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I back up what others have said. The notes are really good and they capture what we heard from officers, which needs to be taken really seriously.

I will keep my comments brief, because the key points have been clarified and they are in the public domain, but I want to mention the issue that came up about police treatment centres. The one at Castlebrae at Auchterarder was talked about in particular. The consensus is that those centres are really helpful, and I wonder whether their expansion could be looked at. The point was made that, although the centres are there for people who experience any of a range of health issues while they are in the police, that is not necessarily the case when they retire. I think that the help is available only for officers who have retired on physical grounds, although I might be wrong about that. Perhaps that could be clarified in any response. However, if that is the case, will the police consider making that help available to people who have had to retire on mental health or emotional wellbeing grounds as well?

Yes. My understanding is that they can already do that in some instances but, given that the information that we received says that the centres are not for everybody, perhaps they could be expanded.

Good morning to the panel. My question follows on from Maggie Chapman’s line of questioning. You will be aware that the UK Government is proposing a British bill of rights and the Scottish Government has plans to introduce a Scottish human rights bill. What are your thoughts on how those might change the human rights landscape across the whole of the UK and with a particular focus on Scotland? Has your team any thoughts on how those bills might interact?

Thank you for that. Many members here share those concerns. Will you commit to keeping this committee up to date with your thoughts on and analysis of the bill as it progresses?

Thanks for that response. There was quite a big statement in it around your feeling that the UK Government is not quite getting the complexities of how its approach could impact on Scottish law on human rights. I know that both of you have touched on this, but what work to advise the UK Government has been done and is continuing? Is there any interaction between the Scottish Government and the UK Government to make the point clear? It would not be good if something happened just because of a lack of knowledge. Does that question make sense?

I also have questions around the national action plan, but first I thank you for those answers. I am sorry if my first question was a bit rushed; I was not expecting the convener to call me that soon. A lesson for me as a committee member is: always be prepared. [Laughter.] I thought that there was somebody else before me, but there you go.

My second line of questioning is around the second Scottish national action plan, which has been touched on already. Will it help the commission to meet its strategic priorities to promote and protect human rights? What contribution will it make to the changing human rights landscape in Scotland?

That is a very important point to make. I have a supplementary question. Do you have any idea how you will be able to measure whether there has been success, whether there have been outcomes or whether things are moving on? Have you thought about the measurement tools?

Thank you very much. I am happy with that, convener.

I have an issue to raise on that point, so my question ties in nicely with Pauline McNeill’s line of questioning.

I have had contact from local police officers this morning. They know about this evidence session and they made what was almost a plea. They know that resources are tight and that things will be difficult, but they are making a plea in relation to going to court; they think that the effect of the pilot could be massive due to the amount of time that they spend in court being “huge”—that was the exact word used in the text. I suppose that it is a plea about the pilot somehow being sped up and improved, which the officers on the ground think could be game changing in respect of freeing up resources.

The police officers asked me to raise two specific issues; the other issue is not quite as related to Pauline’s point but also relates to police time. They feel that they are spending a lot of time covering for the ambulance service just now. We know the pressures that it is facing.

Those are the issues that I was asked to raise today. I appreciate that the point about time in court has already been answered, so I do not need a further response on that. It is more a plea—if we could get the pilot sped up, it could be good for everybody in the justice system as a whole.

Thank you.

I turn to Kate Ramsden and Anil Gupta. On the basis of what has been said, what could the committee ask of the Government in that regard? Would it be helpful for the Government to provide more information on what is proposed or are you, as organisations, happy for it to be more of an abstract concept just now and to have a full consultation at a later date? Does the justice social work aspect need to be taken out of the bill and dealt with completely separately? Those are devil’s advocate questions, but I want to put them out there.