Chamber and committees

I was thinking that as well, convener, and I got a good cover on it. Like Pam Duncan-Glancy, I declare an interest, as I also signed the end conversion therapy petition during the election campaign.

Megan Snedden has already given a good overview of the issues and, given what the convener said, I do not want folk to have to go over things, but I wonder whether any of the other panel members want to talk about the complexities of legislation, such as what the UK Government is likely to legislate on, what we can legislate on and how those areas might interact, where that interaction might hold us back and where it might present opportunities to go further. Does anyone want to elaborate on the points that have already been made or bring new points to the table?

Thank you. I see by your fellow witnesses nodding their heads that they are very much in agreement.

I was going to ask about the public sector leadership summit on race equality and employment, so I am glad that the cabinet secretary included some comments on that in a previous answer. That issue is really important. As she mentioned, our predecessor committee held an inquiry into the topic, and it is good to hear that the work is being progressed.

I will move on to the Gypsy Traveller action plan. It is worth putting on record that, in the previous parliamentary session, Christina McKelvie, who is not here today, and Mary Fee were big advocates in that area. Will you comment on current progress with the action plan? Is there any evidence that it is having a positive impact on the lives of Gypsy Travellers?

Thank you. With the convener’s permission, I confirm that that would be helpful.

On the same topic, cabinet secretary, I want to draw your attention to a newspaper article that I saw today on Christina McKelvie’s social media. Referring to the UK Government, the article has the shocking headline:

“Government says discrimination against black people and Travellers ‘objectively justified’ with new laws”.

Under the headline, it says:

“Documents defend disproportionate impact of Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill”.

I do not know whether you have seen that. I do not expect you to comment if you have not, but I wonder whether, broadly speaking, I can seek an assurance that our Government in Scotland will not seek to have a similar response or ideology, given all the work that you have outlined.

I want to ask about the race equality framework and action plan that was published in March, and about—you referred to this—the immediate priorities plan that was announced in the programme for government last week. Will you tell us about the immediate priorities plan and the ethnic pay gap strategy? How will they make a difference as quickly as possible to communities across Scotland?

I was the convener of the cross-party group on racial equality during the previous parliamentary session. You will be aware that organisations representing those communities feel that the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government have good intentions but that things do not always happen as quickly as they would like them to. Will last week’s announcement help in that regard?

It was useful for you to put on the record the fact that the service for high-risk individuals has continued throughout the pandemic, as has been the case with the other emergency services that we have heard from today.

My final question relates to an announcement in yesterday’s programme for government. As you will probably be aware, the First Minister announced plans for a new national community justice strategy, which will involve investment in community justice services, work on diverting people from prosecution and the promotion of alternatives to prison. There will now be a year of discussions on that. What are your expectations for the strategy? What solutions or plans to help your services to recover from the pandemic would you like to see?

I want to focus on the criminal justice social work area, so my questions are for James Maybee, who has been waiting patiently to come in.

Before that, I want to thank all the witnesses. A lot of ground has been covered in the other areas. I believe that we might have lost our online connection to the representatives of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, but I want to quickly say thank you for the work that people from the Coatbridge fire station did in my constituency when they responded to a fire in Guidi’s restaurant. That was big news locally, and the service that they provided was second to none, just like the work of all our emergency services. I wanted to put that on the record, as representatives of the service were here today.

Before I ask my questions, I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests and declare an interest as a registered social worker with the Scottish Social Services Council.

My first question, which is for James Maybee, is a general one. Could you outline the impact of the pandemic and the measures that are in place during the recovery period on criminal justice social work services in the round?

Thank you—that was a robust response. I want to pick up on one area that you mentioned. You said that we need to get back to the face-to-face work. Can you expand on that? From your answer, and from my own understanding, I know that there is a level of social work—including justice social work, which we are looking at—where face-to-face working has continued. In which areas has that not happened? How might that be resolved as we move forward?

You touched on the fact that you are still going through the responses to the consultation, but I wonder whether you could outline some areas a wee bit. As one of the members who helped take the bill through in the previous session—it was a really good bill that I know you were proud of, as well—I remember that the committee discussed who welfare reporters would be. Could you expand on that and, perhaps, on issues around contact management in contact centres when domestic violence is in play, if those two matters are coming up in the consultation?

Yes. Thank you.