Seòmar agus comataidhean

I urge witnesses to give succinct responses, just to allow everybody to come in. I bring in Jamie Hepburn.

We turn to the second affirmative instrument. From the Scottish Government, I welcome to the meeting David Doris, who works on prison policy in the community justice division, and Hannah Hutchison, from the legal directorate. I refer members to paper 6.

Before the cabinet secretary gives her opening remarks, I refer members to the comments that were made by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee at its meeting on Tuesday this week, when it considered the instrument. The DPLR Committee wanted to alert our committee to the fact that it has reported the instrument on the grounds of an “unusual or unexpected use” of the powers conferred by the parent statute. The DPLR Committee is concerned that the instrument makes provision for ministers to make further changes by regulations, and noted that it is unusual for subordinate legislation to grant ministers powers to make further subordinate legislation. I ask the cabinet secretary to cover those points in her opening remarks.

If any member would like to see it, we have a copy of the DPLR Committee’s report, which has just been published. I invite the cabinet secretary to make some opening remarks on the instrument.

Thank you very much, cabinet secretary. It is regrettable that the updated information from the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has been provided at relatively short notice. However, I am keen to invite questions from members, and I will bring in Katy Clark first.

I would like us to move on.

I will ask my usual opening question to get us under way. According to the evidence that we have received so far in our budget scrutiny, across the main justice partners, a further almost £270 million in resource funding and an extra £134 million in capital are being requested as the bare minimum for 2026-27, in order to prevent some of the consequences that we have heard from different bodies, such as Police Scotland, the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. I am interested in your views on those requests for additional budget. How confident are you of securing that amount of extra budget for the forthcoming year across the justice sector?

It is interesting to hear your comments about collaboration with European partners. The committee has explored that issue and taken an interest in whether, with the impact of Brexit, justice co-operation within law enforcement remains as robust as it needs to be.

I come back to Pauline McNeill’s line of questioning on prisons. We heard from the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service that, with regard to HMP Highland and HMP Glasgow, the SPS will require an increased capital budget of £462 million in 2026-27. That is her overall capital budget, with the bulk going to the construction of HMP Highland and HMP Glasgow. Will the cabinet secretary confirm that the construction costs of HMP Glasgow, given the stage that it is currently at, will be met regardless of whether costs increase beyond the current capital budget that the Scottish Prison Service has asked for?

Thank you. That is helpful, and it is on the record.

On the basis of members’ views and the opportunity that we have to express our views on the DPLR Committee’s report, I am content to continue and to move to consideration of the motion. However, we will very clearly set out the concerns of the committee with regard to the more technical aspects of the process.

Our next item of business is consideration of the motion to approve the affirmative SSI on which we have just taken oral evidence. I invite the cabinet secretary to move motion S6M-19681 and to make any brief additional comments that she wishes to make.

Good morning, and welcome to the 32nd meeting in 2025 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received no apologies. We expect to be joined later by Rachael Hamilton.

Under our first item of business, we will finish taking evidence on the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill. We have one panel of witnesses, and I intend to allow up to 90 minutes for the evidence session. I refer members to papers 1 and 2.

I welcome to the meeting Ash Regan, the member in charge of the bill, and, from her office, Maren Schroeder, who is a senior researcher, and Anna Macleod, who is a parliamentary assistant—a warm welcome to you all.

Before we start, I remind everyone to be as succinct as possible in your questions and responses. I invite Ash Regan to make a short opening statement; we will then move to questions.

We will have to bring the session to a close now. I thank Ms Regan and colleagues for a helpful evidence session.

We will have a short suspension until 10:35 to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

Our next item of business is completion of our pre-budget scrutiny. We have one panel of witnesses today and I intend to allow up to 90 minutes for this item. I refer members to papers 3 and 4.

I welcome Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs; and Cat Dalrymple, director of justice, and Don McGillivray, director of safer communities, both from the Scottish Government. I invite the cabinet secretary to make a short opening statement.