I welcome the debate and the strong contributions from all sides. I also warmly welcome the Government’s motion. Like others, I suspect, I have not had the chance to read in detail all the documents that were published today, but I welcome the direction of travel that is outlined in the new vision for justice. It shows how far we have come that there is a consensus that services should be person centred and trauma informed, with a focus on prevention, early intervention and making communities safer.

However, it is important to debate the gap between the policy and aspirations set out by the Government and the reality on the ground, which a number of members referred to. It would be interesting to hear from the Government why it has not always been possible to deliver the types of changes that were outlined in previous policy documents, what the pressures are and what resistance to change there is. That is helpful for the Parliament in ensuring the delivery of what we discuss in the chamber.

It is clearly a matter of consensus not only that the pandemic has exacerbated long-standing problems but that the justice system needs significant reform. Some of the practices that have been developed during the pandemic, such as the use of virtual courts, might help to bring about some of the changes that are needed. No doubt we will debate that in great detail over the coming months.

Many of the challenges in the legal system are clearly a result of underfunding, but they are also a result of changes in society, an increase in the reporting of certain crimes—such as sexual offences, which include large numbers of historical cases—and, sometimes, a failure to deliver on Government policy.

Currently, 27 per cent of the prison population in Scotland is on remand. That is one of the highest figures in Europe. Scotland’s use of remand is historically high and compares unfavourably with other countries. For example, in England, it is 15 per cent; in Spain, it is 16 per cent; and in Germany, it is 20 per cent.

Liam McArthur spoke in some detail about the high level of prison use overall in Scotland. That is a significant challenge and a cultural issue that we need to address. We need to consider why we have so many people in jail in Scotland who, in other countries, would be dealt with in another way. It is difficult to justify such large numbers of people being in custody for offences of which they have not been convicted and might never be convicted. In many cases, they will either be acquitted or get a non-custodial sentence at the end of their period on remand.

Those are long-term challenges. We have a crisis in the number of people who are on remand, but we must understand that judges feel that they have little option but to use remand in certain situations, given the pressures on them and the fear that the accused will not attend court. However, the fact that remand is used to such an extent is causing massive problems for an ageing, overcrowded and ill-equipped prison service.

The huge number of people in prison in Scotland need to be addressed. It is not a simple issue and I do not suggest that it is an easy challenge to tackle, but the Scottish Government and all of us need to grapple with it. There are situations in which prison is the only option but, as the cabinet secretary said, community-based disposals are often highly effective—more effective than prison sentences—and better at preventing reoffending.

Another significant concern is the number of women who are in prison in Scotland. That number has also risen in recent decades, again despite a political consensus that prison is often the wrong disposal for women offenders.

Scotland has one of the largest female prison populations in northern Europe, with usually about 400 women in prison—about 315 are sentenced prisoners and 85 are on remand. It is estimated that about 65 per cent of those women are mothers.

New community justice legislation was enacted in 2016. I was not an MSP at that time, so I was not involved in the debates about that legislation, which is one of the actions that the Parliament has taken to shift sentences from prison to community service and other community-based disposals. However, the proportion who received a community sentence fell from 59 per cent in 2016-17 to 55 per cent in 2018-19, before rising back to the original 59 per cent in 2019-20. It would be interesting to look at previous initiatives that the Government has taken to deal with the challenges that we face from the large prison population and at why those initiatives have not been as effective as the Parliament would have hoped.

The debate raises serious challenges for all of us. I look forward to hearing the Government’s response to members. Labour will support the Government motion and the Liberal Democrat amendment at decision time.

Will the member take an intervention?

I am pleased that the First Minister seems to have ruled out privatisation. Will she commit to publishing the report once she has it? Will she rule out any part of the current CalMac contract being awarded as a private contract as well as the full privatisation of CalMac? Does she accept that the current ferries crisis is the result of a failure to invest in new fleet since 2007? Over the past five years, more than 1,000 ferry sailings have been delayed due to mechanical issues. Will she commit to a long-term ferry plan for investing in new fleet, as part of an industrial strategy to build in Scotland?

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will give a commitment to keep ferry services in public ownership. (S6F-00752)

To ask the Scottish Government how its policies across Government will support people living in the West Scotland region to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. (S6O-00692)

As the cabinet secretary knows, the west of Scotland has some of the worst poverty and deprivation in Scotland and the United Kingdom. The pandemic has taken away hope and opportunities, particularly for young people. What can the Scottish Government do to bring high-quality apprenticeships, particularly to those in some of the most-deprived areas?

The British Medical Association and the health unions are calling for the use of the better FFP3 masks, which the BMA has described as

“a matter of life and death”.

In a recent BMA Scotland survey, only 15 per cent of clinicians who responded said that they were regularly provided with FFP3 masks or respirators when working in clinical areas with Covid patients. Can the First Minister take action to ensure that sufficient supplies are obtained of FFP3 masks for all NHS staff who need them?

