Meeting of the Parliament 13 November 2024
The standing orders of the Scottish Parliament provide for emergency bills. They are very specific about the timetabling of an emergency bill, in that it should take place over one day. That has not been provided for in the business motion that the minister lodged on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau. Indeed, it refers only to stage 1. Therefore, there seems to be an attempt to amend the standing orders with regard to the timetabling of an emergency bill. Timetabling of such a bill is acceptable and has happened in the past, but there is no provision in the motion to show when that amendment is likely to happen. I am concerned about that, partly because of what we heard with regard to the proposed amendment to the motion, and because I feel that we are slightly at a loss about how to deal with the matter, given the way that it has been approached.
In October, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs made reference to the proposals for an emergency bill and informed the Parliament of her intention to introduce a bill to contribute to the sustainable long-term management of prisoners. She indicated that there were two elements to the bill. First, in relation to short-term prisoners with sentences of less than four years, she informed the Parliament, rightly, that with work being done, there could be a sustained reduction of some 260 to 390 individuals. The second part of the bill relates to prisoners serving sentences in excess of four years. The cabinet secretary said that the bill needed to contain that because it had been confirmed after consultation that more in-depth consideration was needed with partners. Indeed, she said that she was prioritising actions that can deliver a sustained reduction to the prison population but that
“Public safety remains paramount, which is why I am focusing only on short-term prisoners, with built-in exemptions.”—[Official Report, 10 October 2024; c 58.]
We seem to have a conflation of two bills. One relates to short-term prisoners, which, on the face of the evidence that has been presented to the Parliament, may indeed meet the criteria for being treated as an emergency. However, the second part of the bill relates to long-term prisoners, which clearly does not amount to an emergency situation from the Scottish Government’s evidence.
For those reasons, I have lodged an amendment to remove the reference in the business motion declaring the bill to be an emergency bill, which will allow, I hope, agreement within the bureau on how to deal with the issue in the normal manner before the debate is scheduled to take place.
I move amendment S6M-15423.1, to leave out from “followed by Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Bill: Emergency Bill Motion” to “Stage 1 Debate: Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Bill” and insert:
“followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Approval of SSIs (if required)
5.15 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 21 November 2024
11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions
11.40 am General Questions
12.00 pm First Minister's Questions
followed by Members’ Business
2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:
Net Zero and Energy, and Transport
followed by Scottish Government Business.”
17:18Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.