 Felly, dweud eu cwestiwn i'r cwestiwn i'r cymunedau sydd y ddysgu a gallwn i'r cwestiwn i'r cwestiwn i Ben Macpherson. Gweithraeddiol sydd wedi'i gwyfoes iawn i ddweud y� ar gyfer Scolwmiadau harfaenau a hyd yn ôl, ddyn ni'n ddweud i greadio gwirioneddau yma yn Lundin. Dechreu iawn, mae'n drym yn gyflwylliannol i'r ddweud i Holley Judas thaton yn mynd ymgynghoru. I offer my heartfelt condoneses to all those affected by the dreadful incident in London on the evening of 3 June. Following the incident in London, the First Minister chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government's Resilience Committee, which included Police Scotland, to consider the impact of the incident and the required response here in Scotland. The First Minister has also received a briefing from the Deputy National Security Advisor. The Scottish Government officials are engaged with UK Government officials to keep the implications for Scotland under review. As with the response to the incident in Manchester, Police Scotland increased the visibility of armed and unarmed officers on the streets in Scotland over the course of the weekend. Further events taking place in Scotland over the next 14 days have also been reviewed to ensure that the right level of policing is in place to meet operational requirements and also to provide public reassurance. Planning for the general election is included in this review. However, security measures are only one part of the solution. The responsibility to tackle violent extremism is one that we all share. The most important challenge for us all is to work towards creating cohesive and resilient communities in which the terrorist message will not resonate. In times of adversity, our communities in Scotland have shown that they will stand side by side to send a shared message of tolerance and of unity. Ben Macpherson, I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Like him, all our thoughts and condolences are with the London victims at this time, their families and their communities. Following the terror attack in Manchester on 22 May and in London on Saturday 3 June, can the cabinet secretary confirm that the Scottish Government and Police Scotland will continue to work closely and engage with communities across Scotland to provide reassurance and ensure that no communities feel marginalised, isolated or vulnerable? Yes, I can. In the wake of the terrorist attack in Manchester on 22 June and the attack in London on Saturday evening, the Scottish Government and Police Scotland have continued to engage with communities across Scotland to provide reassurance and to ensure that no communities feel marginalised, isolated or vulnerable. Police Scotland continues to monitor hate crime incidents on a daily basis and review those on a regular basis to identify any significant rise in tensions in communities. I can give the member an assurance that the work with the Scottish Government and Police Scotland and their other partners will continue to take forward to ensure that those who may wish to peddle a message of hate or to exploit those situations that they are not able to do so in our communities here in Scotland. Ben Macpherson, I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. In his first answer, he talked about community cohesion, which is clearly extremely important in ensuring that there is one Scotland where people live in peace. Can he outline what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that Scotland is a welcoming place for all those who have chosen to make Scotland their home? As a nation, we have a long and proud history of welcoming people to our country from various nationalities and faiths. As a Government has continued to be committed to supporting integration into our communities here in Scotland, it is vital that we continue as a country to send out a very strong welcoming message that Scotland is a place where you are welcome and you are particularly welcome if you have chosen to make your home here. Over a number of years now, we have invested in a range of different measures in order to make Scotland a welcoming place, including investing more than £100 million in 2021 in promoting equality and tackling discrimination. We have also published a race equality framework for Scotland, which is about promoting race equality and tackling racism. We also have Scotland's first new Scots refugee integration strategy, which ran from 2014 to March 2017. Those are measures that we have taken forward in order to make Scotland that welcoming place in a place where hate crime has no place. As a Government, we will continue to work with agencies to ensure that that message is taken forward. Douglas Ross I add the thoughts of the Scottish Conservatives to the condolences that have been expressed by the cabinet secretary and Mr McPherson to those that were affected by the most recent atrocity. I also place on record our grateful thanks to the reaction of the emergency services in both London and Manchester. Although no one wishes to see a further increase in the number of armed officers across Scotland, if it is required and we earlier in this parliamentary term did see an uplift in the number of armed officers, what assistance and support will Police Scotland require if there is a further need for a further uplift in armed officers across Scotland? Cabinet Secretary As I set out to Parliament last June following an assessment of the level of firearms capability that Police Scotland had, following the terrible attacks that took place in Paris in 2015, it was identified that a further uplift in firearms capability should be deployed within Police Scotland. Since that statement was made to Parliament, Police Scotland has been undertaking an extensive training programme in order to have an increase in its firearms capability. That work is now at a very advanced level. As a member will have noted in the last 10 days, Police Scotland has also stepped up its firearms capability to the level that was necessary for critical, which demonstrates the level of capacity that Police Scotland now has in its firearms capability as it is able to do so without the requirement for any military support in meeting that demand. I am confident from the information that has been provided by Police Scotland that it believes that existing firearms capability is sufficient to meet existing needs. However, as with all those things, they are kept under constant review. Should Police Scotland feel that there is a requirement for that to change yet again in the future, that is a matter that will require to be considered not only by this Parliament but by the public of Scotland and also by stakeholders across the country. Clare Baker We are all shocked at the attack at the weekend and our thoughts are with the victims and