Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you. Is Teresa Medhurst not with us?

Good morning. I thank all the witnesses for their good submissions.

I want to touch on prison modernisation, which Pauline McNeill commented on. It would be remiss of me not to ask about sustainability and climate change in relation to the buildings. Has sustainability been part of the talks about Barlinnie? Can the building be more sustainable? What will that look like?

The issue was mentioned yesterday by Michael Matheson, the cabinet secretary, at the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. One comment featured the buzzword “prosumer”, which means a producer and consumer of energy and is relevant to energy efficiency. I am keen to know about that aspect.

My other question involves Pauline McNeill’s comments about Barlinnie’s being over capacity. When I was an independent prison monitor at HMP Shotts, one of the most common requests that I got was to do with progression. The majority of people in HMP Shotts were high-tariff prisoners who wanted to progress down the prison estate. Their problem was not only that Barlinnie was over capacity but that they were unable to get on to any rehabilitation programmes that were available.

I put those points to Allister Purdie and, if she is back online, Teresa Medhurst.

I wanted to touch on electronic mail, because you can now email prisoners rather than sending hard copies. I suppose that depends on the volume that is sent. I am conscious of the time, so I could write to panel members about that.

That is good. I think that the deposit return scheme will be warmly welcomed in the school estate in my constituency, given the number of plastic bottles that are used. I look forward to that scheme, which I think will come in legislatively at some point next year. Is that correct?

It is great to hear that we are investing in our young people, which is key in relation to climate change.

My next question is about young people and finance. The just transition paper that has come out touches on that, and you have touched on it, too. Will you outline what we are doing on green participatory budgeting with our young people? Have we started to roll that out? Are we doing it at a local authority level? What are the plans for taking it forward so that we leave a legacy and—I am sorry if I am not making myself clear—we include our young people in participatory budgeting and what happens in their communities?

Good morning. Before I ask my question, I note that it was heartening to hear about the crossover work with regard to the prison estate. I sit on the Criminal Justice Committee and we are going to speak to the Scottish Prison Service tomorrow, so I will feed back that information about Barlinnie and so on. It is good to know that that is moving along nicely.

In just over a month’s time, the eyes of the world will be on us, which is exciting. How is the Scottish Government liaising with the UK Government to ensure that COP26 delivers a world-changing agreement and a lasting legacy that we can all be proud of?

First, I want to thank each of the public agencies, for all the work that they have done, and all the staff, who have stepped up to the mark in these unprecedented times. The range of work that you have done to keep Scotland’s communities safe is commendable.

My questions are focused on the prison service. I want to ask Teresa Medhurst and Tom Fox about the purposeful activity in rehabilitation programmes that, as your submissions outline, was suspended during Covid. Will you outline the plans for rolling out work in key areas of that purposeful activity? Have any lessons been learned in how we go forward? Do you have any transformational ideas about how we can do things differently to ensure that, as is key, and in accordance with human rights, the prison service is delivering purposeful activity in education, as well as delivering programmes for rehabilitation?

Teresa, you touched on the impact of staff shortages. Has that situation improved at all?

We can also talk about the principles, which are central to the forthcoming negotiations in Glasgow. Should we and the UK be ensuring that the principles feature in the agreement and the negotiations for the future? I suppose that the focus is on the UK because we have left the European Union, and our role in delivering a just transition has taken on a different aspect now that we are outwith the EU. Sorry—I am going all round the question here.

My other question is controversial. Should there be more of a four-nations approach, rather than a UK-led approach, when we come to that platform?

I will focus my questions on the forthcoming COP26. Professor Skea touched on the just transition. Internationally, everyone is looking at Scotland in relation to transition, so I would like to tap into that and ask whether you can go into more detail. You talked about the just transition principles and how the international climate change negotiations have played out to date. Are the principles properly understood? Have they been accepted internationally or is there an expectation gap?