MSPs call for two justice committees to be established

The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee should be split into two from the start of the next parliament, a review into Holyrood’s committee system has recommended. 

In a new report, the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments (SPPA) Committee said the Scottish Parliament should follow Westminster's example where two separate cross-party groups look at Home Affairs and Justice.

The call is one of a raft of proposals set out by the cross-party group of MSPs to reform the way Holyrood committees operate.

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Committees should normally be limited to seven members to ensure “focused and effective scrutiny” of ministers, the report suggested.

However, the cross-party group reiterated its opposition to elected conveners, a proposal previously floated by the Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick.

The SPPA Committee also refrained from expressing a view on whether or not the overall number of MSPs at Holyrood should be increased in light of new powers being devolved. 

MSPs acknowledged that the justice committee has been “more consistently burdened with legislation” than any other committee since the parliament’s inception.

A sub-committee on policing was established almost three years ago to ease the strain, though the SPPA committee said such a move is not a “long-term solution”.

“We think the Parliament could consider for next session establishing two justice committees but this time with distinct remits – analogous to the split in the House of Commons between Home Affairs and Justice,” says the committee’s report.

“We recognise that there are downsides to this option. We point out that the alternatives are also unsatisfactory: they are for the Scottish Government to bring forward less legislation in this area; or for the Parliament to accept that the Justice Committee exists mainly to scrutinise bills and will never have much time to initiate its own inquiries – a clearly undesirable scrutiny gap.”

The number of committees, which currently stands at 19, should ideally be reduced to nearer 14 to prevent MSPs having to sit on multiple committees, its report adds.

MSPs have also called for the Scottish Government to publish a post-legislative report on each Act of Parliament three to five years after implementation.

Committee convener Stewart Stevenson MSP said: “The aim of any change must be to make committees more effective at scrutinising legislation and government policy, and holding the government of the day to account.

“We believe there are already many examples of committees working with great effectiveness - challenging the Government, questioning Ministers, airing public concerns. Our recommendations, and a greater emphasis on post-legislative scrutiny, will see committees working at this level of effectiveness, more of the time.”