Scrutiny by the Justice Committee
The proposed draft Public Services Reform (Prison Visiting Committees) (Scotland) Order 2014 and a proposed Explanatory Document were laid on 4 October 2013. A replacement proposed Explanatory Document was laid on 6 November 2013.
Links to the proposed draft Order and most recent proposed Explanatory Document are below.
The Scottish Government explains that the purpose of the instrument is to improve the efficiency of public functions in the inspection and monitoring of prisons in Scotland by—
• modifying the functions of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons for Scotland;
• abolishing Prison Visiting Committees; and
• creating the roles of prison monitors and lay monitors on which the functions of prison monitoring are being conferred.
The draft Order has been laid under the super-affirmative procedure. The super-affirmative procedure allows the Parliament to scrutinise an order prior to it being laid under the affirmative procedure, when the Parliament will decide whether or not to approve the Order.
The Committee decided to scrutinise the proposed draft Order at the consultation stage and took evidence on it. The deadline for the Committee to report on the draft Order was 19 January 2014.
Evidence
Written evidence
The Committee issued a call for written evidence on 10 October 2013. The deadline for submissions was 5.00 pm on Friday 8 November 2013.
Oral evidence
The Committee conducted a round-table evidence session with a number of stakeholders on 20 November 2013.
Report
The Committee published its report on the proposed Public Services Reform (Prison Visiting Committees) (Scotland) Order 2014 on 13 January 2014.