The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
The Official Report search offers lots of different ways to find the information you’re looking for. The search is used as a professional tool by researchers and third-party organisations. It is also used by members of the public who may have less parliamentary awareness. This means it needs to provide the ability to run complex searches, and the ability to browse reports or perform a simple keyword search.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
Depending on the kind of search you want to do, one of these views will be the best option. The default view is to show the report for each meeting of Parliament or a committee. For a simple keyword search, the results will be shown by item of business.
When you choose to search by a particular MSP, the results returned will show each spoken contribution in Parliament or a committee, ordered by date with the most recent contributions first. This will usually return a lot of results, but you can refine your search by keyword, date and/or by meeting (committee or Chamber business).
We’ve chosen to display the entirety of each MSP’s contribution in the search results. This is intended to reduce the number of times that users need to click into an actual report to get the information that they’re looking for, but in some cases it can lead to very short contributions (“Yes.”) or very long ones (Ministerial statements, for example.) We’ll keep this under review and get feedback from users on whether this approach best meets their needs.
There are two types of keyword search:
If you select an MSP’s name from the dropdown menu, and add a phrase in quotation marks to the keyword field, then the search will return only examples of when the MSP said those exact words. You can further refine this search by adding a date range or selecting a particular committee or Meeting of the Parliament.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
There are two ways of searching by date.
You can either use the Start date and End date options to run a search across a particular date range. For example, you may know that a particular subject was discussed at some point in the last few weeks and choose a date range to reflect that.
Alternatively, you can use one of the pre-defined date ranges under “Select a time period”. These are:
If you search by an individual session, the list of MSPs and committees will automatically update to show only the MSPs and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of MSPs and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of MSPs and committees will update to show the information that was current at that time.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 3543 contributions
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Audrey Nicoll
I will give you the final word if you wish, Mr Logue. You do not have to add anything.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Audrey Nicoll
For our next panel of witnesses, we are joined by representatives of the Scottish Prison Service. I extend a warm welcome to Teresa Medhurst, chief executive; Linda Pollock, deputy chief executive; and Gerry O’Donnell, director of finance. I intend to allow about 75 minutes for the session. I ask for concise questions and responses, and for brevity, as there is a lot to get through and a lot that we are interested in.
In addition to papers 1 and 2, which members already have, I refer members to the written submission from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland, which was circulated separately and is relevant to our questions.
I will kick things off with general opening questions for Teresa Medhurst. In your view, what are the main financial challenges that are facing the Scottish Prison Service? What advice has the SPS given to the Scottish Government on the budget resources that are needed for prisons in 2025-26?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Audrey Nicoll
I have a couple of questions that I am interested in picking up on from the submission from HMIPS. Theresa Medhurst touched on Castle Huntly prison in earlier evidence. I note that, in the recently published thematic review on progression, there was a reference to significant improvements being required in individualised case management, and in training and development of staff, if people in prison are to progress to less secure conditions—such as in Castle Huntly—in preparation for release, thereby optimising the benefits of the underused capacity. Are there specific blockages or challenges—for example, around staff training and development—that are adding to that and which, from a budgetary point of view, are of interest to the committee?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Audrey Nicoll
Agenda item 2 is pre-budget scrutiny. Our focus today is on the courts, the prosecution service and prisons. We have two panels of witnesses this morning. Our first panel consists of representatives of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. I am pleased that we are joined by Malcolm Graham, the chief executive of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service—welcome to your new role—and John Logue, the Crown Agent at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. I offer you both a very warm welcome.
I refer members to papers 1 and 2. I also refer members to the FDA union’s written submission, which was circulated separately and is relevant to our questioning of Mr Logue. We thank the FDA union for its submission.
I intend to allow about 75 minutes for this session. I will begin by asking the witnesses an opening general question to set the scene, after which we will move on to other members’ questions.
What do you see as being the main financial challenges that your organisation faces, and what is the latest position on any discussions that you have had with the Scottish Government on your budget for 2025-26?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Audrey Nicoll
I should say that we still have three members seeking to come in, and there will probably be a couple of supplementary questions, so I will just stop you there, Mr Graham.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 6 November 2024
Audrey Nicoll
Liam Kerr has a supplementary question.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Audrey Nicoll
Our next item of business is the selection of a new deputy convener. The Parliament has agreed that only members of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party are eligible for nomination as deputy convener of the committee. I understand that Liam Kerr is that party’s nominee for the post and I invite members to agree that we appoint him as our new deputy convener.
Liam Kerr was chosen as deputy convener.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Audrey Nicoll
That is helpful. I move to other members, because I know that there is a lot to cover and our time is limited.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Audrey Nicoll
I want to come in on the back of one of Ben Macpherson’s questions, on borrowing powers. James Gray, you gave a helpful answer and a bit more detail on the on-going discussions with officials and, in your written evidence, you quoted a figure of £200 million that you would be looking to borrow. Has there been any discussion about the practicalities of that? How would it work? Who would you be borrowing from, and who would cover risk if there was a default? What about interest payments? I am thinking more of the practicalities. Have you reached that point yet?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Audrey Nicoll
Thank you very much. That brings this evidence session to a close. I thank all our panel members. We will have a short suspension to allow for a changeover of witnesses.
11:26 Meeting suspended.