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Chamber and committees

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 15 August 2025
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Displaying 1673 contributions

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

Drug Deaths and Drug Harm

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Russell Findlay

A previous witness this morning, and previous evidence received by these committees, talked about the need for the facility also to have smoking facilities for inhalation and so on, which, we understand from the previous evidence session, ran up against the smoking ban. Have you sought to overcome that particular hurdle or will the facility not include those?

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

Drug Deaths and Drug Harm

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Russell Findlay

What about the idea of drug-free wings? Is that on the table? Has it been discussed with the SPS?

Criminal Justice Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 April 2024

Russell Findlay

I should declare an interest, as I have spoken to both witnesses in the past, in my previous job as a journalist, and I think that I have also, as an MSP, spoken to some of the first witness鈥檚 clients.

Criminal Justice Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 April 2024

Russell Findlay

So far, your evidence has been clear and compelling. However, I suppose that some people might wonder about the fact that, even though the incident that started all this took place a decade ago, you were sufficiently motivated to come to the Parliament鈥檚 Criminal Justice Committee to talk about police complaints legislation. Will you explain how the issue has affected you and why it was so important for you to come here today?

Criminal Justice Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 April 2024

Russell Findlay

You have described the weaponisation of the complaints process against officers. For people who do not know, that could quite often be summarised as turning the table on whistleblowers, the inequality of arms that exists in terms of legal representation, the selective application of evidence and the prolonging of proceedings, which, in some cases, are prolonged year after year after year. The result of that is careers being needlessly destroyed, health often being harmed and huge financial cost to the victim. I think that most of your cases, if not all, are female officers.

To bring that back to the bill, does the bill do anything to ensure that Police Scotland no longer uses those weaponisation tactics?

Criminal Justice Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 April 2024

Russell Findlay

I want to come in and pick up on that point, Margaret. It might be worth our while trying to improve the section that you refer to in some way, and, rather than using secondary legislation, being a bit more explicit in what the PIRC can do in that regard.

Criminal Justice Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 April 2024

Russell Findlay

Some of the criticism of the bill has been about the financial cost. Apparently, there is potential that the cost will be much greater than is suggested in the financial memorandum. However, Police Scotland must spend significant sums of money on such cases each year and on payouts in the region of that which your client received. Has it been considered that the police could think again about the culture of pursuing such costly cases and use that resource to ensure that systems and complaints processes are improved?

Criminal Justice Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 April 2024

Russell Findlay

You touched on the very sensitive issue of officers dying by suicide, which the committee has discussed in the past. There have been cases of suicide by officers who, at the time, were the subject of prolonged complaints proceedings. To my extreme concern, when we raised the issue initially, the Scottish Police Authority asked Police Scotland, which responded to the SPA by saying that none of those cases was due to work-related issues. In my opinion, they were not wholly candid.

11:15  

I wonder whether, from a legislative perspective, anything could be done so that there is an automatic fatal accident inquiry when there is the suicide of an officer, as happens with deaths in custody. Every case in which a prisoner dies in custody is subject to an automatic fatal accident inquiry. None of the police officers who we know have died from suicide鈥攕ome of whom were subject to on-going complaints proceedings that they deemed unfair and prolonged鈥攚as the subject of a fatal accident inquiry. Should the bill also address that issue?

Criminal Justice Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 April 2024

Russell Findlay

Does the bill need to ensure that, when a clear whistleblowing complaint is made, such as the one that you referred to, it is treated that way by Police Scotland and all associated bodies?

Criminal Justice Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 April 2024

Russell Findlay

I want to ask about Dame Elish Angiolini and the PIRC. She made more than 100 recommendations, but she stopped short of saying that Scotland should be subject to a Northern Ireland-style ombudsman. It is fair to say that your trust in Police Scotland is pretty low, based on the cases that you have dealt with. Will the bill, as it stands, result in a PIRC mark 2 that will be sufficiently credible and that will have sufficient teeth to protect members of the public and, indeed, police officers?