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Seòmar agus comataidhean

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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Public Audit Committee

Section 23 Report: “Adult mental health”

Meeting date: 14 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

So, we are not working towards having the same system—it is just about data collection.

Public Audit Committee

Section 23 Report: “Adult mental health”

Meeting date: 14 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

The report also states:

“The Scottish Government and health and social care partners should learn from NHS England, which publishes more detailed information on mental health services regularly.”

It says that the NHS England data is not complete and that there are still issues there, but it also says that

“information is now routinely published on service activity and performance, spending and inequalities.”

Do you plan to learn from NHS England? What measures can you implement from there?

Public Audit Committee

Section 23 Report: “Adult mental health”

Meeting date: 14 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

So no funding has been given to it as yet.

Criminal Justice Committee

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

Meeting date: 13 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

I want to ask about jury majorities. You said that, at the moment, we have 15 jurors and the decision to send somebody to jail may be based on the decision of one person if there is an eight to seven majority verdict. Would you like there to be a change to unanimity, or, if the jury size reduces to 12, for eight out of 12 to be needed to reach a verdict? What are your opinions on unanimity?

Criminal Justice Committee

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

Meeting date: 13 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

I have one further question. I absolutely agree that the accused is innocent until proven guilty, but you mentioned a difficulty in relation to rape cases. If you have a murder case, there might be a knife in somebody, so you know that a crime has been committed. At the moment, a complainer in a rape or sexual crime case does not get individual legal representation unless section 275 of the 1995 act is applied. Is there a case for them to get individual legal representation earlier? I put that to Ronnie Renucci.

Criminal Justice Committee

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

Meeting date: 13 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

What research would you like there to be?

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2024-25

Meeting date: 11 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

You said earlier, Auditor General, that the audits are months rather than years late. Are there any key areas that are still to be audited that are behind schedule and that you are concerned about?

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2024-25

Meeting date: 11 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

I was going to ask about the new bodies to be audited in 2024 and 2025, but Daniel Johnson has covered that already. I will hand back to the chair now.

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2024-25

Meeting date: 11 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

Thank you. I apologise for not being at the meeting in person this morning.

In paragraph 26, on page 9, Audit Scotland reports:

“Recovery from the disruption to audit completion deadlines continues while the focus remains on our key priorities of health, safety and wellbeing of colleagues and quality of audit.”

Will you give us more detail on that? Will you explain the status of the recovery to pre-pandemic audit reporting timelines and advise when you expect to return to pre-pandemic service levels?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2022/23 audit of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts”

Meeting date: 7 December 2023

Sharon Dowey

I do not underestimate how complicated it will be, but we have known about it for a wee while now. Do you think that there is enough focus on it and enough pace to get that actioned as quickly as possible?