Hansard

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate. First of all, I will allude to a number of the key points that were raised during the earlier stage 3 amendments debate. Alison McInnes, Elaine Murray and others made the important point that dealing with offending begins long before an offence or a crime is committed, and the minister acknowledged that that was a well-made point. Indeed, we must hold on to the need to join up the system that lies behind the bill.

Margaret Mitchell quite properly raised the issue of TUPE, as well as the need to ensure that resources are available to those who will implement the legislation. Although Labour members were unable to support the inclusion of a sunset clause, its not having been agreed to by implication places an additional responsibility on the Government to ensure that the fears that have been expressed in Parliament today are without foundation and that, as we go forward, a sunset clause would be redundant.

I want to comment on the minister himself. Today he has again demonstrated his ability not only to hear Opposition parties’ amendments, but to respond to them—quite idiosyncratically, in my experience of this chamber—in an effective way that does not scupper progress. I commend that approach to other members of the Government. It would be a refreshing way forward.

Roderick Campbell in the stage 3 amendments debate touched on the new set-up that we are discussing. Under the bill, eight CJAs will be replaced by 32 community justice partnerships—one per local authority. A national organisation—community justice Scotland—will be established with powers over performance, promoting improvement and so forth, and the Scottish ministers will be required to publish a community justice strategy. Nevertheless, when we look at the experience of reforming emergency services, we see that such reform will demand a great deal of attention from the minister and officials. From this day forward, they will need to ensure that the relationships are productive, that the method by which the various organisations are wedded works and that, at the end of the day, those to whom we seek to provide solace—the communities that we serve—see an alternative to prison that works and shows value for money. That important responsibility lies ahead for the minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in a new Government.

However, we know that the eight CJAs did not work; indeed, we know that, other than the chairs of the CJAs, it is difficult to find anyone in Scotland who thinks that they worked. In that circumstance, it is all the more important that the local community networks, the authorities and others contribute positively and honestly. If the set-up does not work, it must be fixed and not left for another five years to soldier along at public expense, and to the detriment of the very people whom we seek to protect—those who may offend in the future. Let us ensure that we deliver.

COSLA made important comments in its briefing before our debate today about governance, which is an aspect that let down the emergency services reform. It mentioned the lack of effective governance—the lack of an expectation that meetings would take place and that designated chairpersons would accept the responsibilities that they were given and ensure that relationships worked in the 32 local authority areas.

Also, in my time on the Justice Committee we saw a great deal of duplication of effort in commissioning of functions, with organisations bumping into each other, competing over the same turf, spending the allocation of public money to their groups but not delivering additional value. Therefore, the comment in COSLA’s briefing about commissioning functions and the need to ensure local prioritisation is important, so I was pleased to hear the minister give full force and strength to that in his opening speech.

The final aspect on which I will comment is the ability of the third sector to play its part. As other areas of public life are, the third sector is under stress. There is no point in trying to engage with that sector and to expect it to pull its weight alongside public authorities unless we are willing to offer it the support that it needs, and to give it access to public sector relationships to the full. Various organisations, including Victim Support Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid, spend as much time on trying to get funds so that they can do the work as they do on the work itself.

I join Margaret McDougall in thanking Victim Support Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid for the contribution that they have made to the debate. Having watched the bill going through its various stages, I am grateful to the clerks and to the members of the Justice Committee, because their work, in conjunction with the minister’s, has produced a bill that is a great deal healthier than it was to begin with. The bill drafters have, as usual, worked like Trojans to produce something that looks as though it makes sense. I hope that the Government will be able to enforce it in a way that we will all be able to applaud in the years ahead.