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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 2 April 2025
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Displaying 879 contributions

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Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

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?

11:00  

Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 14 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

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.

Criminal Justice Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 8 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

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.

Criminal Justice Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 8 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

Can I ask one more question, convener?

Criminal Justice Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 8 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

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?

Criminal Justice Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 8 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

Thank you, cabinet secretary.

Criminal Justice Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 8 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

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?

Criminal Justice Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 8 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

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.

Criminal Justice Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 8 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

This is a quick question on part 3, which is about failure to appear before a court following police liberation. It enables the courts to modify the date on which a person is required to attend court on an undertaking, if they fail to appear at court for a reason attributable to coronavirus. I am assuming that that is if they are unwell with the virus. The proposal is that that will expire on 29 November. What was the thinking behind that? I know that coronavirus is still among us.

Criminal Justice Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 8 November 2023

Fulton MacGregor

That is okay; if you could come back on it, that would be fine but we can also get that information from other sources.

Community Justice Scotland gave evidence at last week’s committee meeting. One of the things that I will be asking the cabinet secretary about later is the direction of the justice system in Scotland. We obviously want fewer people to be in prison and I know that Teresa Medhurst and others agree. However, it feels as though we need to invest more in community justice in order to achieve that. At the same time, however, that is the first thing to go when things get tough.

Do you recognise that as part of SPS’s decision about throughcare? It was an invaluable service and I think one that has been highly praised across the board. HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland said that the decision was highly regrettable; most folk who have spoken to us about it have praised the standard of the throughcare service that you used to have in place. What factors were taken into account when you made the decisions about throughcare?