Justice 1 Committee, 10 Sep 2002
Meeting date: Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Official Report
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Convener's Report
I welcome everyone to the 29th meeting this year of the Justice 1 Committee and ask members to ensure that they have switched off their mobile phones and pagers. I should inform everyone that Kenneth Macintosh might attend part of today's meeting.
Last week, we decided to take in private the first item on the agenda, which was to discuss lines of questioning for witnesses. As a result, we now move to agenda item 2. I refer members to paper J1/02/29/11, which is the minister's response to the points that we raised about Dungavel detention centre. In particular, we asked whether the chief inspector of prisons could inspect the centre. The substance of the response is that detention centres are a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998. Do members have any other comments or should we simply move on?
Should we pass a copy of the response to the cross-party group on refugees and asylum seekers for its interest?
Yes. Most of the movement on the issue came from that group. Are members content to do that for the moment?
Did we write to the Minister for Justice at the cross-party group's request?
I cannot recall. I think that the issue came up in a meeting with Clive Fairweather.
Members will see that a letter from Margaret Curran, the Minister for Social Justice, is also attached. It refers to the response that she received from Jeff Rooker of the Home Office. There have been several fingers in the pie, as it were, but it would be useful to send a copy of the response to the cross-party group on refugees and asylum seekers, which may wish to comment.
If members are satisfied with that, I can now welcome our witnesses as they take their seats. There are so many of them that they are almost like a Welsh choir, waiting to burst into song. Perhaps that would cheer us up, because the Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill has been pretty heavy going for us brave members who have taken questions.
Before I march on—I beg the committee's pardon for being distracted—I advise members that, if they wish to suggest topics for discussion at the justice committees' joint meeting on 17 September, when we will be taking stock with the Minister for Justice, they should contact the clerks by 5 o'clock tomorrow. I should also mention that, as I have said before, I intend to bid for a committee debate in the chamber on the committee's report on the prison estates review. Bids will be considered at this afternoon's conveners liaison group meeting. I must therefore leave at about 3.55 pm to make my pitch.
I also inform members that, as they will have seen from the business bulletin, motion S1M-3210, in the name of Cathie Craigie, on causing death by dangerous driving, has been selected for the members' business debate on Thursday. Like me, members may wish to attend and speak in that debate, in which the committee has had an interest. I commend that debate to members.