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 1025 contributions
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Sharon Dowey
The increase includes other things. What would be the impact if you did not get it?
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Sharon Dowey
We heard from the previous panel of witnesses about the reform of their systems. One of the biggest costs in Kilmarnock is the increase in staff costs. Did you take into the SPS any learnings or best practice from the operation of Kilmarnock, so that you could save money in the rest of the estate?
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Sharon Dowey
Your submission makes it sound really good. You also say that it
“has been achieved to date without additional funding or the need for legislation”,
which is also good, because it shows that we can have reform without legislation and at no extra cost.
You talked about reallocating resources. Is there anything that you need extra resources for? I was thinking about victim notification, and Ben Macpherson touched on the subject of IT systems. Some of my colleagues heard last night from PCS that the systems are antiquated and unfit for purpose and that there are issues with contacting people to cite them to come to court. Will the pilot have any unintended consequences or do you already know where any extra resources will have to be allocated?
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Sharon Dowey
Do you have enough money in the current budget to upgrade your IT systems to allow, for example, the roll-out of body-worn video cameras for the police? We heard last night that that could be an issue, too, but we are very keen for that to be rolled out as quickly as possible. Is there enough money in your current budget for the IT updates that would allow the police to roll out body-worn video?
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Sharon Dowey
I have specific questions on HMP Kilmarnock, which Teresa Medhurst mentioned in her opening remarks. It came back under SPS control on 17 March this year. What was the budgetary impact of that move? Will there be any further impacts going forward and, if there are, do you expect those to be covered by the Scottish Government?
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Sharon Dowey
You put in for £3.1 million of increased costs. Is that in staffing alone?
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Sharon Dowey
You mentioned that it is starting to be rolled out in other places, too. Will you tell us more about the plans for rolling out the pilot in courts across the country? Is it likely that it will ultimately lead to resource savings?
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Sharon Dowey
Good morning. I will continue my colleague Ben Macpherson’s line of questioning. You might have already answered some of these questions, but, given that you have just referred to the criticality and importance of the summary case management pilot, I will ask the question again in case you can provide extra information.
The recent evaluation noted that the pilot led to an increase in the early resolution of cases, along with a range of associated benefits. Can you tell me more about the main benefits of the approach that was taken in the pilot, not only for your organisation but for others?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Sharon Dowey
The committee always hears the figures for full-time-equivalent police officers, so we know how many we have in comparison to previous years. Do you have any figures to share with the committee about the number of civilian staff? I have never seen those.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Sharon Dowey
I am assuming that, when the legislation came in, there was a budgetary cost. You have said that eight times more testing will be required, but was there ever any increase in the budget when it was realised that the problem was much more prevalent than we had thought?