their families. This is the third terror incident within three months that we have had to experience. While it is right that the focus is on the capacity and the deployment of our police officers and our intelligence service, what advice the Scottish Government can give to people who may be feeling vulnerable after witnessing the terrible events on Saturday night but who have also taken strength from watching the concert in Manchester on Sunday evening? John Swinney One of the early actions that was undertaken by Police Scotland following the terrible incident in Manchester and also in London was to deploy specialist officers at our transport hubs to meet any individuals who had travelled from Manchester who had witnessed the events and also who had travelled from London who may have witnessed the events on Saturday night in order to provide them with any advice or information and to take any information that they might have that could help to support the investigation. The information is then shared with the lead agency that is responsible for investigating these matters in Manchester, getting Manchester Police and London Metropolitan Police. Alongside that, advice is provided on where they can get support through the NHS and through their GP services and to specialist support for anything that they might have witnessed. That support is also there for those who may have witnessed some of those scenes on social media. I am particularly conscious of that with the incident that took place in Manchester given the number of young people who were involved in that incident and who may have been particularly interested in the concert in itself. Advice was provided to our local authorities through our education departments and on to schools and also through our health services to make sure that any young person who was seeking advice or support that there was an avenue in a pathway in which they could go into in order to get that advice and support. That information was disseminated as widely as possible through our schools and through our health services. To ask the Scottish Government what efforts it is undertaking to comply with freedom of information requests. Scotland has the most open and far-reaching freedom of information laws in the UK. We take our responsibility for FOI seriously and, in the large majority of cases, we respond on time and in full. The Scottish Government is open and transparent about how it deals with FOI requests. All of our guidance is in the public domain. Thank the minister for that response. In April of this year, Rosemary Agnew, the former Scottish Information Officer, ordered ministers to improve their performance following a number of, and I quote, totally unacceptable failures to respond to requests, adding that she was dissatisfied with her performance and would respond with the full force of the law. She launched a formal intervention to force improvements and will be closely monitoring responses until September of this year. Therefore, what will the Scottish Government do to raise its game, although it has been monitored? Performance over recent years is consistently better than the 61 per cent achieved under the last full year of the previous administration. The volume of requests has increased steadily over the years. In 2015, the Scottish Government received 2,155 requests, an increase of 173 per cent since 2007. Even so, a record 1,674 responses were issued on time in 2015 and 1,557 in 2016, as compared to just 684 responses on time in 2006. In recent months, the number has spiked dramatically. We have received 777 requests in the first quarter of 2017 compared to 524 requests in the first quarter of 2016. By April this year, we have received more requests in 2017 than we received in the whole of 2007. That said, we are committed to improving our response times and are working with the commissioner's office to that end. I appreciate that very long list of statistics, but how telling is it that just 40 hours before we exercise our biggest manifestation of democracy that we have to bring this to the Scottish Parliament to question the transparency of an SNP-led Government? Last week, journalists from across the political spectrum—the Guardian, Common Space, The Times, The Courier, The Daily Mail, The Terald, The Telegraph—I could go on—signed a letter to the Scottish Parliament selection panel for the next Scottish information officer. In that letter, the outline a number of concerns over the Scottish Government's use of legislation, which undermines openness and accountability. Clearly, that practice is not sustainable in a mature democracy. Can I ask the minister again if he understands the need for transparency and will the Scottish Government commit to addressing all six of the concerns that are outlined in the letter? As I said earlier, Scotland has the most open and far-reaching freedom of information laws across the UK. We are determined that we continue to improve our performance and continue to make more information available. If we can compare the amount of information that we release here in Scotland to what happens in the rest of the UK—in Scotland, in 2016 and the last full year—85 per cent of valid requests received information, either completely or at least in part, where we held irrelevant information. Compare that to the rest of the UK, where only 63 per cent of the UK Government departments have released information. We have widely recognised as being the most robust FY regime in those islands. That is something that the Information Commissioner noted in her special report, and she made the point that Scotland is ahead of the international field in that area. However, we are determined to continue to work to improve those response times, but here in Scotland we certainly release more information than anywhere else in the UK. Does the minister accept that there is real suspicion that the Scottish Government is trying to circumvent the freedom of information legislation by failing to record meetings that it had previously recorded and that the secrecy is not conducive to good government? I think that there is a question tomorrow on this particular topic, but I can confirm that the Scottish Government proactively publishes lots of information about ministerial engagements and information on the date, purpose, attendees and the subject of those engagements, and that is something that was brought in by this Government that did not used to happen. Formal minutes are taken at meetings where discussions are on substantive government business, where policy decisions arise or where there are significant action points all in line with the ministerial code. To ask the Scottish Government what the impact will be of the planned closure of the police control room in Inverness and its move to Dundee