Chamber and committees

The Scottish Law Commission does the important job of consulting on, and making recommendations to simplify and improve, our law. I am committed to introducing bills to implement its proposals, and the Judicial Factors (Scotland) Bill, which we are debating today, is one of the SLC’s bills. It is the third SLC bill to be introduced by the Government this session, and members will know that the recent programme for government included a commitment to bring forward a fourth SLC bill, on the termination of commercial leases.

A judicial factor

“is a person appointed by the court to gather, hold, safeguard and administer property which is not being properly managed.”

Examples of the use of judicial factors include where there has been a breach of the Law Society of Scotland’s accounting rules by a solicitor firm that is, or appears likely to be, insolvent, and when there is no executor who is willing to carry out the administration of a deceased person’s estate. If passed, the bill will put in place an updated and comprehensive framework that will bring clarity, accessibility and efficiency to this vital area of law.

A judicial factor is generally an appointment of last resort that is made when all other avenues have failed. Currently, there are around 50 judicial factors who have been appointed to manage someone else’s property. There are, on average, fewer than 10 court applications a year for such appointments.

The bill proposes to make important and practical changes for all those who are involved with judicial factors in one way or another. The appointment of judicial factors to manage the property of missing persons is an area that came in for close scrutiny by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, for which I am grateful. Such appointments have been made in the past, although rarely, yet in Scotland 15 people each year are declared to be long-term missing, and the current total is just over 700 people.

There will be a number of reasons, individual to each of those cases, why an application for the appointment of a judicial factor is not made. One of those reasons might be the difficulty in doing so that is caused by an outdated and complex law. The bill aims to bring the relevant law together in one place to make it easier for users of the legislation.

When I gave evidence to the committee earlier this year, I made a commitment to work with the charity Missing People to help to produce guidance. That will help the families of those who have gone missing to know how to deal with their estate, which might include things such as paying the mortgage, managing joint bank accounts or looking after dependants. I reiterate that commitment today.

In its report, the committee suggested a number of points that should be covered in guidance, and I will make sure that those are included.

An important issue that came out in evidence, and on which the committee commented, was ensuring that

“it is competent to appoint a judicial factor to the estate of a missing person.”

Section 3 of the bill is deliberately widely drafted and already allows a judicial factor to be appointed to the estate of a missing person. Appointments of a judicial factor to the estate of a missing person are rare but they have been made in the past; the bill will not change the legal position. However, I have listened to the views that were expressed, and alongside the guidance that we will prepare, we will expand on the detail in the explanatory notes to make clear that a judicial factor can be appointed to manage the estate of a missing person.

I will have to look into that. I will give the member further information, but I have been told that reports have been submitted to the procurator fiscal as a result of the pilot.

To go back to the pilot, Police Scotland, together with partners and information technology providers, have helped to develop a platform allowing staff in stores to send details of crime directly to Police Scotland, so that offences can be investigated. That happens in other parts of the United Kingdom and it is also happening in New Zealand. There has been engagement with businesses across the local authority area encouraging participation in the pilot.

Following a soft launch earlier this year, the go live in September 2024 saw more retailers join the platform, which has already resulted in the positive identification of offenders and a number of reports submitted to the procurator fiscal. The ability for stores to compile their own crime reports and submit those directly to the police not only empowers businesses to take action against criminals but frees up police time to investigate incidents. Lead officers hope to see further arrests being made as part of the pilot, and I would join them in encouraging as many retailers as possible in Fife to get involved. I really hope that the scheme will be rolled out throughout Scotland.

The debate has raised an important point about the use of criminal law in attacks against retail workers. Retail workers are already protected by a wide range of criminal laws, including the protection of workers legislation, which came into force in August 2021 and which was based on a member’s bill by Daniel Johnson. Today’s motion rightly highlights the impact that legislation has had on improving visibility and legal protection for retail workers. Although it is always shocking to hear that retail workers are being threatened and abused, they should feel confident in reporting such offences, as they are being taken seriously by the police.

I am very conscious of time, but one issue that I want to raise is bus passes. [Interruption.] I am sorry, but I am not going to take any more interventions, as we are running too short of time.

Work is on-going with stakeholders, including the bus industry, to develop specific actions to tackle antisocial behaviour on the bus network. Work to develop a process for temporary suspension or withdrawal of concessionary travel entitlement through the national concessionary travel scheme is being progressed for consideration in the medium term, including an assessment of the most appropriate route to enable that within the statutory scheme. Work is on-going on that.

