Chamber and committees

We are in the fortunate position of being able to fund all the organisations that applied for the first round of the fund. Details of those organisations can be found in the initial report, and they include Victim Support Scotland, which offers support nationally. Individuals and families that access support from the fund through those organisations came from a range of localities across Scotland. We do not break down that data by constituency.

Victim support organisations throughout Scotland are welcome to apply to the second round of funding.

I am happy to take that up with the Lord Advocate, and with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, given that telehealth is the subject of the discussion. An important point, which the member has previously acknowledged, is that there have been substantial improvements in relation to adults’ services, but there is a continuing need to work on making sure that we have the same level of service for children. I am more than happy to take up the issues with the Lord Advocate and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, as the member has outlined.

The Scottish Government published a report in March 2021 highlighting the key achievements in justice since the publication of “Justice in Scotland: vision and priorities”. The report summarised the progress that has been made and highlighted the key achievements under the seven justice priorities since 2017. The report also describes the impact of Covid-19 on policy development and on the justice system. The justice vision and priorities ran from 2017 to 2020 and it is due to be refreshed. Our new vision for justice will be published in the new year and will seek to build on the lessons that we have learnt so far.

I am sure that the member will be aware of some of the efforts made by the Scottish Government as it continued to support justice agencies to take action to address the backlog caused by the Covid pandemic and to minimise the impact on all court users. As part of the recent budget announcement, and in the continued absence of any apparent Covid funding from the United Kingdom Government, we announced significant funding increases for the justice portfolio—funding that is required to deal with the backlog and to support community justice services in recovering from the pandemic.

We have established a justice recovery fund for the next financial year of £53.2 million to be allocated to recovery, renewal and transformation activity across the justice system, including the ability to maintain enhanced court capacity and remote jury centres. That builds on the additional £50 million allocated in this financial year, which, by way of a tangible example, helped to deliver the setting up of 16 additional solemn and summary courts from September.

As the member will be aware, delivery of the police 101 service is a matter for Police Scotland. Police Scotland has played, and continues to play, a crucial role in protecting our communities through the pandemic, and it has, alongside all sectors, been impacted by its own Covid-related absences.

I meet regularly with the chief constable, who updates me on the contingency plan to ensure that calls to 999 continue to be answered in less than 10 seconds, and that resilience plans are in place to meet the peak in calls to the 101 line at this extremely busy time.

The victim surcharge fund reopened for applications on 7 December 2021, with a closing date of 14 January 2022. Allocations will be announced in February 2022. At least £165,000 is available in this round.

Five organisations shared £157,000 earlier this year. That money has been used to provide direct practical help to victims from the fund.

The victim surcharge fund initial report for 2019 to 2021 was published on 1 October 2021, and a copy is available in the Scottish Parliament information centre. It provides information on payments made into and out of the fund. Information on the collection of the victim surcharge is published in the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service’s quarterly fines reports.

Child-centred and trauma-informed healthcare is at the centre of the current paediatric services that are provided to children and young people in Scotland who experience child sexual abuse. The national pathway for clinicians supporting children who have experienced child sexual abuse was published in November 2020 and makes it clear that the wellbeing of the child is paramount through each step of the process.

The provisions in sections 5 to 7 of part 1 of the 2019 act relate to making electronic monitoring a condition of licence. Electronic monitoring is already a feature of post-release sentence management as a condition of licence for uses such as home detention curfew. The Parole Board for Scotland currently has an ability to recommend licence conditions, which can include an element of electronic monitoring. A number of provisions of the 2019 act have already been commenced and the next set of commencement regulations planned for the act is now likely to come into force in early 2022.

There are two ways in which the suggestion made by the member can be taken forward. We can look at it in relation to victims, but we must also look at the practical impacts of electronic monitoring, especially where that requires GPS. Further work on the latter point is currently being undertaken with justice partners, and I will ensure that the member’s former point is covered in the victims review, which I mentioned earlier.

I engage with Police Scotland—I spoke to the chief constable about the issue as recently as last week. The deployment of resources in the police service is, of course, a matter for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority, and they are doing exactly what Murdo Fraser suggested in allocating more resource.

The member is right to raise his concerns, and I know that he has engaged directly with the police on the issue. However, I point to the more recent figures, for October this year, which show that there has been a substantial improvement.

It is worth bearing in mind that the function of Police Scotland’s 101 service is often to pick up calls that would normally go to other agencies—in many cases, local authorities or care services. Police Scotland has to cope with that additional burden at the same time as the Covid-related absences that I mentioned. Nevertheless, I will continue to discuss the matter with Police Scotland, and I am sure that it will have heard Murdo Fraser’s suggestion today.