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Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
My question follows on from Pauline’s. What would the penalty be for repeated convictions for possession of pyrotechnic articles? Section 4(2) of the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 states that
“A person who commits an offence”—
who is found with fireworks in their possession but does not have a licence—
“is liable ... to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months”.
I wonder whether the penalty would be the same, but we have the presumption against sentences of less than 12 months, so is that relevant?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
I know—it is just a question to ask.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
All the way through the Scottish Government response, I have written “When?” There are a lot of actions in the response but no dates for when they will be achieved. It says things like “later this year”, “we will reconvene”, and that work will
“inform future consideration of a campaign to address these issues.”
There are no dates on when anything will happen, so I would be interested to see that. Does a report being published “later this year” mean 31 December or can we expect it before that?
I am new to the committee, so I want to ask something about sentencing. For an outsider looking in, it seems that a lot of the issues in the press are about sentencing. Is anything being done with the Scottish Sentencing Council on the sentences that are being given out? I know that there are questions about under-25s.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
Even if you could just tell me what numbers they are—I have the numbers here—that would be fine.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
I also wanted to ask about the cancelled meetings, which Russell Findlay mentioned. Another thing that I noted in your submission was that you are due to finish in your role in November. How many meetings have you had with the cabinet secretaries since you took up your post?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
Have you had any written communication with them since then?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
You have already answered a few of the questions that I wanted to ask.
You said that five of the recommendations had been implemented. In written communication with the committee, you said that one of the recommendations
“could be said to be addressed”.
Are five of them now fully implemented or is one of them still being addressed?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
Was that with both cabinet secretaries or just one?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
What will happen with your post in November? Will you be kept on, or will the post end? Have you had any communication on that?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 20 September 2023
Sharon Dowey
What do you think is going to happen after you leave? As you said, progress in the past two years has been slow, and you are trying to keep pushing it on.