Hansard

I am grateful to members for their contributions to the debate. The thoughtful nature of the speeches from around the chamber marks the way in which the committee and other members have engaged in developing the bill. I agree with members that it is a stronger bill now than when we started. That is a tribute to everyone’s work.

As Dr Murray stated, the brevity of the debate is an inaccurate measure of the bill’s importance. I fully agree with her that it has profound implications for the delivery of justice in Scotland. As I said in my opening remarks, the bill has enjoyed strong cross-party support from the start. It is clear that there is a great deal of interest in community justice across the chamber, and I welcome Margaret Mitchell’s comment that the Conservatives will support the bill.

In responding to members’ comments, I will focus on a number of key issues. I will start with the biggest issues, which relate to TUPE and funding, and then cover the rest as we go on. I apologise to Margaret Mitchell for not addressing those issues in my earlier remarks.

The Scottish ministers are satisfied that the bill does not create a Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations situation for community justice Scotland. The functions of the CJAs will not transfer to community justice Scotland when it is established, so the employees of CJAs will not automatically move to community justice Scotland under the operation of TUPE or the Cabinet Office statement of practice. Whether TUPE would apply to the transfer of CJA employees to local authorities will be a matter for local authorities as potential employers to consider.

The no compulsory redundancy policy to which a number of members referred applies to staff of bodies that are covered by the public sector pay policy. CJAs were established as new local government bodies to facilitate the co-ordinated delivery of community justice services by local authorities across local authority areas. As CJAs are local government bodies, their employees are not subject to the public sector pay policy or the no compulsory redundancy policy.

However, my officials are working with the CJAs and local authorities to ensure that staffing arrangements at the community justice authorities are managed to minimise as far as possible any job losses when CJAs are disestablished and that, where that cannot be avoided, staff will be appropriately compensated. We have been considering closely the terms and conditions to ensure that everybody receives fair treatment in respect of those matters.