I, too, agree with the convener’s proposal to keep the petition open.

I am new to this petition; as I was elected last May, I was not on any of the justice committees in previous parliamentary sessions. However, I am aware of the matter from previous work. If there were a proposal to do something different, I would feel that I would need to know more, and it would therefore be useful if there were a way of getting more information at a future stage. I should say that I have not been lobbied on the issue—the only lobbying has been the letter that the campaign group sent in yesterday.

Given that I have not been involved in the previous discussions, I am at this stage very comfortable with what has been proposed. However, if it were suggested that we do something different, it would be useful to consider what information we would need to make such a decision.

I very much welcome the opportunity to discuss the significant problem of domestic abuse in Scotland and how the legal system deals with such situations. First, though, I want to record my thanks to members who have signed the motion in order to enable the debate to take place. I should also say that I want to focus on the issues involved in domestic violence charges rather than on rape and sexual offence cases, which I have spoken about previously and which the Government is, of course, considering in relation to the recommendations in Lady Dorrian’s report on rape and sexual offence cases.

In 2020 to 2021, more than 33,000 charges with a domestic abuse identifier were reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, which is a 9 per cent increase on the previous year. About one in four of those cases was classed as common assault.

Of course, many women and girls do not go to the police. The fact is that violence against women and girls is endemic in our society. That relates to wider issues and the power relationship between men and women, but the justice system has a track record of failing to deal with in an acceptable way many of the domestic abuse cases that are taken to the authorities. Many women and girls who have suffered domestic abuse have described their experiences of the justice system as retraumatising, and it is clear that improving their experiences will require significant changes to the system.

Since the Scottish Parliament’s creation, MSPs of all political parties have attempted to highlight the issue of domestic violence and to make legislative changes to improve handling of cases. Things have changed. For example, some parts of the country now have separate facilities for domestic abuse cases so that the complainer does not have to go through the unpleasant experience of attending court. Moreover, in some cases, evidence is sometimes taken by commission, which ensures that the victim does not have to go to court. That is particularly important for young children who have to give evidence.

My motion calls on the Scottish Government to analyse and evaluate the outcomes of specialist domestic abuse courts that have been operating in some parts of the country, particularly Glasgow and Edinburgh, and to lay out a strategy for rolling out specialist abuse courts across the country. Such courts potentially offer an opportunity to massively change the way in which domestic abuse charges are dealt with, through use of trauma-informed approaches, use of specialist premises, a focus on consistent sentencing and use of specialist prosecutors to deal with cases.

When the Parliament debated a Government motion on gender-based violence on 30 November 2021, Scottish Labour lodged an amendment that called on the Scottish Government to evaluate specialist domestic abuse courts with a view to rolling them out across the country. On that occasion, the Scottish National Party voted against that amendment, but I very much hope that the Scottish Government is willing to look again at the proposal. After all, that particular vote rested on a technicality, and I hope that the Government accepts that it has the power to introduce those courts throughout the country.

Last May, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service set up a pilot project for virtual summary criminal trials in Aberdeen and Inverness sheriff courts. After an interim report, a virtual trials national project board was established on which all interested groups were represented. In Aberdeen, the pilot was continued for only domestic abuse cases, with a remote facility being used for witnesses under the supervision of Victim Support Scotland.

Last week, the project board reported to the Lord Justice General and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans, recommending that every sheriffdom has a dedicated specialist online court for domestic abuse cases. The report said that a virtual dedicated specialist summary court would offer advantages by increasing protection and reducing trauma for complainers; making it easier for witnesses to give evidence; offering some efficiencies through reducing the amount of travel; maintaining efficiency and consistency; and by introducing trauma-informed practices. It also said that virtual courts had an impact in mitigating delays caused by the pandemic, given that about a quarter of all outstanding summary court cases are domestic abuse cases.

Victims groups, which have been campaigning for such courts, have been positive about the pilot, and I would also point out that, in its conclusions, the report said that representation had been received from defence agents that the accused had received a fair trial. That is, of course, one of the concerns that have been expressed about virtual courts.

It is clear that the ways in which the police, courts and wider legal system have operated in the past have not delivered justice to women, and I hope that the Scottish Government will be willing to act to introduce specialist domestic violence courts. There is a debate to be had on the extent to which those courts should be virtual, and I have no doubt that the Criminal Justice Committee will be looking at that aspect over the coming weeks as it considers the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill.

Violence—and the fear of violence—touches all women’s lives. I look forward to hearing members’ contributions, and I hope that we will get action from the Government on this issue.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with the United Kingdom Government regarding people in Afghanistan seeking resettlement in the UK who could be relocated in Scotland if they already have existing family connections, including in relation to correspondence from MSPs on this matter. (S6O-00644)