Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which includes the fact that I am on the roll of Scottish solicitors.

I have a general point, but I do not know whether this is the right juncture and whether you are content for me to come in, convener.

Good morning to the panel, and thank you for being with us. I want to follow up on Sarah Latto’s first two answers.

In your first answer, you identified one particular community organisation that had seen a 5 per cent increase in its volunteering, but in your second answer you talked about the challenges of the cost of living and how that has had the impact of hampering volunteering. Are there any specifics from the example that you gave in your first answer that would be worth considering with regard to why that particular organisation has seen an increase in volunteering?

That was very helpful, thank you.

It has been interesting to hear your reflections on how, through this proactive initiative, the projects have created interest and engagement, and have had huge benefits for those involved. Last week, we heard some interesting evidence about how the pressures on people’s time, particularly as a result of the cost of living and the challenges that it presents to households, can be a barrier. From your experience and the Culture Collective’s 26 projects, is there anything that you want to convey to us about the challenge of enabling people to have the time to participate locally in culture?

The third sector has said that one of the advantages of the pandemic funding was that the process was more trusting. As Rachael Disbury said, that allowed funding to move quickly to organisations with strong credibility and a reputation for delivery. Are there lessons to be learned from the way that the funding was facilitated and provided in the creative space during the pandemic?

Thank you, convener. I want to bring some elements of the discussion together, with regard to what Mr Kerr and Pam Duncan-Glancy have asked about.

Minister, you have stated that you take the evidence from COSLA in good faith as its position; that was how I interpreted your answer to Mr Kerr. However, it is important to recall that, as a Parliament and as a collective—local government, national Government and across parties—we are committed to keeping the Promise. That is the essence of this bill.

In that spirit, I think that the message from the committee, having had the feedback from local government and from other stakeholders on the costs, is that we encourage the Government to have further dialogue with local government and other partners on the costings and how those will be met through the budget process in due course, should the Parliament pass the bill.

There has been a role reversal. [Laughter.] Thank you for your answer, minister.

By way of a follow-up question and in the constructive spirit of your response, I want to draw your attention—not necessarily for answer today but for consideration as we move through stage 1 and into stage 2—to response 97066875 from Dr Andrew Tickell and Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe from Glasgow Caledonian University. They have commented on the new reporting restrictions.

Of course, since the bill’s publication, in recent weeks, we have also seen the publication of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill. I would be grateful if the Government would consider the points about consistency with regard to those pieces of legislation and complainer anonymity. I just want to raise that point about the comparison between the two bits of legislation in that regard—feel free to take it away.

Good morning. I have questions around the restrictions on reporting. First, you will be aware that stakeholders have called for greater legal certainty around when reporting restrictions begin to apply to child suspects, witnesses and suspected victims. What assessment has the Scottish Government made of those calls? Will the bill be strengthened in that regard as we move through the legislative stages?

The points that you make about the positive impacts of preventative spend on society and the public finances are well understood and are in accordance with the Christie principles. However, implementing the bill in a way that gets us to that point will require investment from local government and from the Scottish Government in the areas for which it has responsibility. As we take the bill on its journey through Parliament, we will need to consider the feedback that has been received from local government and Social Work Scotland about what sunk costs will be required to ensure that the implementation puts us on a trajectory towards preventative spend.

I understand that you might not have anything further to say on that today, but I am interested in what engagement you or colleagues have had with COSLA on those matters and how you intend to work through the practicalities of the financial considerations when it comes to implementation.