Hansard

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Committee

18 Apr 2006

Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Amendment 224 approaches drug addiction and drug offences from an entirely different direction from that taken previously. It is fair to say that this committee, the Justice 1 Committee and people throughout Scotland's criminal justice system are struck by the utter pointlessn...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

25 Sep 2003

Criminal Justice System

I have only four minutes, which is a minute less than the time that other members have had.The Tories talk about honesty in sentencing policy. They must address the fact that, compared with other countries in Europe, Scotland sends one of the highest proportions of its populat...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

13 Apr 2005

Women Offenders

I will develop my point for a second.How are we to reverse the trend and get back the optimism of the 1970s? I am heartened that the starting point for the discussion on criminal justice acknowledges that any strategy will be doomed if it does not address the root causes. What...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

20 Feb 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

I hope that, in the same spirit in which the minister finished her remarks, she will listen to the committee's helpful comments. As she knows, throughout the bill process my mind has been focused on an anomaly to which we keep returning, which is that people who have been sent...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

16 Dec 2004

Reoffending

I welcome this debate—Interruption. The bottles are starting to fly.I begin by making the point that the number of people whom we send to prison is ultimately a political decision, rather than a judicial decision. In recent years, the prevalent political mood has been to send ...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

15 Mar 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill

At First Minister's question time today, the First Minister said that the bill will end the Tories' provisions on the automatic early release of prisoners. Of course, it will do no such thing, because it will replace those provisions with Labour's provisions on the automatic e...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

24 Oct 2006

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

A very general question leaps out at me when I read the bill and explanatory notes. Will the commitment of the Scottish Executive Justice Department and this Parliament to reducing the overall numbers of people in prison be compromised by the measures in the bill that seek to ...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

12 Nov 2003

Alternatives to Custody

As someone who is about to be transported to Australia, I am acutely aware that the concept of alternatives to imprisonment is relative in the debate. I welcome the previous Justice 1 Committee's extensive debate and report on this important issue. I also welcome my colleague ...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

30 Nov 2006

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Management of Offenders

As the minister knows, the Scottish Prison Service has estimated that the Executive's plans will add an extra 1,100 prisoners to the prison population, which has reached record levels. Are the public not being failed by an approach that means that more people are being sent to...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Committee

27 Feb 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Amendments 83 and 82 seek to amend section 50 in relation to part 2 of the bill, on the confinement and release of prisoners. The amendments seek to ensure that that part of the bill is implemented only after ministers have presented to Parliament a report compiled by independ...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

13 Feb 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

I must confess that, despite the fact that our amendments are at variance with one another, we are all unanimous in saying that the current system is discredited. The question is how we make it credible. The minister has outlined the Executive's position. That position is not ...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

29 Apr 2004

Reducing Reoffending

Lenin, a man who knew about spending time in prison, once advised that ours is not to laugh or cry, but to understand. However, we sometimes cannot help but cry. Scotland's record on sending people to jail and reducing reoffending is woeful. As the minister and others have sai...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

16 Dec 2004

Reoffending

I am delighted that we have already secured an admission and an apology from the Tories. I hope that that is not the last one in the debate.I hope that members will address the attitude that I have mentioned, examine where we are failing and accept that a change in direction i...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

13 Apr 2005

Women Offenders

Give me a second.This is my answer to Stewart Stevenson's earlier question; the overwhelming majority of the 300 women who are incarcerated in Cornton Vale, Greenock and elsewhere do not pose any threat to the public. We reiterate our desire that the majority of those women sh...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

22 Nov 2006

Farepak Response Fund

Like other members, I congratulate Elaine Murray on securing this important debate. It is a measure of the disgust that is felt throughout the Parliament that this is a relatively well-attended members' business debate, although I know that some members have had to leave. Give...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

15 Mar 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

The purpose of the amendments is to address what has been widely accepted as an anomaly in the bill—the fact that offenders who receive 14-day sentences serve longer in custody than those who are sentenced to periods of 28 days. The bill insists that those who receive sentence...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

20 Apr 2006

Local Government Pensions

The motion that is before the Parliament was passed unanimously at Labour's Scottish conference in February. I hope, therefore, that Labour members in particular will support their party policy today.More than 1 million workers went on strike on 28 March in the biggest industr...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

14 Nov 2006

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

You mentioned an average sentence of 1.9 months, but I was driving at the effect that sending more people to jail for longer would have on the entire prison population as regards rehabilitation programmes and so on.

