³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Has the range of offences been broadened out significantly? Are specific offences set out in the provisions of clause 95?

Thank you. I am very pleased to see that the bill contains specific provisions on cuckooing, as well as a range of provisions that relate to crimes against children. That is welcome.

I will open up the discussion.

Should any further LCMs be lodged in relation to the Crime and Policing Bill as it makes its way through the UK Parliament, the committee will return to those later for a decision on whether to recommend consent.

Are members content to delegate responsibility to me and the clerks to approve a short factual report to the Parliament on the LCMs?

Members indicated agreement.

Good morning, and welcome to the 25th meeting in 2025 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received no apologies and Fulton MacGregor joins us online. Our first item of business is an oral evidence session on three legislative consent memoranda, LCM-S6-57, LCM-S6-57a and LCM-S6-57b that have been lodged by the Scottish Government in relation to the United Kingdom Crime and Policing Bill.

I welcome Angela Constance, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, and, from the Scottish Government, Alison Morris, Kristy Adams and Kathryn Lewis from the organised crime unit and Graham Robertson from the public protection unit. Thank you very much for joining us.

I refer members to paper 1 and to the letter from the Home Office that was circulated to members on Monday via an email from the clerks. I intend to allow up to 40 minutes for the evidence session. I invite the cabinet secretary to make some opening remarks on the LCMs.

Thank you, cabinet secretary. Those were helpful opening remarks to set the scene. I will invite members to come in with any questions that they have, but I will start with a question on the proposals on future international agreements. The committee has done a small piece of work on the landscape with regard to international co-operation in law enforcement. I was interested to read clauses 127 and 128, which set out proposals on future international agreements as they relate to information sharing for law enforcement purposes. I am interested in hearing a wee bit more detail on those particular clauses as they relate to Scotland.

Our next item of business is the continuation of our inquiry into the harm that is caused by substance use in Scottish prisons. Today, we have an opportunity to take evidence from the Scottish Government and I am very pleased to welcome the following witnesses: Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs; Maree Todd, Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy and Sport; James McClellan, deputy director, community justice division; David Doris, prison policy team lead, criminal justice division; Richard Foggo, director of population health; and Alison Crocket, whole systems unit, drugs policy division. Thank you for joining us.

I refer members to papers 1 and 2. I intend to allow up to 90 minutes for the session.

I invite the cabinet secretary and the minister to make a short opening statement.

Thank you. That is noted.

I will bring in Rona Mackay in a second, but, first, I will completely change the line of questioning.

We have heard a lot about the different ways in which drugs and substances are coming into prisons. Currently, one of the main ways is through the use of drones. Can either the cabinet secretary or the minister update the committee about communication with the UK Government on extending the no-fly zone regulations for prisons that are in place in England and Wales? As I understand it, some work has been going on to look at how those can be extended to Scotland.

The remand prisoner population comes up a lot in committee. We know that access to support and recovery activities for the remand population is reduced compared to that for the convicted population. At the moment, a significant proportion of the prison population is made up of remand prisoners. Do you have any update, cabinet secretary, on how that is being managed?

We will finish the evidence session with a question about stigma. The minister spoke earlier about the national mission on drug deaths. Within that, there has been a lot of work done with regard to the national collaborative’s charter of rights for people affected by substance use. During our evidence sessions, we have heard about the issue of stigma. In the context of the prison environment, stigma and judgment, by prison officers and staff, have come up as barriers. We know that that happens, and there is a lot of work on-going to address that.

I want to ask the minister for an update on the work on the charter of rights, which was featured heavily during the recent Scottish Drugs Forum national conference. To add to that, we have taken evidence from family members who have raised concerns about the lack of accessible information, both for them and for their loved ones in prison. Again, it is about the issue of rights and us respecting rights. What update can the minister provide on that?