Chamber and committees

I will go on to talk about online, because work is being undertaken in that area as well.

We have provided funding to support the patrols are currently operational across Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow and we will work with Police Scotland to build on that.

I recently visited Dundee to see operation begonia in practice, and I was able to see the difference that it makes. This year, operation begonia has carried out 100 patrols, resulting in 42 men being charged and 62 women being routed to support services. As Detective Superintendent Steven Bertram, the lead on prostitution for Police Scotland, said:

“This is about building trust and confidence in policing.”

I agree that that is key. I want any women with experience of commercial sexual exploitation to feel able and comfortable to engage with police to report concerns and to access justice and trauma-informed support, if they so wish.

The new police approach includes the development of new training and awareness programmes, the first of which will take place this month. We are also working with Police Scotland to help to strengthen the connections between the police and local support provision, as the relationships between the police and local support services play a key role. Later this month, I will visit a local stakeholder network that supports begonia in Aberdeen.

We will build on that good practice and will hold a meeting in Edinburgh this month to discuss establishing a similar network with local organisations here. Ensuring that local stakeholders are better connected and have clearer links to local police will help to ensure that women have supported access to justice and have clearer routes to local support. A joined-up response will also help us to take a preventative approach to tackling exploitation.

Informed by the implementation of begonia, the Scottish Government will always consider what more we can do to combat commercial sexual exploitation. Taking an evidence-based approach, we will consider what further intervention is necessary.

Earlier, I referenced, as did Rhoda Grant in her motion, the importance of learning from international experience. I am therefore mindful of the difficulty that Ireland has had in policing the legislative framework that it was presented with, and of the lack of cohesion within support services in France. Both scenarios have led to a review of the approaches in those countries.

The Scottish Government is working with Police Scotland to better understand any additional powers that it considers are required and the reasons why, in order to effectively tackle demand, particularly online.

The Scottish Government is not opposed to the intent of Ms Regan’s proposed bill, but I will touch on a few of our concerns later in my speech.

We must be mindful of the challenges online and the need to keep pace with them. Rhoda Grant, Bill Kidd and Carol Mochan mentioned that issue, particularly the websites. The regulation of the internet and online services remains a reserved matter, but there is an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill going through Westminster, which addresses the issue, and my officials are talking to the Home Office about it. My officials are meeting Ofcom tomorrow to further discuss online safety in respect of human trafficking.

Those online challenges are why we are providing funding to support Police Scotland’s work to tackle the online aspects of commercial sexual exploitation, increasing its capability in that area—

I thank Rhoda Grant and all those in the chamber this evening for their considered contributions on tackling and combating commercial sexual exploitation. Let me be very clear at the start—we all want to see an end to commercial sexual exploitation in Scotland. I will take this opportunity to outline what the Scottish Government is doing to combat it.

I take on board John Mason’s point that he feels that there has not been much progress. Although there has not been any legislative progress in recent years, some things are under way.

I recently invited Rhoda Grant and other MSPs to an update on the work that we have been doing with Police Scotland to agree a national approach to prostitution. The new Police Scotland approach, known as operation begonia, was adopted at the end of April, and it recognises that those who are involved in prostitution are victims of exploitation. It will ensure that police use the powers that are available to them to challenge demand. Through dedicated patrols in areas where street-based prostitution takes place, police will challenge and deter men’s demand.

First, I express my gratitude to Michelle Thomson for sponsoring today’s motion. I also sincerely thank everyone who has kindly taken this opportunity to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, which will take place on 11 July, and white armband day. I echo the heartfelt words that have been offered by my fellow members in remembrance and recognition of the victims across Bosnia and Herzegovina, just as I did earlier this year when we came together to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust. I also give a warm welcome to those in the gallery, including the young people and their teachers from the lessons of Srebrenica schools competition. I can also see Sabina Kadic-Mackenzie, who graciously led me and others on a delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Barry Fisher, the secretary for Beyond Srebrenica.

Members will be aware that Paul O’Kane and Beyond Srebrenica have organised a drop-in session this afternoon to raise awareness of white armband day, and I encourage members to attend if they can. There will also be a national commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide in Glasgow on 10 July. I hope to see members at those important events.

I thank members for their very powerful contributions this afternoon. I think that those of us who had the honour and the privilege to go on the delegation to Bosnia will all agree that it was totally life-changing. It definitely was for me.

