action might not be appropriate. Should the bill have some mechanism to allow for those kinds of cases?

I am glad that I asked that question—the answer was all ready for me.

Thank you.

So, October was not the final word. Is that process still on-going?

Although—

There was also evidence from St Mary’s about a lack of funding—it said that the provision of secure care

“is uncertain, underfunded, and largely undermined”.

In secure accommodation, what restrictions are there on the people you care for? Can individuals leave at any point?

That is great—thank you very much.