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 1088 contributions
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 December 2023
Sharon Dowey
The Crown Office has suggested introducing a system for retrial, should a two-thirds majority just be missed—for example, if seven out of 12 jurors think that there should be a guilty verdict. Should such a system be incorporated in the bill?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 December 2023
Sharon Dowey
Sandy Brindley, do you have any thoughts on that?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 December 2023
Sharon Dowey
Thank you.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 December 2023
Sharon Dowey
That is fine. Last week, there was talk about whether we should go for unanimity in a jury or for a simple majority. What would be your preference?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 December 2023
Sharon Dowey
I have a quick question on the bill’s changes—which are substantial—to jury size. Does the Scottish Government have enough evidence to justify those changes? Have we gathered enough information?
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 30 November 2023
Sharon Dowey
What are the witnesses’ views on the Scottish Funding Council’s new funding distribution model, and the extent to which it provides colleges with more flexibility and opportunity to decide how best to respond to local, regional and national needs?
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 30 November 2023
Sharon Dowey
I have a question on the new funding model, so I will come back to that later.
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 30 November 2023
Sharon Dowey
John Mooney, do you want to make any comments?
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 30 November 2023
Sharon Dowey
In that case, I will move on to my second question straight away to bring those aspects together. If anyone else has comments on the first question, they can make those afterwards.
The Scottish Government plans to take over national responsibility for skills planning and to establish a new national model of public funding for all colleges, universities, apprenticeships and training. To what extent will those changes help to address some of the challenges that the college sector faces? Is the pace of those changes quick enough? I am quite sure that everybody will have been thinking for quite a while about what model we actually need. Given the issues that witnesses have raised during this evidence session, are we moving quickly enough? I will bring in Stuart Brown first, because he commented earlier that it is the wrong answer to the right question.
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 30 November 2023
Sharon Dowey
Were you involved in the review in any way? Were you consulted on it?