10:02
We move to the election of the deputy convener. It has been agreed that that will be a Scottish National Party position, and the SNP has proposed David Linden as the deputy convener. Do we agree that David is duly appointed to that post?
Members indicated agreement.
No objections having been made, I congratulate you, David, on your election. I look forward to working with you again. I shudder to think how far back we go as colleagues and pals. Would you like to say some words in your new position?
I am very grateful, convener. As I was making my way to the Parliament this morning, I was conscious that this is now the third Parliament in which you and I have worked, with my having started out as an intern for you in Europe at the end of the late noughties and then our serving at Westminster together.
I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the committee as deputy convener. We know that there are a number of challenges in front of us in relation to the criminal justice system, some of which we will get on to later in our discussion today. It is important that, as we come to this committee, we do so to support our public servants, to protect the integrity of our institutions and to ensure that the public can have confidence in those institutions. As a committee, we should follow the evidence and perhaps leave the dogma of party politics at the door to ensure that we interrogate not just ministers but policy without fear or favour. If we do that, we will get on very well as a committee. It is certainly my intention to serve in that capacity.
Brilliant—thanks very much, David. I can attest to your work rate. It is going to be formidable.
For my part, as convener, it is worth my stressing to each member—I have had a conversation with each of you privately before this meeting—that my role as convener is to make sure that all members get to speak, and, equally, to ensure that all members are heard. There are party-to-party relationships and there is the Government-to-Parliament relationship, but then there are individual MSPs and their relationships. I truly believe that this committee will work best if we are all getting something out of it and we all contribute something to it. We will have different perspectives, but that is the point. If we need to look into something to make the system work better, I am game for that. I will be keen to hear all your ideas, and I look forward to getting the committee out and about, meeting people in all the airts and pairts of Scotland and getting expertise into the committee to tell us how things are going. There will of course be a lot of legislation, but, in the meantime, there is an opportunity for some short, sharp inquiries into particular issues, and I am keen to hear what we will do about that in the next couple of weeks.
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