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Yes.

You said that the figure was about 300 a year, but what is that as a percentage? Is 300 quite a big part of your caseload, or is it tiny? I just want to understand the context.

Good morning, panel. Thank you very much for your evidence thus far.

This question is probably for Neil Stevenson. The SLCC has indicated in its submission that

“the Bill provides no … powers to ensure we get access to the information we need in a timely way to handle complaints efficiently, or to be able to conclude complaints when that information is not forthcoming.”

Will you expand a wee bit on that part of your submission?

Neil, I am not picking on you—it is just the way that my questions have landed. In your submission, you welcome the expansion of the consumer panel’s remit across the regulatory system, but you have also raised concerns about its resourcing. Will you talk a wee bit about the panel and the resourcing? As with my previous questions, this question was based on your submission, but I will come to the others, too.

Good morning. I want to ask about throughcare services, which is an issue that has come to the committee before and there have been various exchanges on. Generally, what is the current position with throughcare services? Forgive me if I have missed it, but I did not see anything on that in your submission.

Can I ask one more question, convener?

Do you agree that having a multiyear funding model for third sector bodies could be helpful in the longer term, or are you quite happy with the current model? I ask that question, because the witnesses in the previous session were talking about the throughcare model being replaced by third sector organisations, such as Sacro and the Wise Group, which I think do an absolutely fantastic job. Is there an argument for multiyear funding for such organisations within the justice sector?

Thank you, cabinet secretary.

Good morning, cabinet secretary and officials.

You might have seen last week’s evidence session with witnesses from Community Justice Scotland, during which we heard quite a strong case about a disconnect of some sort between the Scottish Government’s policy intention with regard to the justice sector and how its budgets are actually operating. What they really meant was that, with the focus on prisons and so on and the large numbers involved, the community justice sector’s budget has remained very small and fairly static in comparison with the rest of the sector, which is hindering any chances and opportunities to shift things in the way that we all want.

I apologise, cabinet secretary, if I have taken the long way round in asking that question, but do you agree with that overall analysis?

Is there any plan in this budget for how we might pick up the pace? For example, in the previous session, I asked the Scottish Prison Service about throughcare. The previous throughcare service was very highly respected, but it has been pulled, what with the growth in the prison population and the pressures that that is putting on the staff. It seems that, whenever something has to give, it is the community justice side that has to go, and this is an example of that.

Can anything be done through the budget process and in the upcoming budget to try to pick up the pace, which we would all want to see? After all, I do not think that a single member around this table would doubt that the Scottish Government’s policy intentions in this area are to reduce our prison population and enhance community justice.