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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 20 July 2025
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Displaying 1838 contributions

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Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Topical Question Time

Meeting date: 10 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

I hope that the cabinet secretary agrees that, in relation to sexual offences, it is critical that the offender is recorded on the basis of their sex, because to do otherwise would distort the statistics. In September 2024, the chief constable stated that offenders in rape and other sexual offence cases would be recorded on the basis of biological sex—so, we are happy. However, in a letter to me and in press reports, Police Scotland has since indicated that there is “no set policy” on how to record the sex and gender of individuals. I stand by what I said when I quoted that press report. It must be true, because there is clear confusion—that is why I wrote to Police Scotland.

Police Scotland is undertaking a review of sex and gender data. Surely the cabinet secretary must have a discussion now with Police Scotland about how it is recording the sex of perpetrators of sexual crimes. There must be clarity for police officers on the front line. Does she agree that it is critical that the Government gives proper guidance to all public services?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

It could be a mix.

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

The policy note says that the financial impacts are

“anticipated to be unchanged as a result of the implementation of restitution orders.”

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

Is that possibly why there have been only 103 restitution orders?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Substance Misuse in Prisons

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

I will follow up on what you talked about, Tracey, which has also been a running theme. We have all these documents and strategies and lots of things that we are doing really well but the prison regime is completely overcrowded—we are not unusual in that in Scotland, because England has the same problem. That overcrowding is stressing out the staff who run the services and is impacting on prisoners, most of whom, according to the survey, do not even get out of their cells for more than an hour a day and some of whom are doubling up—I do not know what that looks like, but that is the regime in which we are operating—so it is not easy. You said to Sharon Dowey that there is no consistency there.

It is shocking that a prisoner who has opted to go on a programme and is in recovery could be transferred to another prison, when everybody wants that recovery, including the community and the individual. That begs the question that I will ask Tracey first: instead of all the endless documents, is it time that prisoners had a categoric right to continue their rehabilitation or recovery? I am sure that other members feel the same. I get many letters from prisoners about the waiting list for rehabilitation. They cannot get on the list and they say, “I want to do things to get into recovery.” Is it time to take a different approach?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

As you said, cabinet secretary, whether to impose restitution orders is a matter for the courts to decide. We have heard that there have been 103 such orders and that in a given case the court can impose either a fine or a restitution order. From what I have read, it seems that the amount of any restitution order should be broadly the same as that of any fine that the court might have imposed. Does that mean that the courts have complete freedom to decide which of those options they want to apply? Is there guidance on when a restitution order should be used, or are there any criteria for that?

10:15  

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

I had not appreciated that a restitution order could be imposed as well as a fine. I have not looked recently at the repayment figures for fines. I know that, in the past, there have been problems with collecting fines—I do not know whether that is still the case. I would think that someone’s ability to pay might be a consideration. If a court imposes a fine and is thinking about making a restitution order, presumably it would use some kind of self-imposed criteria to decide whether the offender could afford that, otherwise we would not get the return on it.

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Substance Misuse in Prisons

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

You said in your submission that provision depends on what prison someone ends up in. Do specific prisons not provide recovery programmes, or is it random? Are there specific prisons that you could point to and say, “If you get moved to that prison, you will not get a programme of recovery”?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Substance Misuse in Prisons

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

Is it down to governors?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Substance Misuse in Prisons

Meeting date: 4 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

Thank you. I take the point that we are clearly locking too many people up, given that those on remand are a quarter of the prison population, but I am interested to hear that they do not seem to get access to the same treatment while they are there. I understand that there are some legal aspects to how remand prisoners are treated, but when it comes to support, if they have started taking drugs while they are in jail—the number of prisoners who do so is high enough—there surely should be no distinction between prisoners and remand prisoners? What do you think, Gemma?