Hansard

I am grateful to members for their contributions this afternoon. I reiterate the Scottish Government’s recommendation that the Parliament should consent to the amendments that are being tabled to the Sentencing Bill—not the Crime and Policing Bill, as Mr Kerr referenced at the start of his remarks.

As detailed in my opening statement, the changes will mean that all individuals who are convicted of national security offences will be considered for release by the Parole Board only after serving two thirds of their sentence, mirroring the arrangements that are already in place for terrorist offenders. This approach reflects the seriousness of such crimes and the need for robust and consistent safeguards in managing such offenders across the UK jurisdictions.

The immediate practical effects will be limited. The amendments will require only minor technical adjustments in the work of the Parole Board and the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that the provisions are applied effectively in our system. As previously mentioned, there are no prisoners currently in our prison system for committing those national security offences.

However, the strategic importance of consent is clear. Failure to consent would create an unnecessary divergence between Scotland and the rest of the UK regarding these offences in future. Applying a less stringent sentencing regime could even make Scotland appear to be a more attractive location for such activity in the UK.

For those reasons, I strongly urge members to support the motion for legislative consent, and I commend the motion to the Parliament.

Presiding Officer, it just remains for me to wish you a very merry Christmas and, of course, every member in the chamber a happy Christmas and a guid new year. We all want to pay tribute to our hard-working staff who support us in the Parliament and in our offices up and down the country. [Applause.]