Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, and thank you for your evidence so far and for your submissions. The written submission from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service states that the organisation

“is committed to reducing resource needs as pandemic recovery progresses, and reflecting efficiencies in casework, reform, and system level transformation.”

Do both of your organisations see scope for future savings if there is investment in the coming budget and the coming years, and multiyear budget settlements, as has already been discussed? If so, when might those future savings be realised? Mr Logue, do you want to take that first?

Mr Graham, do you want to add anything?

Together with support staff.

So, by mid-2026?

So, for the rest of this parliamentary session, the focus could and perhaps should be on supporting the reform, so that we start to see the benefit in the next session.

Quite rightly, you have emphasised the reality of the backlog of the pandemic implications. Thanks for emphasising that. Before Mr Graham comes in, I invite you both to respond to one further point.

Yesterday, the Public and Commercial Services Union published a report that highlighted the effect on productivity of a number of issues, including information technology infrastructure and the challenges of physical infrastructure such as IT and digital systems. Will you comment on the importance of capital investment in and improvement of that infrastructure for efficiency, the progress of justice and morale, and the knock-on effect on your revenue budget and some of the demands that you mentioned?

Thank you.

The lesson from the i6 project was that things should be done in stages, rather than by taking a big-bang approach, so to speak.

With regard to the estate, is Police Scotland thinking about its communications with communities? Earlier, the chief constable said that we are talking about an enhancement of the estate that will move it into the 21st century, while maintaining local presence and capability. Speaking from my constituents’ perspective—I know that it is the same elsewhere—the concern locally is that things are closing rather than changing and being enhanced. Consideration of the communications in that regard might be useful.

My last question is on revenue. DCC Connors, you talked about the importance of community policing and the difference that it can make in taking preventative action and creating flexibility. Can you say a bit more about what would be helpful financially in the period ahead in order to undertake preventative spend to a greater extent? What resources would make a meaningful difference in implementing the Christie principles in all the areas that the Parliament is considering with regard to public sector reform?

I appreciate that. There is the wider context of the reduction in the Scottish Government’s capital budget, and I am sure that we would all hope that the chancellor will address at least some of that today. However, once you have had further dialogue with Scottish Government officials, I—and, I am sure, colleagues—would be interested in getting an update from you on the progress of discussions on section 4(2)(b) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. If there are any prohibiting reasons that make it difficult to utilise and implement that provision, I think that we should know about them.

I absolutely understand the principle and the ambition, but I am more interested in the dialogue on the technicalities and the challenges in the legislative environment.