White armband day, which will be commemorated on Saturday 31 May, provides an opportunity to recognise and honour the victims of the atrocities in Prijedor and the surrounding areas. It represents the enforcement of a decree that was issued on the local radio that compelled non-Serb citizens to wear a white armband, segregating them simply for who they were.

At the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, witnesses from Prijedor shared that

“life was very hard. Our movements were restricted. If you went to buy anything in a shop, you had to wear white armbands. On the windows of our houses and apartments, we had to hang out white flags.”

That slow process of dehumanisation singled out many non-Serb citizens and set in motion heinous campaigns of brutality, violence and ethnic cleansing. Violence in the region continued to escalate, including through concentration camps in the north-west, which were discovered and shared to a shocked world by journalists Ed Vulliamy and Penny Marshall in the early 1990s. In 1997, Ed Vulliamy described a camp in Omarska as a

“dark inferno of mutilation, starvation, torture and murder.”

Prijedor is the site of one of the largest mass graves in Bosnia, where the bones of several hundreds of people were unearthed. Thirty years later, across Bosnia, many mothers and wives have still not been reunited with the remains of their loved ones.

In March, I had the privilege of joining a delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina with the charity Beyond Srebrenica. The delegation underlined the importance of standing up to hatred, of understanding and challenging the impact that prejudice can have, and of building a cohesive and resilient society. I travelled to Srebrenica and visited the cemetery in Potocari, which is the site of the graves of more than 8,000 men and boys.

There, we heard from survivors Nedžad Avdic and Almasa Salihovic, who shared the terror, destruction and violence that they had endured. As they told their experiences, it was like watching them relive every moment of terror that they had endured. It was a truly humbling experience. Despite the sheer inhumanity that they described, they and many others show remarkable resilience and commitment by returning to Srebrenica to preserve those memories and to challenge and confront those who deny them.

In the memorial centre, we saw hard-hitting real-life footage of young men—some of whom I would call boys, as they were the age of my son—who had been brutally beaten and were being carted on a truck like animals, before being lined up and shot. That is the footage that Michelle Thomson referred to as being used in the court case and that Paul O’Kane mentioned in his speech, too.

We saw shoes and other belongings that were left behind as people desperately attempted to flee to Tuzla, which was a journey that later became known as the death march.

Although the war is over, many of its scars remain. In 1984, Sarajevo hosted the winter Olympic games and, as part of the delegation’s guided tour, we visited the site of the old bobsleigh track that was used during the games. On our descent down to Sarajevo city, we saw built-up areas in which we were told snipers had been positioned. Although that was 30 years ago, the evidence of the war is still engrained in Sarajevo’s everyday life. All around Sarajevo, the streets are damaged by historical artillery and bullet marks, which are painted red in remembrance of those who lost their lives.

We heard reflections from ordinary people on the extraordinary methods that they use to protect themselves and their families, even to this day, 30 years later.

Although some wounds deepen with time, there are also remarkable illustrations of strength, resilience and hope. We were fortunate to be led by our guides Suvad and Sabina, who shared their raw personal experiences of the historical events with bravery and grace.

On our delegation, we visited many organisations. We had the honour of meeting the tour de force that is Bakhira Hasecic, who established the Association of Women Victims of War, which is a charity that brings together victims of sexual assault and holds perpetrators to account. We met representatives of Žene za Žene, or Women for Women, which was founded in Bosnia to help women who have been displaced by war. We met representatives of the International Commission on Missing Persons, which conducts DNA identifications and challenges denial as it continues, 30 years later, to find the remains of the 8,000 boys and men so that they can be buried by their families.

There was also a profound visit to the War Childhood Museum, which archives artefacts belonging to young children, encouraging us to confront truths from the past while instilling a sense of hope for a peaceful future.

We are indebted to Beyond Srebrenica for the power of work that it does across Scotland to educate about and commemorate the genocide. The delegation was an incredibly profound, moving and confronting experience that challenged us all to bring home what we had seen and experienced.

We must lead by example and remain ever vigilant. Days such as white armband day are crucial to ensuring that the grave consequences of the past are never forgotten and never repeated.

