Sheku Bayoh

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 12 November 2019.

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Photo of Humza Yousaf Humza Yousaf Scottish National Party

I should be able—and hope—to come back to the Parliament early next year; frankly, the earlier, the better. Sometimes, the processes for these things can take time. They are also not entirely in my gift. If we want a judge to lead the inquiry, that would necessitate a conversation with the Lord President, who would need to speak to the senators and make a judgment on who was available. That individual would then have to agree to lead the inquiry and accept our wish to build in expertise.

I hope that we can get that done sooner rather than later.

I have been able to do only a limited amount of work in advance. Although I planned for this outcome as well as for the other outcome, we could not do much more than simply prepare and plan, because we had to wait for the Lord Advocate to make a decision in relation to any further criminal proceedings.

Some of this is in my gift, and I will try to do what is in my gift as quickly as possible, so that there are no further delays for the Bayoh family, who have suffered enough.