Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting Minutes
8th Meeting, 2021
- Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2021
- Session: 6
- Location: T4.60-CR6 The Livingstone Room
- Meeting opened at: 10:00
- Meeting closed at: 13:00
- Published: Thursday, October 28, 2021 09:32am
1 Decision on taking business in private:
The Committee agreed to take items 3 and 4 in private.
2 The misuse of drugs and the criminal justice system:
The Committee took evidence in a round-table discussion from—
Anthony McGeehan, Procurator Fiscal, Policy and Engagement, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service;
Peter Krykant, activist and campaigner ;
Superintendent Norman Conway, Police Scotland;
Leeanne Hughes, Shine Programme Mentor and Louise Stevenson,Lived Experienced Participant, Sacro ;
Neil Richardson OBE, Vice Chair and Becky Wood,Lived/Living Experience Representative, Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce ;
David Liddell, Chief Executive Officer, Scottish Drugs Forum;
Natalie Logan MacLean, Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Interventions Supporting Change Outside (SISCO).
3 Work programme (in private):
The Committee considered its work programme and agreed: (i) to express an interest in the forthcoming scrutiny of the proposed Permanence Bill, (ii) to hold an informal meeting with Baroness Helena Kennedy QC to discuss her work on the Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland and (iii) to write to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Legal Aid Board on the issue of weekend custody courts during COP26. The Committee also discussed plans for an informal meeting on domestic abuse and on prosecution of sex offences.
4 The misuse of drugs and the criminal justice system (in private):
The Committee considered the evidence it heard earlier under agenda item 2.