I am pleased to do so, convener.
I have written to the committee setting out a number of publications that the United Kingdom Government has issued in the period since I was previously due to appear before the committee. Again, I apologise for not being able to attend in June, as I was required to give a statement in the House of Commons. I look forward to covering the areas that are set out in my letter and those that the convener has set out in her opening remarks, and to explaining the work that is being undertaken by the UK Government and how we are collaborating with the Scottish Government and other key stakeholders in Scotland to ensure that Scotland’s distinct justice system is fully taken into account.
I will not rehearse in detail the publications that I set out in my letter, but the committee will be aware that, in May and June, the UK Government presented proposals for the future partnerships on security and on civil judicial co-operation to inform discussion between the UK negotiating team and the European Union. In May, we also published a technical note detailing the UK’s position on security, law enforcement and criminal justice. On 12 July, we published a white paper setting out our proposals for a future relationship, which includes much more detail on our ambitions for a security partnership, criminal justice co-operation and civil judicial co-operation than was in the earlier papers. A series of technical notices has also been published, the first 25 of which are already in the public domain. Yesterday, the Prime Minister indicated that there will be approximately 70 such notices, one of which will certainly cover civil law and judicial matters.
I think that the rest of the issues that you want to cover will best be taken forward through questions. My one caveat is that Home Office and Ministry of Justice colleagues would more normally deal with the detail on some areas. For detailed questions, I might seek to revert to the committee with written submissions.