S2M-5337 Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill

Scottish Parliament

Thursday 18 January 2007

[THE PRESIDING OFFICER opened the meeting at 09:15]

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Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Murray Tosh): The next item of business is a debate on motion S2M-5337, in the name of Cathy Jamieson, that the Parliament agrees that the Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill be passed.

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15:03

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): I, too, am tempted to rip up my script and to see what happens. Today's stage 3 has, in fact, been finely scripted. The fact that we had only 65 amendments at stage 3 for a substantial bill suggests that the Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill might be a model from which we can learn and which, hopefully, we can replicate. Stage 3 proceedings for some other bills have involved hundreds of amendments—indeed, it has been known for there to be more than 1,000 amendments to a bill. That indicates not only a degree of consensus on this bill but, more critically, a degree of engagement by all parties.

I was slightly surprised—I might have missed this—that the minister did not thank John McInnes, who was the moving spirit behind much of what is happening. Perhaps we will hear that later. I think that John McInnes was misled by accountants as far as JPs were concerned, but we have rescued that matter and we have reinvented the JP court for another generation. I think that there is widespread welcome for that across the chamber.

The key thing that we seek to do in the bill is to move people out of courts, by ensuring that they can be dealt with directly by the fiscal, and, of course, out of prison, through the use of fines enforcement officers and other measures. Broadly, there is support across the chamber for that. Accordingly, at decision time—which might be somewhat earlier than scheduled—we will support the bill.

Let us examine the tests that we should apply later to determine whether the bill has been successful. The bill promises tighter conditions and increased penalties for breach of bail. Given that the public have certainly been concerned—perhaps on an ill-informed basis—about the way in which the bail system works, it would be widely welcomed if the bill could deliver improvements in that area.

With regard to undertakings, we are not wholly convinced that the bill will deliver as much as people have suggested. However, we will give the proposal a fair wind by supporting it and seeing what happens.

If there is a reduction in the number of people who fail to appear in court because people know that trials in absence will be part of the way in which they might be dealt with, we will know that there has been success in that regard. I continue to have an instinctive discomfort about trial in absence, but I recognise that, practically, we have to engage with it.

There is further extension of the use of electronics to sustain, support and improve the efficiency of the system in a variety of ways. I am not sure that everyone in the criminal justice system understands some of the limitations of using e-mail to engage with the public, which arise from the fact that we cannot directly control the public's end of the e-mail system. However, within the criminal justice system, e-mail is valuable because the internal system can be controlled in a stable way and we can always be sure of exactly what is going on.

The fiscal's role will become more important. That will be quite a challenge for fiscals. There will be an increased use of fiscal fines and fiscal compensation orders. I have spoken about some of my reservations in that area and have had a degree of reassurance from ministers in that regard. I shall be watching carefully to see how the system works in practice.

I retain substantial discomfort about the issue of deemed acceptance. We will know whether it is a problem and whether I am right to have some discomfort about the issue in several years' time rather than a few months' time.

I welcome the fact that MSPs, among others, will no longer be able to play the system and cost the prison service huge amounts of money by choosing, for the sake of gesture politics, to go to prison instead of paying their fines.

I welcome the fact that we have engaged with and sought to reform the summary justice system. It is the core of our court system. I wish the reforms success, but we will watch certain aspects of them sceptically. I congratulate all who have been involved in the reforms.

15:08