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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 18 March 2025
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Displaying 1088 contributions

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Criminal Justice Committee

Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Sharon Dowey

Pauline McNeill touched on some of the things that I was going to cover. I have looked at the financial memorandum and the costs of the bill. We have heard throughout about the resources that it will take to create the new court. Do you think that table 14 in the financial memorandum still accurately reflects what it will cost to set up the court? I thought that the recurring costs looked quite low.

We have also heard throughout about how recordings from body-worn cameras could be taken as evidence. Obviously, that is another cost implication. They still have not been given out. Have you had any conversations with the Scottish Government about the costs? Do you have an updated estimate of how much they would be?

Criminal Justice Committee

Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Sharon Dowey

Should the Scottish ministers have laid out provisions for juryless rape trials in the bill, rather than laying out a power to pilot them using secondary legislation?

Criminal Justice Committee

Management of Sexual Offences Cases

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Sharon Dowey

When you recommended setting up a specialist sexual offences court, did you envisage a new purpose-built court for that, or do you think that it can be done in the current estate?

Criminal Justice Committee

Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Sharon Dowey

Good morning, Lord Advocate. Does the Crown Office have the resources that it needs to adapt to a new specialist court being set up, in respect of prosecuting in the sexual offences court?

Criminal Justice Committee

Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Sharon Dowey

Do you think that the financial memorandum reflects the actual costs that would be required?

Criminal Justice Committee

Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Sharon Dowey

Should the proposed specialist sexual offences court have exclusive jurisdiction to hear sexual offences cases, or can you envisage circumstances in which a case of that nature would still be tried in the High Court?

Criminal Justice Committee

Management of Sexual Offences Cases

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Sharon Dowey

The review group concluded that a specialist sexual offences court should be set up that adopts the routine pre-recording of complainers’ evidence and uses trauma-informed practice. You said earlier that there was a requirement for specialist training, however we did it. With the bill obliging all courts to comply with trauma-informed practice, is there a need for a new court to be set up?

Criminal Justice Committee

Management of Sexual Offences Cases

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Sharon Dowey

The report recommends that the sexual offences court should have sentencing powers up to 10 years’ imprisonment. What is the basis for that limit, considering that there is no limit on the length of prison sentence when someone is convicted of rape in the High Court?

Criminal Justice Committee

Chief Constable Jo Farrell: Vision and Priorities for Police Scotland

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

I am trying to understand why you would still go through with a redundancy or early retirement process. If you are going to restart recruitment, can you not focus it on the skills that you need to tackle cybercrime?

Criminal Justice Committee

Chief Constable Jo Farrell: Vision and Priorities for Police Scotland

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

You mentioned Sir Iain Livingstone in your opening statement. When he left, he warned that policing is unsustainable under the cash settlement from the Scottish Government. He said that that Government had

“clearly set out its spending priorities”

and that

“policing is not among those”.

Now that you have settled into your new role, do you think that policing is a priority for the Scottish Government?