Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning. Just like the convener, I want to say that I am supportive of the statement of reasons. I also wish to say that I signed the bill in the previous session, before we finished up. While there could have been advantages to having further consultation to get more information, we probably have enough information from the original consultation and within our own work.

I am working with a number of families from my constituency, who have come together. They have children and young people in the very age group that we are talking about, who have complex additional support needs and who are finding it very difficult to access support in leaving school and making the transition. If the proposed bill goes ahead and comes before the Parliament, I would like to get those people and their voices involved, and I would do that through my role as their MSP and representative. I think that further support is needed there.

I am happy to say at this stage that I agree with the statement of reasons that Pam Duncan-Glancy has put forward. I do not have any specific questions at this point; I just wanted to put those views on the record.

I thank the panel members for those responses. I will not ask my original second question, which was for the witnesses to discuss their experiences of supporting people who have been through conversion therapy, as that has been done by each of them at great length, and I am sure that that will come up again as we go through the rest of the evidence session.

Another question has come to my mind, however, if you do not mind me asking it, convener. This has grown in my mind as we have been taking evidence, and it has just been referred to. Much of the time, what we are talking about is children experiencing conversion therapy. We are talking about the possibility of introducing legislation to end conversion therapy in Scotland. Do panel members have any ideas or thoughts about how such legislation might have to interact with existing child protection legislation and procedures? I ask that from a background of having previously been a children and families social worker for eight years and having thought about the grounds of referral to the reporter and child protection procedures. Do panel members think that there is any overlap here, in that such legislation would need to be incorporated into existing legislation, including that to protect children?

I am sorry for the length of the question.

I would completely echo the reverend’s point there. As a previous children and families social worker myself, I can testify that this is not something that we were trained on or asked about or something that we were consciously looking out for when dealing with individuals and families. The point has been very well made.

I have a broad question for the four people who have spoken to us about their lived experience. I really appreciate that; it is very helpful to the committee. I am a big believer in safe consumption rooms. We need to find a way to make them happen.

Given that we are the Criminal Justice Committee, my question is about something that you have all touched on already, which is the interaction with the various justice services within the committee’s remit. We will hear from many of those services later today.

How trauma informed are those services—criminal justice social work, the police, courts, prosecution services and so on—in their interactions with people who are using drugs? Is there a stigma in the agencies and organisations around drug users? Natalie Logan MacLean touched on that a wee bit. How can we get better at that?

I realise that that is quite a general question, convener, so I am happy for you to pick out who you think could answer it.

I have a question about the guidance on the administration of legal aid—GALA—project that you are running. Is it having an impact on and streamlining effectiveness in decision making? What is its impact in the experience of solicitors and their clients who are involved in legal aid?

Yes, but I am quite happy for Pauline McNeill to come in first. She had her hand up before me.

Thank you, convener. I thought that I had been forgotten about there.

This is probably a reasonable enough area for the last question. It has been touched on in all the answers when looking at the budget overall. Where does local policing sit as a priority in the budget? I can speak only for myself, but I am sure that I also speak for my colleagues when I say that the relationships with local police stations are absolutely fantastic. The two stations that cover the two different parts of my constituency provide a crucial service to the public, and they have really good relationships with community groups and so on. Where does local policing sit as a priority?

I agree. It is helpful to have that on the record.

Anything that improves access to justice and legal aid is crucial, so I welcome what you have said. However, the meeting is about budget scrutiny, so might the result of streamlining the process be that, once things are working more fully and better, more people will get legal aid? Would that increase budget pressures?

It was useful to get that on the record.