Seòmar agus comataidhean

What you are saying conflicts strongly with the representations that lawyers and their representatives have made to us. If you can provide us with that information, we will put it to those organisations. They are saying clearly that there have been massive cuts, and we only have to look at the hourly rates et cetera to see that that is indeed the case. However, we would be very grateful for any information that you are able to provide.

Thank you.

If you think that there is a need for continued use of automatic time extensions, how long would it be legitimate for those to continue?

There should be a focus on people in custody prior to trial.

But you must surely accept that, if inflation is in the region of 7 per cent and the increase is 5 per cent, the value of the money that lawyers will be receiving is going down. It does not keep pace with inflation.

On statutory time limits, do you still support the longer criminal procedure time limits that were put in place in response to the pandemic? Do you have any concerns in that respect?

Similarly, Kate, do you still support the longer criminal procedure time limits that were put in place in response to the pandemic and the continuation of those measures? Do you have any concerns from a victim’s perspective?

Good morning. I would like to start with Emma Jardine. It would be useful if you could outline your views on the provisions of the bill that would continue the temporary extension of the various time limits in criminal cases. Could you outline your organisation’s response to that?

Teresa, you said that you have limited historical records and limited records in relation to individuals. However, the letter from the Howard League says that

“in other prison services (e.g. Ireland) figures are provided for number of hours out of cell each day for example.”

What would you need in order to provide the public and the committee with the kind of data that we would probably find helpful in making informed decisions?

Are you saying that the issues are more to do with the numbers in prison, rather than the time limits, although the extension of the time limits might be having an impact on numbers?