Justice 2 Committee, 14 Jun 2005

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Official Report 111KB pdf

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Prisoner Escort and Court Custody Services Contract

The next item concerns the prisoner escort and court custody services contract. The committee will recall that we took evidence in connection with the contract on a previous occasion and that we agreed that we would have an update at some point. The clerks have circulated an explanation paper to the committee. Do members have any comments on the paper?

Having read the paper and having noted what has been happening since we last considered the issue, I see that a good deal of progress has been made. We should welcome that.

The progress report notes:

"prisoner security has been improved … there is better adherence to safe systems of work … agencies involved have improved their procedures and are working together … with Reliance".

All of that, and much more, is to be welcomed.

I suggest that, given that the Scottish Prison Service intends to conduct a full post-implementation review after the contract has run for a year, we might note what is before us now, welcome the progress that has been made thus far and consider having another update once the post-implementation review becomes available.

Could we get some input from the police, rather than just from the SPS? Having spoken to policemen in the region that I represent, I have found that it has made a big difference to them to have Reliance Custodial Services carrying out escort services. Perhaps we could formalise that by getting a report from the police.

Would it be appropriate, if we are considering deferring the matter until the post-implementation review stage, to deal with all those matters together?

Yes, I agree that that would be appropriate.

The committee places on record its appreciation for the information that has been made available. It seems that matters have improved significantly.

It would be sensible, given the proposals that have been made, for us to delay or defer further action until the post-implementation review is available. At that point, the committee should revisit the issue. As Maureen Macmillan has suggested, we should be prepared to take the views of our police forces at the same time.

Members indicated agreement.