We are committed to combating all forms of hatred and prejudice, including through the delivery of our ambitious hate crime strategy. Preventative work that builds strong, respectful and cohesive communities can prevent the narratives that foster prejudice from taking hold. The First Minister’s gathering on strengthening and protecting democracy brought key members of our society together to agree a common approach to asserting the values of our country and to creating a society in which everyone can flourish.

Let us challenge anyone who would deny our values, and let us work co-operatively to stand against division. The Scottish Government will continue to do so.

Good morning. I am grateful to the committee for inviting me to contribute to your considerations on civil legal aid.

I recently took the opportunity to meet staff from grant-funded projects, and I heard at first hand about their excellent work and the services that they deliver to people across Scotland. I note that many of the issues that have been raised with the committee are similar to the discussions that I have had about the need for change.

The Government recognises that reform of the current system is needed and that there are challenges in certain areas with certain types of legal aid work. The recently published discussion paper on legal aid reform sets out a programme of work for the rest of 2025-26. Our first priority is to engage with stakeholders on draft regulations and associated impact assessments. Those changes will make it easier both for solicitors to work with legal aid funding and for those who need legal assistance to access it.

We will re-initiate fee review planning and collaborate with stakeholders on the reform of legal fees in 2025. We will take the same collaborative approach to developing detailed proposals for future primary legislation, working with SLAB and with private sector and third sector stakeholders to explore areas of diversifying funding methods and embedding users’ voices—something for which those who have responded to the committee’s inquiry have called.

The report of the independent strategic review of legal aid that was carried out, which is entitled “Rethinking Legal Aid—An Independent Strategic Review”, noted:

“Scotland is one of the leading jurisdictions in Europe in the provision of legal aid judged by scope, eligibility and expenditure per capita.”

It went on to say that “in almost all” solemn criminal cases

“the accused will get legal aid”,

and that in civil cases,

“the scope of legal aid in Scotland is broader than very many jurisdictions, with comparatively little excluded”.

However, legal aid does not sit in isolation, and it is an essential component of access to justice. We recognise that legal aid plays a crucial role in upholding the principle of equality before the law by ensuring that those who cannot afford legal representation are not disadvantaged in the justice system. Legal aid funding allows solicitors to deliver their services to people remotely as well as in person, supporting many people with civil problems.

We have maintained the scope and resourcing of legal aid, and the demand-led budget means that all eligible costs are met. That means that legal aid expenditure is likely to reach £174 million in 2025-26, which is an increase of £5 million on last year’s expenditure budget. That will be the highest-ever level, which highlights a trend of increasing levels of expenditure every year. We must ensure that delivering legal aid is fair to those who deliver the services, and it must also be effective and efficient and deliver value to the public purse. We have maintained funding for the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s civil legal advice grant-funded projects, with up to £2.3 million this year.

I am aware of the significant input that the committee has received in aid of the inquiry. It is clear from all the submissions that have been received, and the evidence from the witness sessions, that there is a strong feeling that civil legal aid in Scotland needs reform, and I, and the Scottish Government, share that belief. I am happy to take any questions.

Yes, absolutely. I think that we all recognise that reform is needed across the board to legal aid, both civil and criminal. The need for the approach to be more trauma informed is an important issue, and I am more than willing to work with SLAB and any third sector organisations to ensure that that happens in any legal aid reform as we move forward.

The issue of recruitment and retention has been raised with me since I came into my role. I am sure that the committee will know about the future of the legal profession working group, which is looking at the short, medium and long term. The traineeship fund that was announced for 40 traineeships was welcomed by everybody. We are going through the evaluation of the scheme, which we received just recently from the Law Society of Scotland, and we will look at how it can be rolled out. I am keen to progress that.

I do not know whether any of my officials have a timescale for that.

It is important to recognise that there are different standards for criminal and civil legal aid under the European convention on human rights. Article 6(3)(c) of the ECHR provides for the right to a fair trial, and where a person has insufficient means to pay for legal assistance in a criminal trial, it is to be given free of charge when justice requires it. There is no equivalent mechanism or right for civil legal aid.

The convener highlighted regulation 15. The SLAB has been engaging directly on that with the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland since earlier this year and has provided an initial briefing on its approach. Its intention is to use engagement to establish evidence of the position from their respective perspectives in order to better understand the potential problem. That work is on-going with the aim of delivering advice to the Scottish Government on recommended options. We will address that when we get the advice.

That is part of the recommendations that we will consider in the wider reform.