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

13 Feb 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

That is fine. My third question relates to amendment 13. I want to ask for the minister's view of the conundrum—which I would describe as a nonsense—that the committee has previously considered, that someone who is sentenced to 14 days will serve longer in jail than someone wh...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

25 Jun 2003

Modernising Justice

As the Scottish Socialist Party's justice spokesperson, perhaps I could ask the representatives of the other parties what a harridan is. It seems to me that fewer professions in Scotland are held in lower regard than are lawyers and perhaps journalists. Here we are as politici...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

12 Nov 2003

Alternatives to Custody

I accept entirely that the victims of crime have a role in the matter. However, we must look at the broader picture and realise that, sometimes, being a victim of a particular crime does not give a person the broadest vision of the situation in the country as a whole. Nonethel...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

16 Dec 2004

Reoffending

The Deputy Minister for Justice said that he hoped we would have a mature and sensible date on what is a complex issue. I believe that a great deal that is of value has been said in the debate.I share Patrick Harvie's instinctive dislike of prisons and his concerns about the s...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

The bill's policy objectives, which have been mentioned by most members who have spoken in the debate so far, are laudable. I want to see a clearer, more understandable system for the management of offenders while they are in custody or on licence in the community—a system tha...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Committee

28 Mar 2006

Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Thank you for accommodating me, convener. I apologise to the committee and the minister for not being present earlier.The purpose of amendments 202 and 203, like that of the other amendments in the group and of the bill, is to address the incidence of knife crime, the carrying...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Committee

19 Dec 2006

Child Sex Offenders Inquiry

I echo the points that other members have made. The sub-committee's report is interesting and valuable. I have to say that I read it in a way that I have never before read a committee paper in preparation for a meeting. It is measured and gives a flavour of the issue being one...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

29 May 2003

Scottish Executive's Programme

I promise the Presiding Officer that there will be no singing today.The statement that the First Minister made to the Parliament yesterday has been criticised today and yesterday as being complacent and representing much more of the same, when promises of profound improvement ...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

25 Feb 2004

Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

It is a remarkable coincidence that the debate is taking place on the same day and at the same time that the United Kingdom Home Secretary decides to continue to detain 14 people without charge or trial in Belmarsh prison in London for yet another year. The debate also takes p...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

28 Apr 2004

Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill

That is even less generous.Obviously, nobody in the chamber or in the country wants the guilty to walk free—that would not be justice and would not be fair. I understand that the Justice 1 Committee, the minister and others have not taken decisions lightly, but if the 110-day ...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

29 Apr 2004

Reducing Reoffending

I am sorry, but I do not have time.I hope that the Executive is not trying to pre-empt the consultation and besmirch the democratic process. If criminal justice social work and the Scottish Prison Service are absorbed into one agency, the democratic accountability of current s...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

10 Feb 2005

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

I will give way in a second. I refer in particular to the appeal of William Gage, which comes before the Court of Appeal next month. I hope that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will become more positive and strong enough to withstand pressure to convict innocent...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

24 Mar 2005

First Minister's Question Time · Mordechai Vanunu

I hope that the First Minister accepts that Mordechai Vanunu is recognised across the world as a man of peace, a man of principle, a man who demands justice for the Palestinian people and a man who, after being kidnapped by the Israeli state, spent 18 years in jail for exposin...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

24 Mar 2005

First Minister's Question Time · Mordechai Vanunu

I am disappointed that the First Minister cannot be more forthright. That is the second time that he has opted out of giving an opinion on the matter. What does he think of the decision by University of Glasgow students to elect Mordechai Vanunu as their rector? Mordechai Vanu...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

13 Apr 2005

Women Offenders

That was a quote from the Government rather than a quote of my own. I will come later to the point that Stewart Stevenson raises; I have only just started my speech.Clearly, the arrival in the 1980s of hard drugs and a noticeable and dramatic change in sentencing policy change...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

13 Apr 2005

Women Offenders

I have no problem with that suggestion, as the minister has put it in black and white terms. Those women who can afford to pay should be encouraged to pay rather than being sent to jail as a consequence.

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

11 May 2005

Rehabilitation in Prisons

Like other members, I welcome the Justice 1 Committee's report, which poses many valid questions against a background in which rehabilitation programmes in prison appear to be less than wholly effective. It is a shame that we will not have more time to debate the issues today....

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

14 Sep 2006

Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

When I heard the minister make the same remark earlier, I could not help but be struck by the parallel with debates at the time of the poll tax, when it was argued that the only people who were not paying it were those who could afford to. The argument is a complete red herrin...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am sorry, but I do not have time.The Sheriffs Association goes on, in an unusually humorous vein, to ridicule the bill's proposals with the example of an offender who is found guilty of assault to severe disfigurement. I do not have time to read the joke, but it is on page 2...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

21 Nov 2006

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I understand that. Not only are there lower levels of reoffending among people who have served longer sentences—if that is the way to put it—but, as you have made clear, reassessment is likely to have a greater effect with longer sentences than shorter sentences. At what inter...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

09 Nov 2006

First Minister's Question Time · Prisons (Overcrowding)

Nearly 7,000 people are now crowded into our jails—600 more than they are designed to hold—whereas, 20 years ago, we imprisoned scarcely half that number. We have one of the largest prison populations in Europe. With 48 per cent of prisoners serving sentences of three months o...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

15 Mar 2007

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Those members who argue that the current system is in disrepute are absolutely correct. That is what the bill seeks to address. However, the passage of the part of the bill that seeks to make people who are serving 14-day sentences serve even longer than they do now would brin...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Committee

