Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Official Report 518KB pdf

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Justice Sub-Committee on Policing (Report Back)

Agenda item 4 is consideration of a report from the convener of the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing on its meeting on 8 December. This update will be a regular item on the committee’s agenda, to ensure that all committee members are kept fully informed of the sub-committee’s work.

Following the verbal report from the sub-committee’s convener, Mary Fee, there will be an opportunity for brief comments and questions. If there are specific areas of work that the Justice Committee wants to consider, those can be looked at in our consideration of the work programme at a future meeting. Before I hand over to Mary Fee, Douglas Ross has a question.

I would like to ask this before Mary Fee makes her report, just so that it is not a reflection on anything that she will say—I am sure that that will be a perfect update. In preparing for a committee meeting, it is easier if there is a paper to read. I am sure that we will get a full update, but I wondered whether, in future, we could have a paper on the issues discussed. I know that we can all read the Official Report of the meetings, but a summary of the discussions, the points raised and action points would be helpful so that those of us who are not on the sub-committee are prepared prior to hearing a verbal update. Sometimes it is easier to read a paper and then prepare questions, rather than just listening and having questions on the hoof after that.

I am sure that Mary Fee already has something in written form—

Yes.

I agree that it would be helpful to have that in advance. I ask Mary to give the verbal update.

Thank you, convener. I appreciate the opportunity to update the Justice Committee on the work of the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing.

To date, the committee has taken financial planning evidence from Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Scottish Police Federation, the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice. We will report our findings in a letter to the Justice Committee, for consideration at next week’s meeting.

The cabinet secretary, Michael Matheson, has given evidence to the sub-committee about his policing priorities, which will help to inform our work programme discussion on 12 January 2017.

Are there any questions from that? I believe that a letter will be forthcoming next week, and that that will have more detail in it.

Yes.

Members can have further consideration when they have something in writing before them. Is everyone agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

The only other business that remains for me today is to remind members that our final meeting of 2016 will be on 20 December. We will take evidence from the Lord Advocate on the draft budget and we will continue our evidence taking for the COPFS inquiry by hearing from Her Majesty’s chief inspector of prosecution in Scotland. At that meeting, we will also discuss the committee’s European Union engagement. With that, I formally close this meeting.

Meeting closed at 12:22.