Chamber and committees

DESC is an excellent innovation. It represents a step towards a truly modern criminal justice system, and is, in the words of the police, justice partners and the architects of the system, a world-leading system that places the needs of victims, witnesses and other users of the justice system at its heart. It also represents an investment of £33 million over 10 years. It will make it easier to share evidence; it will allow swifter access, helping cases to be resolved more quickly; and it will reduce the risk of trauma to victims and witnesses.

Of course we will look at that but, as the member will be aware, the bulk of the powers in relation to online harms come under reserved legislation. The United Kingdom Government is currently looking at the matter; we are fully engaged with that process, and we are relatively—in fact, almost fully—supportive of what the UK Government intends to do on that. If there is more that we can do in that regard, we are happy to look at that.

The member is right to say that the nature of crime is changing—

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

Of course there is a changing nature to policing. I am very keen to see the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting with the Scottish Police Authority and the chief constable. The meeting will refer to the enhanced emphasis on things such as cybercrime and violence against women and girls. Importantly, from addressing incidents associated with vulnerability, including hate crime and domestic incidents, to dealing with the increasing complexity of crime in the digital age, the £1.45 billion of funding in 2023-24, which was not the subject of an amendment from the Conservatives, will support Police Scotland’s leading work with communities on prevention and early intervention.

The Scottish Government is committed to working closely with the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland to support the delivery of our joint policing strategy, to ensure that we continue to have safe, protected and resilient communities. Police engagement with the local authority in setting priorities and objectives for the policing of Edinburgh is crucial. I have said already that local deployment is a matter for the chief constable. Scotland’s national police service allows local divisions across the country to access specialist expertise and resources at a regional and national level, depending on demand. Police Scotland statistics indicate that 1,131 officers were in the Edinburgh divisional area on 31 December 2022.

All that I can say is that the bill will be introduced very soon. I confirm to Jamie Greene that it will do exactly what he says. We recognise that, not throughout the system but in the areas that the bill will touch on, people who come forward, especially women in relation to sexual crimes, can be, and are, retraumatised. We must ensure that we extinguish that retraumatisation.

The bill—which I hope Jamie Greene will be able to support—is intended to, in a number of ways, do exactly what he describes, as he will know from the previous consultation. I hope that, when he sees the bill very soon, he will be satisfied that it does exactly what he hopes it will do.

No. I respect the operational independence of the chief constable, which, of course, is written into law by means of the act that established Police Scotland.

However, it is very important to recognise that having enough well-paid police officers on the ground is one of the most important things to local communities and for the detection and prosecution of crimes. To that end, having police officers whose starting salaries are £5,000 more per year than in England and Wales is a very good basis for that. I add that that is against the background of 13 years of austerity from the Conservative Party.

I have one final word—[Interruption.] I ask the member to listen for a second. I have one final word to say about the size of the police force. If our police force was proportionally the same size as the Tories’ police force in England and Wales, we would have fewer than 14,000 officers, which would be 2,600 officers fewer than we have. I am confident that we are attaching the priority to policing resources that is required to deal with crime in Scotland.

I regularly meet with the chief constable and other members of his senior team. Although the chief constable is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority, our meetings provide a valuable opportunity to discuss matters that are important to improving the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities in Scotland. I also had two meetings this morning with the chief constable and the chair of the authority as part of our schedule of regular, trilateral meetings.

I will say two things in response to that question. The first is that quite a substantial number of meetings have taken place following the meeting to which Daniel Johnson referred. There are too many for me to indicate now, but I am happy to write to him with more detail.

The second is that we will introduce legislation in due course that will have a substantial impact on that area of policing. Daniel Johnson will be consulted on that, and he will have the opportunity to discuss issues in relation to the proposal.

The matters for which I have responsibility involve Police Scotland; I am not responsible for any investigations, and I think that the member knows that. He knows exactly what he is doing in relation to that. It is reprehensible that we are seeing more evidence of individual cases being referred to, and now there has been reference to an on-going investigation, on which I obviously cannot comment.