Criminal Justice in Scotland's Parliament

This part of the site is a weekly review of criminal justice business at Holyrood starting, in its present format, from September 2006. The page is supported by a grant awarded by the Clarke Foundation for Legal Education and is written by our Parliament correspondent, Katrina Morrison.

New: "Handy guide to criminal justice in the Scottish Parliament June 2007 - August 2008".

Glossary: 'Law Officers' = the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor-General for Scotland. 'SPICe' = Scottish Parliament Information Centre

It is possible to view Committee business on the 'Holyrood. TV' archive for up to a month following the date of the meeting.

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Parliamentary report: 25th - 29th September

This week saw Committees continuing with their discussions on the Legal Profession and Legal Aid Bill and the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill. In the Chamber, questions were asked of the Law and Justice Officers on a range of criminal justice issues.

Committees

On Tuesday, the Justice 2 Committee met to consider amendments to the Legal Profession and Legal Aid Bill at Stage 2. The Bill aims, amongst other things, to widen access to legal aid and to establish the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, which sparked fiery debate and opposition from organisations such as the Law Society. They claimed that the Commission would not be independent from the Parliament, thus eroding the precious separation of the Judiciary and the Executive. During the Stage 1 debate in the Chamber there was a recognition that the Bill required substantial work at Stage 2, and this can be seen in the significant number of amendments lodged. The amendments, some of which were put forward by the Executive at the Stage 1, promised, amongst other things a lesser role for the Executive in the running of the Commission.

The Committee were joined by the junior justice minister Hugh Henry to discuss the first half of the amendments lodged against the Bill. After nearly three hours discussion the Committee passed the majority of these. The Committee will consider the second half of the amendments list at the next meeting on the 3rd of October.

You can read the full transcripts of the Committee meeting here, and you can access the Bill’s homepage here, which includes the Bill as first introduced, and a full list of amendments lodged.

On Wednesday, the Justice 1 Committee met to continue their discussions on the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill, which proved so divisive in their meeting last week.

The Bill seeks to establish a Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights, an independent position whose remit would be to ‘promote awareness and understanding of, and respect for, human rights.’ The Executive originally wanted to establish a Commission to deal with these issues, however, they changed their plans to that of a single Commissioner, amidst claims that an entire Commission was unnecessary and would be too costly. This has lead to concerns raised by Human Rights bodies that the legislation as it stands now would provide insufficient human rights protection for Scotland in comparison to that provided in England and Wales.

The Committee were joined by Des McNulty from the Finance Committee, who had lodged a number of the amendments. The debate in Committee covered matters relating to the size, power and remit of the Commissioner’s post, and the vote at the end of the meeting again proved to be divided. However, a number of amendments were passed, and the newly amended version of the Bill will now go back to be debated in the Chamber, having completed Stage 2.

You can access the Bill’s home page here, and you can download the newly amended version of the Bill here. You can read the surrounding media coverage of the topic here and here.

Following the publication of the Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill on Tuesday (see ‘new legislation’ below), the Justice 1 Committee have issued a call for written evidence as they have been designated the lead Committee on the Bill. You can read here for more information.

Following the publishing of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill on Tuesday (see ‘new legislation’ below), the Education Committee have issued a call for evidence from interested parties. The Bill aims to introduce frameworks to ensure that unsuitable people do not gain access to children or protected adults through work. Information on the Bill and what sort of information the Committee are looking for, can be found here.

Finally, the Local Government and Transport Committee have been designated the Lead Committee for the Prostitution (Public Places) Bill, and they have also issued a call for evidence. You can access the Bill’s home page here, and you can read their call for evidence here. 

Chamber

There were no major debates on Justice issues in the Parliament this week, but there were a number of questions to the First Minister and to Justice and Law Officers on Thursday.

You can read the First Minister’s response to the Green Party’s concerns about the fingerprinting of school children here, and a question about the budget for the Scottish Prison Service can be read here. Questions to the Law and Justice Officers regarding, amongst other things, bail conditions, justice policy for young people, sentencing, the Violence Reduce Unit, and woman offenders, can all be found here

Written Question

As well as asking oral questions in the Chamber, they MSPs are able to lodge written questions, which are then answered in a weekly written answers report.

This week saw Justice questions on Sheriff Court fines in Glasgow, budget for the criminal history system replacement project; and questions about previous convictions and custodial sentences of people charged with offences in 2004/5 all put to the Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson. You can read these questions and her replies to them here, and a question regarding the regional number of armed police raids in Scotland, can be found here. Following his evidence to the Justice 1 Committee regarding the Ms McKie fingerprint enquiry, questions were put to the Lord Advocate pursuing points he had made in more detail. You can read all the questions, and his answers, here.

New Legislation

The Executive published its Vulnerable Groups Bill on Tuesday, which seeks to introduce frameworks to ensure that unsuitable people do not gain access to children or protected adults through work. You can access the Bill here. The Education Committee have also issued a call for evidence from interested parties, see above under ‘Committees’ for more information.

The Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill was also published on Tuesday. The Bill seeks to amend existing legislation so that certain relatives of a deceased person may claim damages in the case of death from mesothelioma. You can access the Bill’s homepage here. The Justice 1 Committee have also issued a call for written evidence as they have been designated the lead Committee on the Bill, see above under ‘Committees’ for more information.

Finally, MSP Karen Gillon has withdrawn her private members Bill on Corporate Homicide, which aimed to close a loophole in the law which was revealed after the Transco case. You can read her Bill here, and the coverage in our main weblog here.

Posted by MM on Tue 3rd Oct 2006 at 8:17 pm
Corporate issues Health and Safety Legislation Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend

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