I welcome the opportunity to have this debate about these important issues and I again thank Sharon Dowey for lodging the motion.

I thank Sharon Dowey for raising this important issue. I am aware that, earlier this week, the cross-party group on independent convenience stores met to discuss many of these issues, too.

As the member notes, shoplifting and violence and abuse towards retail workers are part of a worrying trend across the UK—it is not unique to Scotland—that is, rightly, causing concern among our retailers. The latest police recorded crime statistics, for the year ending this June, suggest that shoplifting is up by more than a third on the previous year. That is not acceptable, and neither is the violence and threatening behaviour that often accompanies such incidents. I thank all members for their contributions to the debate. I know that the issue is very emotive, and I think that all of us in the chamber, regardless of our political colour, want to tackle it.

We share the member’s concerns and those of the public regarding the antisocial behaviour that can be associated with those vehicles, which might be used illegally and are a safety risk not just to the public and other motorists but to the riders, as well as to the police.

As Sue Webber is no doubt aware, the legislation that governs the registration of off-road vehicles is reserved to the United Kingdom Government. We fully support Police Scotland and its partners in dealing with illegal and irresponsible use.

Local policing teams are best placed to use intelligence and engage with communities to identify where misuse of such vehicles is causing concern, and that ensures that those hotspot areas can be prioritised to prevent future instances and deal with those who are engaged in the misuse of vehicles.

I know that Pam Gosal is passionate about the subject. Violence against women is a fundamental violation of human rights, and the Scottish Government recognises that.

The Scottish Government is aware that the Scottish Conservatives’ paper “United Against Violence: An all-Scotland approach to tackling domestic abuse” includes the member’s proposal for a domestic abuse prevention bill. I met the member prior to the consultation on the proposal going out. We await more operational detail and are not able to commit to something without seeing the full details, which I am sure Pam Gosal will appreciate. However, as I said in my first answer, we are happy to consider any proposals that make the lives of the victims of domestic abuse easier.

Front-line services on violence against women are crucial to ensuring the safety of, and support to, survivors. We are investing record levels of funding to support people through a range of front-line specialist services.

Our equally safe strategy is aimed at preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls and is focused on early intervention, prevention and support. It is backed by £19 million of annual funding from our delivering equally safe fund, which has supported 121 projects from 112 organisations since October 2021.

We support Police Scotland and local authorities to continue to invest in prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities to reduce antisocial behaviour. A wide range of powers are available to Police Scotland, and it is best placed to lead on addressing those issues locally, ensuring that there is an appropriate response to the issues and circumstances in which the behaviour is taking place.

I recognise that antisocial behaviour can be complex. An independent working group on antisocial behaviour is examining our strategic approach to it. The group is undertaking widespread engagement to deliver its report later this year. We have committed in the programme for government to act on the group’s recommendations.

First of all, such behaviour is absolutely unacceptable. Everyone has a right to feel safe in their communities. I completely condemn all such behaviour and urge anyone with information of such incidents that have taken place recently in Lothian to contact the police.

I am aware that East Lothian currently has two multi-agency groups that are focused on tackling antisocial behaviour, which are the antisocial behaviour overview group and the weekly tasking and co-ordinating group. I am also aware of a collaborative approach with Police Scotland and local authorities. I have visited one of those groups in East Lothian to see the work that those individuals do to tackle antisocial behaviour. A lot of work is currently happening in that area.

We recognise that there is no quick fix to tackle and prevent antisocial behaviour. That is why, having seen the projects that I just mentioned to Sarah Boyack, I am strongly supportive of partnership working and delivering positive outcomes. I have also asked for the Scottish Community Safety Network to look at promoting best practice in partnership, working for the benefits of all local authorities. Police Scotland is also involved in all those groups to tackle antisocial behaviour.

The Scottish Government’s budget for 2024-25 includes record police total funding of £1.55 billion, which is an increase of £92.7 million on the previous year. That funding will allow the chief constable to develop her plans to deliver on her commitment to strengthen the force through the revised model of policing, including enabling the service to restart recruitment and increase office numbers.

Police Scotland has welcomed more than 690 new officers since March this year, and more than 1,280 new recruits since the beginning of 2023. Further intakes are planned throughout this year.

It is important to reiterate that deployment of those resources is an operational matter for Police Scotland. However, I remind the chamber that it is presently illegal to use an e-scooter on public roads, footpaths or cycle lanes in Scotland.