Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect statistics on the number of people who register as foster carers. This information is held by individual local authorities or independent or voluntary fostering service providers.

The Scottish Government does not collect statistics on the number of foster carers who re-register as supported carers under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. This information is held by individual local authorities or independent or voluntary service providers.

The management of prosecutions, including rape, is a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service whilst the management of court business is a matter for the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service.

Within COPFS, all sexual offence cases are dealt with by specialist prosecutors. The way in which this work is undertaken has been reorganised, with a view to speeding up case preparation; and to reducing the time which it takes to bring cases to trial.

In November 2017, the Inspectorate of Prosecutions made twelve recommendations for further improving the way in which COPFS handles sexual offences; the Lord Advocate accepted all of those recommendations; a number of which have been implemented already and work is in hand towards implementation of the others.

Victims of traumatic crimes deserve to know that they will receive appropriate support and assistance through the criminal justice process, whilst also ensuring fair trials for those accused of serious crimes. The Scottish Government is committed to working with a number of partners including Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid to identify ways to reduce the trauma and improve the experience of victims within the criminal justice system.

Our British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan sets out our long-term goal that families with a Deaf child will be offered the information and support they need at the right time, including access to BSL.

We want to ensure that parents, grandparents and carers are able to learn BSL, so that they can communicate effectively with their D/deaf or Deafblind child in the crucial early years, and we are working with partners to explore how this can be provided on a consistent and sustainable basis across the country.

We are also supporting the National Deaf Children’s Society which delivers free events and courses including Family Sign Language, and we are working with the British Deaf Association to test out a new approach to supporting older D/deaf and Deafblind children and young people, and their families to learn BSL.

The Scottish Government does not collect statistics on the number of foster carer registrations. Local authorities and independent or voluntary service providers hold information on the number of foster carers they have registered with them.

The Care Inspectorate have been collecting some information on foster carer registrations since 2015 and according to their Fostering and Adoption Statistical Bulletin 2016-17, there were 430 new foster carer households approved in the year up to 31 December 2016 (down 7% from 464 households in 2015). The Care Inspectorate do not hold information on foster carer registrations prior to this.

http://www.careinspectorate.com/images/documents/4140/Fostering%20and%20adoption%202016-17%20statistical%20bulletin.pdf .

The management of prosecutions, including rape, is a matter for Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) while the management of court business is a matter for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.

Serious sexual offences, principally rape, now account for around 75% of all High Court trials. In recent years there has been a significant and sustained increase in the number of sexual crimes reported to COPFS, with an unprecedented increase of 42% in the number of cases in which criminal proceedings were commenced in the last year alone.

Against that background, COPFS has reorganised the way its specialist prosecutors work in order to speed up case preparation and reduce the time which it takes to bring cases to trial. Particular efforts have been made to address the pre-petition workload which contributes to the journey time from report to trial, as a result of which COPFS has reduced the number of such cases from 700 in 2016 to approximately 200 today.

The Scottish Government is committed to finding ways to improve the criminal justice system as it affects all victims, and especially victims of sexual crime. Delays in the court process can contribute to stress, anxiety and reluctance on the part of witnesses. In this regard the Lord Advocate has accepted all of the recommendations made by the Inspector of Prosecutions in her recent report, and the Law Officers and COPFS are working hard with colleagues across the system to improve the efficient administration of justice in this important area.

Local authorities operate independently of central government and are accountable to their electorates for the services they provide. Local authorities have broad powers under section 69 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and section 20 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 to make reasonable charges for services provided. Decisions on how much to charge for local services are for local authorities, not for the Scottish Government, to take.

Ministers and Scottish Government Officials regularly meet with companies across the financial services sector including some of those listed. All ministerial engagements are published proactively at https://beta.gov.scot/search/?q=ministerial+engagements .

These discussions cover a range of issues relating to the sector and its workforce. For example, in a recent conversation with Aberdeen Standard Investments I discussed gender inequality in the sector and measures they were taking to address this. The First Minister will take part in their annual Gender Summit in July.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) regarding the use of pre-recorded evidence in general and in particular have been engaging with them and other criminal justice stakeholders on the development of primary legislation mentioned in S5W-16360 on 16 May 2018. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

In addition, Scottish Government has had discussions with COPFS (and also with Police Scotland and Rape Crisis Scotland) to explore a pilot for recording a complainer's initial statement to the police.

Prosecution policy is a matter for the Lord Advocate.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with key justice partners, including Crown Office, Police Scotland and the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service, and with third sector organisations such as Rape Crisis Scotland to deliver its key commitments within the Equally Safe Delivery Plan. This includes developing a victim-centred approach to the justice system and encouraging the increased use of pre-recorded evidence to minimise the requirement to give evidence in court.