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Thanks for that, Fulton.

Okay—thank you.

To pull together members’ comments, I probably agree with everything that has been said. There is a very challenging financial climate for Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. It has been helpful to hear your comments, in particular on the information that we have received about body-worn cameras, and I will come back to that.

I have just a couple of points. I noted with interest the discussion that took place at the 23 March meeting of the Scottish Police Authority, where it discussed its budget. I have to say it was a comprehensive discussion, with a lot of probing questions for the chief constable and a helpful overview of the approach that Police Scotland will take in extremely challenging circumstances. It certainly acknowledged the hard choices and the prioritisation of resources that will be required.

Obviously, there is the issue of the pressure of pay awards. Jamie Greene is right to point out the additional funding that was provided by the Scottish Government, around 50 per cent of which has gone to pay awards.

The budget was approved. Police Scotland presented a balanced budget, which was approved by the resources committee at that meeting. I was interested in a comment by the chief constable that, to a certain extent, the difficulties and the challenges that the budget presented this year led to the budget almost never having been so informed. I am not at all saying that it is a bed of roses; nonetheless, it is obvious that a lot of work has been undertaken.

As members have pointed out, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is facing very challenging circumstances in relation to property assets, such as vehicles, and pay awards. It is a very difficult environment. I took time to look at the Audit Scotland report that the service referenced in its response and at the challenge that is posed by the legacy of the financial circumstances that the individual fire services faced at the time of their amalgamation. If anything, I would be keen to observe and monitor developments around the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service budget.

As Rona Mackay said, the budget process is now complete, and I am sure that organisations are now thinking about next year’s budget. I am pleased that we have had some helpful contributions on the budget issue, and I am happy to keep budgetary issues under review.

Finally, on body-worn cameras, I always try to strike a balance in progressing work and not getting into ping-pong correspondence. Nonetheless, on this issue, maybe we can do some follow-up work to get a bit more clarity around the context of where we are with timescales and funding. I am happy to take that away and correspond with members on how we can take forward that work, given that we have quite a busy work programme coming down the track.

Jamie, do you want to come back in?

I agree with all the points that have been made. Work is under way, which is welcome. We should continue this piece of work. It has gained some traction and I am keen that we support it going forward.

On looking more closely at issues around suicide, I am happy to suggest that we insert something further down the line as part of our continuing work on mental health and policing. As I said earlier, I suspect that, under the forthcoming police complaints and misconduct bill, we will consider some of what we have covered.

I had another point in my head, which I have completely forgotten. [Interruption.] The clerk has reminded me that we can circulate the correspondence from the Lord Advocate on her position. In it, she helpfully outlines the Crown Office’s role and explains fatal accident inquiries regarding police officers and staff.

Are members happy with that proposal?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you. Do you want to come back in, Russell?

Thank you for raising that case. I am sorry to hear that account. We cannot, of course, investigate individual cases or issues, but I say on behalf of all members that we take the issue really seriously, hence the work that we have been doing in the past few months. Thank you again for raising the issue.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the 12th meeting of the Criminal Justice Committee in 2023. We have received no apologies.

Our first item of business is to consider the responses that we have received relating to our scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s budget for 2023-24. I refer members to paper 1. We have had replies from the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Would members like to raise any issues or points? I am happy for you to come in on any of the pieces of correspondence. I will not take them in any particular order.

Russell and others have certainly raised the issue in the past, but more in relation to the follow-up that is in place in the aftermath of an officer or a member of staff taking their own life than to probing the issue.

There are a couple of things there. You may recall the correspondence that we received from the Lord Advocate back in January. She said that every death by suicide of a police officer or staff member is fully investigated by the Crown as a matter of course. Obviously, issues around a person’s employment or duties may come into that investigation.

It is also worth noting that we expect to be looking at those issues, when we look at the forthcoming police complaints and misconduct bill, probably in the autumn. That might be the opportunity for us to further probe the issue.

Your points are noted, Mr Greene, and I absolutely agree with them.

Okay, we can look at making that a specific piece of work within the on-going work on mental health and policing.

The only other thing that I might add is that HMICS is obviously undertaking a review around policing. The review is more around the response to people in communities who are distressed or unwell, as opposed to police trauma, if you like, but there is an overlap within that work.