Chamber and committees

Chief Superintendent Gordon McCreadie has said that the recorded police warning

“allows officers, in appropriate circumstances and on a case by case basis, to use their discretion to deal with offences on the spot.”

Can the cabinet secretary outline what the impact would be if we did not have a system with the option of a recorded police warning for minor offences?

We know that there is a wealth of international evidence supporting safer drug consumption facilities, so it is hugely welcome to have confirmation that, if a facility of the type set out in the Glasgow proposal were to open as a pilot, the Lord Advocate would be prepared to publish a statement of prosecution policy that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute users of that facility for simple possession offences committed within the confines of the facility.

Given that latest development, can the minister set out the Scottish Government’s next steps in supporting Glasgow to establish this vital facility?

I, too, welcome the opportunity to speak in the final debate on the new programme for government.

The wide-ranging measures that are outlined in the programme will reach our children through policies such as the Scottish child payment and the expansion of childcare provision, and they will reach our young people by taking action on the serious harm that is caused by single-use vapes and through supporting our renewables sector. While the UK Government continues to squeeze the life out of human rights protections, the Scottish Government works towards the introduction of a human rights bill. The measures are all timeous and much needed to mitigate the impact of the agent of chaos known as the UK Government, which is enabled by a sleepwalking Labour Party.

Today’s motion focuses on the opportunities that the programme for government provides to grow an economy that has wellbeing at its heart. Although the notion of a wellbeing economy is a bit of a stretch for some people, I am particularly drawn to the principle of building an economic system that operates within safe environmental limits and in which success shifts beyond GDP growth alone to deliver shared wellbeing for generations to come.

Central to our transition to a wellbeing economy is business—a vehicle for innovation, with the potential to accelerate positive impact with partners, communities and Governments. For me, that was brought to life earlier this year at an event in the Scottish Parliament, when I listened to a young entrepreneur describe the opportunity that Covid had presented to him to shift his business practice to one that was underpinned by wellbeing principles. He was happier, more fulfilled and more successful.

I spent much of the summer recess visiting many businesses in my constituency. For some, business is buoyant, thankfully, but others are struggling to cover their costs. Fabulous small businesses are losing heart. Therefore, I very much welcome the First Minister’s commitment to develop a new and stronger relationship with business and to implement the recommendations that were made by the new deal for business group. In that regard, I ask the Scottish Government to ensure that there is a genuine commitment to the recommendation concerning the review of non-domestic rates policy reforms. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s update on non-domestic rates in his speech, because it was a common theme of the issues that were raised with me.

I turn to the First Minister’s announcement regarding a green industrial strategy. From my conversations with industry representatives over the past couple of days, I know that they recognise the limited powers that the Scottish Government has at its disposal, but they express considerable optimism regarding the strategy. They are particularly welcoming of the changes that have been announced to the consenting process for renewables technologies. Having raised in the chamber many times the issue of consenting timescales for offshore wind projects, I know that that will be very welcome across the sector.

I note that Scottish Renewables has also welcomed the Scottish Government’s commitment to its energy strategy and just transition plan so that Scotland reaps the maximum possible benefit from the move to a clean energy system. I, too, welcome that commitment. As a north-east constituency MSP, I have regular conversations with renewables businesses that are keen to advance their investment and development opportunities in a space where nothing happens in isolation and many moving parts must align in order to support meaningful progress.

One of those moving parts is skills, the importance of which has been highlighted extensively in this afternoon’s debate. I know from my conversations with industry representatives that there are challenges across the renewables sector that we are all grappling with when it comes to the development of our workforce of tomorrow. I welcome the update that the cabinet secretary gave on the talent attraction and migration plan and the investment unit, and I am keen to hear more about that.

The north-east hosts a huge breadth of creative work to develop our workforce, whether within our fantastic further and higher education institutions, centres such as the Net Zero Technology Centre or the industry itself. I recently visited the new Hydrasun skills academy in my constituency and heard about its plans to offer courses to support people in making a skills transition.

However, only this morning, I spoke to a renewables company in the north-east that is struggling to recruit a project manager, so I am keen for the Scottish Government to ensure that skills development and workforce planning are front and centre of our energy strategy and just transition plan as we move forward.

I will conclude my contribution by welcoming the commitment to the £15 million plan to support the implementation of Mark Logan’s review of our technology ecosystem and the development of a blueprint to make our colleges and universities stronger bases for entrepreneurs. I recently engaged with the Net Zero Technology Centre in Aberdeen regarding its ambition to develop an enhanced clean energy TechX acceleration programme as part of an energy transition cluster, and I welcome the cabinet secretary’s recent positive response to my invitation to consider the opportunities that that offers.

I welcome the programme for government, and I urge all members to support the Government’s motion.

Like other colleagues, I greatly welcome the statement and its relevance to the energy sector. The north-east-based Net Zero Technology Centre’s TechX programme has, to date, supported the successful acceleration of almost 60 start-ups, with eight technologies commercialised, more than 200 employees hired and at least £80 million in start-up equity funding raised. Given the significant success of the TechX accelerator programme, will the cabinet secretary support having an enhanced clean-energy technology acceleration programme such as TechX as part of an energy transition cluster in Scotland?

I will bring in Rona Mackay, then Pauline McNeill.

I will come in. It is important that we understand where processes have had room for improvement, to date, but I am quite keen for us to use the session to look at how that is done going forward rather than looking back. It is absolutely appropriate that we look at where the issues are, but I would like us to focus on where improvement and changes can be made.

Good morning, and welcome to the 20th meeting in 2023 of the Criminal Justice Committee. This is the committee’s last meeting before the summer recess, so there are some smiles around the room this morning.

We have received no apologies this morning.

The first item of business is to decide whether to take items 4 and 5 in private. Do we agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

Our next item of business is consideration of the responses to police officer and staff suicides. This is a very important and sensitive subject, and I am pleased that we have found time before the recess to hold this session.

Before we begin, I want to thank the families and friends of officers who have spoken to some members of the committee about their experiences.

I am very pleased to welcome our witnesses to the committee. Stewart Carle is general secretary of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents. Andy Shanks is deputy procurator fiscal, specialist casework, and head of the Scottish fatalities investigation unit of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie leads Police Scotland’s partnerships, prevention and community wellbeing division, and Katy Miller is Police Scotland’s director of people and development. Fiona McQueen is chair of the Scottish Police Authority’s people committee. David Threadgold is chair of the Scottish Police Federation. I extend a warm welcome to you all.

I refer members to papers 1 and 2, and I thank the witnesses who provided additional written submissions.

The session will run for about 90 minutes. Given the size of the panel, I ask everyone to be succinct in their questions and answers, if possible. I ask that members direct their questions to one or more of the witnesses, at least initially, and then we will see how we go.

I will begin with an open question for all our witnesses. We have been advised that it is anticipated that about four officers per year take their own lives. However, at the moment, there is no formal data collection on those numbers and there have been, I believe, no fatal accident inquiries held into the circumstances to date. That is an issue for some members of the committee.

I have two key questions. First, does that concern you? Secondly, what are the main issues that need to be addressed, or the main processes that need to be improved, in relation to how we prevent or respond to police officer and staff suicide?

Thank you very much. That is a helpful update. I am sure that we will come back to that.

I will come in on that to provide a bit of clarity. In my opening question, I made reference to an indicative number, which I think came from at least one, if not two, of the submissions that we received, which said that it was anticipated that there were around four deaths by suicide per year. However, that was not a firm figure—it was the anticipated number. I put that on the record. ACC Ritchie referred to it in his response. That is where the figure came from.