will be. Cabinet Secretary Michael Matheson, decisions on the operation of individual police control rooms are the responsibility of the Scottish Police Authority. Scottish ministers are clear that any such decision must be subject to appropriate assurance, including external scrutiny, in order to ensure that the impact of any change is fully understood. Understand that a decision on the transfer of control room functions from Inverness to Dundee is now expected to be made on 24 August 2017. To thank the cabinet secretary for that, in 2015, when the Inverness police control room was last threatened with closure, HMN inspector of constabulary said that dividing calls away from the control room was creating additional risk. Given that the recent failings in control at Police Scotland, I am not convinced that the risks have been eradicated. How will the Scottish Government convince the people living in the Highlands and Islands that they have been? The member highlights a particular issue that was highlighted in the assurance review that was carried out by HMICS in 2015, which I directed the HMICS to carry out. However, he may also be aware that there was an updated report published in January of this year, which highlighted very significant progress and improvements that had been made by Police Scotland in their call handling arrangements and that a significant number of the recommendations that had been made by HMICS had been discharged as a result. The 16 of them being discharged, 12 partially discharged and only two still outstanding. They also confirmed that the model that was being proposed was still an appropriate model that was being taken forward by Police Scotland and that the HMICS continued to be part of the assurance process before any further change is undertaken. It is important to keep in mind that, although there were original issues highlighted in the report that the member referred to in 2015, there has been a significant amount of work undertaken during that period of time, and the updated report from HMICS confirms the significant improvements that have been made. Edward Mountain Cabinet Secretary, history has taught me that, in an emergency, command and control should be as close to an incident as possible. Why does the Scottish Government therefore think that it would be sensible, a sensible idea for incidents in Caithness and Sutherland to be dealt with in the first instance by control room in Dundee? That is 240 miles away, and that is hardly local. I do not think that he has dealt with the other problems that were brought up in the report. I can only presume that the member was not aware of the actual content of the report that was published in January, which highlighted the significant progress that has been made in all those areas, which is undertaken independently by HMICS in looking at what is the best model, what is the most appropriate model and whether Police Scotland has addressed the issues that were highlighted in the original review report that the member has just made reference to. Alongside that, the Scottish Police Authority has its external review of the changes that report to the Scottish Police Authority, which has to be agreed upon and considered before any final decisions can be made on those particular issues. The very reason that Police Scotland has moved to the 3C models is in order to provide a much more comprehensive contact, can and control system than what was there previously with the eight legacy forces. What I would do is encourage the member to consider the update report that was published by HMICS in January, which demonstrates the significant progress that the member seems to choose to wish to ignore. John Finnie Thank you, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, I think that the issue of local knowledge is often played up quite a bit, but I certainly share the view that this is a backward step for communications. In fact, I take considerable reassurance from the role of the inspectorate. What we know is that the facility remains and we have been previous assurances about its role for criminal convictions and vehicle records. Can you confirm that that is still the case? As a general principle—I am aware that you do not wish to include on operational police matters, but as a general principle—would you believe that public bodies, including Police Scotland, when opportunities and technologies exist, they take the opportunity to disperse jobs to areas such as Inverness and indeed Dumfries? Cabinet Secretary, on the member's latter point, I agree with the technology and the ability to be able to do so, so long as it can provide operational reassurance in the deployment of resources and in responding to incidents as and when that is required. As the member will be aware, in moving towards the 3C model, one of the aspects that Police Scotland were considering having established at Inverness is the national database inquiry unit. My understanding is that that is still Police Scotland's intention that the national database inquiry unit will be largely based at Inverness. However, alongside that, it is looking at the existing arrangements that it also has for national inquiries at Govan, to see whether there is a partnership arrangement that should be in place. My understanding is that that will then be considered by the Scottish Police Authority in due course to make a final decision on whether it will be one single national database or whether it will be across two bases, but it will involve having some of that provision being delivered in Inverness. Liam McArthur I share many of Edward Mountain's concerns. Some of the reasons why the Scottish Liberal Democrats did not support the creation of a single centralised police force, a centralisation proposed by the Conservatives in their manifesto leading up to the 2011 election. Will the cabinet secretary confirm whether, in supporting the creation of Police Scotland, there were any amendments lodged by the Conservatives calling for or demanding the retention of the control room in Inverness, or other parts of the country? Cabinet secretary, I was not the cabinet secretary for justice that dealt with that particular piece of legislation, but I do not recall any specifically off the top of my head. I think that the member does make a good point, although the Conservatives party are often keen to criticise the single force that was in their manifesto prior to that election. That concludes topical questions. The next item of business is a debate on motion 5982, in the name of Margaret Mitchell on behalf of the Justice Committee, on its inquiry into the role and purpose of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. I would invite all members who wish to speak in this debate to press their request to speak buttons now.