Seòmar agus comataidhean

That is fine. There is no mention of risk assessment in the bill, but I hear very clearly what you have said.

Suzanne, do you wish to make any points on the drafting of the legislation or whether this is, in fact, the change that is needed? Have you looked at that properly, or is it something that you would not necessarily have a view on? Is it the overriding policy implications that you are interested in?

Thank you. We will take evidence on that later.

Gillian Booth’s comments in relation to virtual custodies and the difficulties with catching an individual’s situation were really interesting. That was quite similar to some of the evidence that we have received from defence agents, who are in a similar position.

My question is primarily about resources and funding, and about who provides the service. It has come through clearly from the evidence that we have taken this morning that there are significant resource issues and a gap between the kind of service that the witnesses have described—the service that they believe should be provided—and what actually exists now. The main barrier to providing that service is not to do with legislation at all; it is to do with resources and funding.

How do you think that statutory minimum standards of throughcare support will impact on that? I know that there is a desire for central Government to provide that funding. Has any work been done on what it would cost your local authority to provide the kind of service that is being described? Linking in to the debate about the national care service, do you think that those standards will make the outsourcing and tendering of services easier? Do you think that that is part of what the proposals are about? Rhoda, will you come in on that first?

Social workers have been in attendance in many courts as a matter of routine for many decades now; they talk to the police about who is in the cells, who is coming in and whether they have arrived yet. If the police feel that an individual is vulnerable, they will proactively get in touch with the social worker, and if the sheriff feels that there are vulnerable individuals, they will proactively ask for social work involvement.

You can talk about cuts, but, in the past, a social worker has often been there to fulfil that role; that has been part of the way in which the criminal justice system has worked for many decades. I fully accept that the scale of the cuts in recent years might have led to an erosion of that service, but is it not the case that there have been many occasions in the past when the type of involvement that you are talking about has happened successfully?

So you are saying that it is a different world, because there are now legal barriers to enabling the kind of involvement that social workers might have had in previous decades. That sort of thing is being prevented from happening now, and that is the reason why the legislation is required.

Is it not the case that, under the current legislation, there have been many occasions when there has been the kind of social work involvement that you have just spoken about at length?

Yes. It is a long-standing tradition. Obviously there has been a decade of massive cuts in the public sector, which is a resource issue, but the approach has worked well in the past. If sheriffs do not have the information, they will often ask for it to be provided and, if they do not feel that they have the relevant information, they will continue the case before they make any decision.

I think that the matter will end up in the courts, because it is a legal issue. I understand that people think that the system does not work and that changes need to be made, but what the committee is looking at is the question whether it is these changes that will deliver. Sharon, do you wish to make any points?

So will we hear more on that?

The task force report contains 20 recommendations and 139 actions. Will you put on record whether you accept all those recommendations and actions, and whether the Scottish Government is going to pursue all of them?