01 Nov 2005

Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

John Swinburne said that this was an enjoyable afternoon, but it has been like a form of torture; it should be outlawed under the United Nations charter on human rights. I feel as if I need a prescription myself.It seems to me—and there now seems to be a wider consensus—that n...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

29 Nov 2005

Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I forget who made the point previously, but I agree that we need to encourage people, especially in the working-class areas of Scotland, to visit their GPs if they are ill.Another point that was made by the witness from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain—or it m...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

30 Sep 2003

Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I hope that the minister does not get paranoid about constant references to the Faculty of Advocates. If it is any consolation, representatives of the faculty were here longer last week than you have been.One of the issues that they raised and on which we questioned them was t...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

18 Jan 2005

Fire (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Amendments 23 and 24 seek to put the other emergencies that our fire crews attend on the same statutory footing as road traffic accidents, which the bill already covers. All the categories that are covered in amendment 23—biological or nuclear incidents, search and rescue, flo...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

14 Nov 2006

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Is the figure of 1,100 people about right? I was interested in your answer, Mr Dickie. Do you expect that, if longer custodial sentences are available, they will be handed out? In other words, do you expect that people will indeed spend 75 per cent of their sentence behind bar...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

14 Nov 2006

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I turn to the consequences for our prisons. When I read Mr Tata's submission, a number of points jumped out at me. It states:"The overall consequences on the prison population of this Bill … should be expected to be very large."Reference is made to overcrowding in our prisons....

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

21 Nov 2006

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am interested in the research; it is important. Can I take it that since you have focused on longer sentences—

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

21 Nov 2006

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Sure.I have two quick points about efficacy. I am probably thinking of longer-term prisoners. Is more than one risk assessment done during a sentence or is an assessment done only when a prisoner is being prepared for release?

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

21 Nov 2006

Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I take it that the standard risk assessment includes things like a home background report and reports from the prison and criminal justice social work. Is there a case for using a standard risk assessment for all prisoners or is there a need for a variety of assessments to cov...

Colin Fox: SSP Committee

20 Feb 2007

Serious Crime Bill

I would be grateful for a note, at least for myself. If the minister wanted to send it to the whole committee, I would not object. We could easily introduce a prevention of violent crime order or any number of orders to prevent behaviour, and such orders could have conditions ...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

04 Mar 2004

Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am happy to take advice from Nicola Sturgeon on parliamentary procedures; she has been here a lot longer than I have. I have a great deal of sympathy with Mike Pringle's argument and I am trying to make clear my position, which I hope will be clearer still when I have finish...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

25 Mar 2004

Summary Justice

I respond to that by saying that the scales have tipped too far in the other direction in parliamentary debates. The right to a fair trial comes in for considered criticism time and again. The minister knows full well that this is not the first time that such remarks have been...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

18 Nov 2004

Fire (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Two years ago today, the first national fire strike in 25 years began. I was on the picket line at Liberton fire station in Edinburgh. Little did I realise that I would mark the second anniversary of that dispute standing here in the Scottish Parliament, debating plans for a r...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

10 Mar 2005

First Minister's Question Time · Public Sector Workers (Pensions)

Surely the fact that the Labour Party conference last weekend voted to condemn the United Kingdom Government's great pensions robbery is ample reason for the First Minister to attend the rally. On which side of Labour's great pensions divide does the First Minister stand—the s...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

02 Jun 2005

Antisocial Behaviour

The minister mentioned the £113 million for ASBOs when she intervened during an earlier speech. I will talk about funding later.It is clear that the Executive is annoyed that, a year after the 2004 act was passed, local authorities are not using the range of powers in relation...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

25 Jan 2006

Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

The debate has been interesting and passions have certainly been roused. Members have attempted to throw light on the issues, but there has often been more heat than light, especially from Labour and Liberal members. On the anniversary of the birth of Burns, the Burns words th...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

25 Jan 2006

Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

The minister and the deputy minister have both argued that there is a series of anomalies, but they then suggest that the way to get rid of them is not to abolish charges. The Executive is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. No matter how we look at the current exe...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

02 Feb 2006

First Minister's Question Time · Retirement Age (Public Sector Workers)

I ask the First Minister, therefore, to allay the fears of more than 200,000 local government workers, including carers and teacher assistants, who fear that the Scottish Executive is simply playing its part in sending a signal as part of a wider attack on pensions that will s...

Colin Fox: SSP Chamber

23 Mar 2006

Knowledge Economy

I am grateful for the member's intervention. I am sure that members will agree that there have not been enough interventions in today's debate. I am also grateful that the member intervened just when I have a statistic that will answer his point.During the 1990s, the proportio...

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): SSP Chamber

19 Apr 2006

Supporters Direct in Scotland

Like other members, I congratulate Frank McAveety on securing the debate. I enjoyed his speech, as I have enjoyed the speeches of other members. They have said, rightly, that football in this country is the people's game. It conveys a large part of the passion that exists in w...