The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 804 contributions
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
Will you focus on fire, because we will be coming to the other issues?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
Do you accept that firefighters currently lack suitable decontamination facilities?
10:45Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
Firefighters have told me that guidance has not been issued. I understand that the guidance is being worked on, so perhaps the cabinet secretary could say when guidance will be issued by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The service told the committee that its capital funding has remained at £32.5 million over the past seven years, yet it needs at least £60 million per annum of investment. Is that level of underfunding acceptable?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
It is to do with national jurisdiction for callings from custody. The cabinet secretary made specific mention of trials. To be absolutely clear, you are not talking just about the initial appearance from custody and this relates to all aspects of the criminal process. Pauline McNeill has already referred to agents, so presumably that would mean that witnesses would also have to go to a different part of the country to give evidence if this relates to all aspects of the criminal process. Can we have clarification of what “calling” means?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
Cabinet secretary, you will be aware of the campaign for additional funding from the Scottish Government for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spearheaded by Fire Brigades Union Scotland, and no doubt you have seen its report “Firestorm—A Report into the Future of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service”. There has been a decade of real-terms cuts to the fire service and a lack of investment—particularly capital investment but also other investment—over many years, so what the service now faces is cumulative. Are we now legally exposed as a result of, for example, the failure to provide safe systems of work and the failure to have adequate decontamination available for firefighters?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
My question is on both. It is to do with the language that is used.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
It is not for every diet but is just for the initial appearance from custody. Thank you.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
I have some questions about budgetary issues in relation to HMP Greenock. You outlined to Pauline McNeill the long lead-in times that projects can incur. There are plans for a new build in Inverclyde, but has any work started on that? On the current estate, will you outline the budgetary implications of the current fabric of HMP Greenock and the conditions that your staff and the prisoners are having to endure? I understand that substantial work is going on in relation to the walls. Will you give an update on that and the budgetary implications?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Katy Clark
I understand all of that. Can you say how much you have spent and how much you envisage spending? If it is the case that you are unable to do the work that you think is necessary, it would be helpful for the committee to understand that.
Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, and Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)
Meeting date: 2 November 2023
Katy Clark
Minister, you have made it clear that you have been in discussions with the Crown Office. The Lord Advocate has said that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute users of drug consumption rooms for simple possession offences and that she would be prepared to draft a prosecution policy along those lines. Have you engaged with the Lord Advocate on that point? What legal protections will be in place for staff at drug consumption facilities?