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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 17 May 2025
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Displaying 1673 contributions

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Criminal Justice Committee

Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 29 March 2023

Russell Findlay

That is interesting—thank you.

I have a couple of questions for Alison Bavidge, one of which is an extension of what Professor Johnstone said a moment ago about exploitation of young people. The proposal suggests that anyone aged 16-plus who is in police custody can nominate an adult other than their parent to be notified of their situation. Has any consideration been given to the risk that vulnerable children in that situation could be contacting people who are exploiting them, whether through organised crime or something else?

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

On a similar theme, the Auditor General said last year that data on drugs and alcohol is not good enough and that there is a lack of transparency. Have improvements been made in that respect?

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

The pilot scheme for heroin-assisted treatment has cost in the region of £4 million, which I understand includes start-up costs. Those who favour the rehabilitation route accept that it is not an either/or between rehabilitation and harm reduction, but they point out that it costs in the region of 17 times more to treat someone with that particular programme than it costs for typical public sector rehabilitation. How do you respond to their concerns?

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

Just so that I understand, do you mean that the quarterly spending on every project is now published, or is that the plan?

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

Yes. Will information on Government money that goes into those services be published quarterly?

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

Another thing about this letter from the Crown Office is that there is no indication in that as to timescale—there is no sense of urgency. Going back to the original question, should the Scottish Government intervene? What would you suggest?

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

You cannot recall when the last conversations were.

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

Around this time last year, Audit Scotland said that drug and alcohol data is not good enough and that there is a lack of transparency on how money is spent, which means that it is hard to assess the effectiveness of how funding is used. Has that been improved? Has the lack of transparency been fixed?

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

I do not think that the concerns are about the cost, as such, but about working out the effectiveness of such treatments and the significantly higher costs of going down these routes. That will be assessed in due course.

It has been two years since the Scottish Government declared its national mission to respond to the needless deaths of thousands of people through drugs, but we have just heard evidence from Aberlour that residential rehab is still sometimes seen as the last resort or is not being offered as quickly as it could be and from Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs that no one is accountable for repeated service and system failures. Those are pretty stark assessments of the landscape, and given that it has been two years since the national mission was declared, they are quite damning assessments, too. What would you say in response to those criticisms?

Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)

Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Russell Findlay

I will begin by apologising for my colleague Sue Webber, who cannot be here today. She was keen to be here but she has a clash with the Education, Children and Young People Committee, which she also sits on. I think that she has asked whether this joint committee might meet on another day in future, so we will see whether that transpires.

As often happens, you come to these meetings with a number of questions and then hear the evidence and the benefit—or perhaps it is not a benefit—of being last is that you have way more questions than you have time to ask. However, I would like to pick up on something that Kirsten Horsburgh referred to at the outset, and that is the drug consumption rooms issue.

Kirsten, you said something along the lines of a case having been made for those rooms seven years ago in Glasgow. You also said that these rooms could be introduced now, as far as the legal issues are concerned.

The Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce called for those rooms last July in its final report. Yet, in January of this year, the Criminal Justice Committee, of which Audrey Nicoll and I are members, received a letter from the Crown Office that essentially says that the Crown Office is still in communication with Police Scotland about the issue. We know that there was opposition to those rooms from Police Scotland. However, what struck me when the issue arose at the Criminal Justice Committee was some surprise that they were still just talking about it if there is no legal blockage and it is purely about practicalities.

Do you understand why there are still concerns about the ability to introduce drug consumption rooms? Do you think that it will happen? If there is a logjam involving the police and the Crown, is there something that the Scottish Government can do to break that logjam?