Chamber and committees

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime which causes devastating effects on victims and their families. The Scottish Government recognises that ensuring that women are able to access appropriate and timely legal advice to safeguard their interests and apply for protection of the civil law where necessary is vital. That is why we continue to invest in the Scottish Women’s Right Centre, which included £215,000 for the funding period 1 March 2015 – 30 September 2016, to ensure that women in Scotland affected by gender based violence have timely access to legal advice and representation in ways best suited to their circumstances.

Following the judgement in WF v Scottish Ministers [2016] CSOH 27, the Scottish Government has made a determination so that non-means tested legal aid is available to any person, including complainers in domestic abuse cases, whose sensitive records are potentially going to be disclosed in a criminal case. This is to ensure access to justice as the court considers whether disclosure is necessary.

It is the case that the introduction of non-means tested legal support has been considered previously by Parliament. This was in the context of consideration of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill in 2011. This Member’s Bill included at introduction provision for non-means tested legal aid for people seeking a civil protection order to protect against domestic abuse. Parliament took the view that such an approach did not represent the best use of scarce public resources. In particular, it was noted that such an approach would give rise to an inequality of arms argument which meant that non-means tested legal aid would likely also have to be granted to those defending an action. There was also questions raised about the domestic abuse cases being treated differently from other cases within the legal aid system and about how the proposal would work when a court action covers a domestic abuse civil protection order and other matters such as divorce, or contact and residence orders. In light of these concerns, Parliament decided to remove the relevant provisions at Stage two of the Bill process.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the experience of children and young people who come into contact with Scotland’s justice system.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service’s Evidence and Procedure Review made a compelling case for reform, particularly in relation to how child and vulnerable witnesses give evidence in criminal cases. As noted in our Programme for Government, the Scottish Government is working with key stakeholders across the justice system to examine and progress the necessary steps to enable the greater use of pre-recorded evidence, which has the potential to help children and other vulnerable witnesses to avoid the stress and anxiety of appearing in court.

Sheriffs Principal are responsible for court programmes (which include Domestic Abuse Courts) and under their legislative duty, they are tasked to ensuring the efficient disposal of business in their Sheriffdom. Scottish Ministers have no locus of control over decisions relating to court programmes.

More generally, we recognise that domestic abuse courts can play a valuable role as part of an overall effective court programming approach to dealing with domestic abuse cases. Specialist domestic abuse courts, clustering or fast tracking of these types of cases is happening at courts around the country.

The Scottish Government has provided an additional overall £2.4 million per year (2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18) to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. This additional funding is being used to ensure court waiting times for domestic abuse cases are reducing to eight to ten weeks during 2016-17 and onwards. We continue to engage with justice partners and the Sheriff Principal to assist in efforts to explore whether a new pilot domestic abuse court would be appropriate in Grampians and Highlands.

The Scottish Government will bring forward a Bill in year one of this Parliamentary session which will include a new domestic abuse offence. In discussion and engagement with relevant Scottish stakeholders, a number of views have been offered including on whether the new offence should only be focused on psychological abuse and coercive control (as the offence in the Serious Crime Act 2015 is), or whether the new offence should be wider, encompassing the whole range of abusive behaviour which can occur in a relationship. We will carefully consider these views before introducing the legislation as we are determined to develop that offence in line with the expectations and views of stakeholders.

The justice system has an important role in the enforcement of the law and prevention of violence against women and girls. This includes the provision of appropriate perpetrator programmes for domestic abuse offenders where this is deemed a suitable alternative to custody.

The Caledonian System is available in 13 local authorities across Scotland. It is funded by the Scottish Government in the amount of £2.3 million per year. The Caledonian System runs an integrated service (with parallel men’s, women’s and children’s services) aimed at addressing domestic abuse perpetrated by adult male offenders and improving the lives of women and children. An evaluation of the Programme is expected to be published before the end of 2016. The Scottish Government will consider carefully the recommendations of the Evaluation report within the wider context of work on going to prevent and eradicate violence against women.

The Scottish Government also funds the Respekt Project which is a part of Safer Families Edinburgh, based within the Children and Families Department of City of Edinburgh Council. It is an intervention for Polish families consisting of a behaviour change programme for perpetrators and a support, advocacy and safety planning service for their partners.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS) to discuss a range of matters. The SCTS is also represented on the Equally Safe Justice Expert Group and the Violence Against Women and Girls Joint Strategic Board which oversee and drive forward progress with Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. Minutes of these meetings are not published.

Glasgow and Edinburgh Sheriff Courts currently operate specialist domestic abuse courts. Elsewhere across Scotland, a range of cluster courts to deal with domestic abuse cases are held, including at Falkirk, Dunfermline, Livingston and Ayr. Where cluster courts are not in operation, cases known to be domestic abuse related are fast-tracked through court by the allocation of earlier trial diets.

Under the terms of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, responsibility for court programming, including for domestic abuse related cases, is a matter for the senior judiciary.

We know that people with Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions report for support in high volume, in Scotland one in four GP contacts are related to MSK conditions; MSK is the 2nd biggest health issue for patients in receipt of incapacity benefit; MSK AHP services deal with 400,000+ referrals per annum; and orthopaedic services receive over 200,000 referrals per annum of whom approximately 55,000 have a planned surgical procedure.

We are working closely with Arthritis Research UK around the prevalence and impact of MSK conditions and also, in recognition of the significant impact of MSK conditions, we have a national programme of work that is looking specifically at quality improvements in a number of areas, self referral to enhanced self care and rehabilitation services (now available across all NHS Boards in Scotland); improving access to the right professional and the right advice first time through nationally agreed end to end integrated pathways (involving physiotherapists, podiatrists and surgeons); working towards a target of 90% of MSK patients being seen within 4 weeks (currently being met for 52% of patients); and improving early intervention to avoid chronicity; reduce the need for specialist orthopaedic referrals where conservative treatment is more likely to benefit the patient than surgical intervention; and facilitating people to continue normal activities and stay in or return to work where appropriate.

Awareness raising continues to take place both locally and nationally. NHS Inform is being used as a single point of contact for patient information with the MSK App now having been downloaded over 56,000 times and the NHS Inform MSK pages having reached 1 million views in June 2016.

The Scottish Government is taking a number of actions to increase abuse recovery services nationally for children and their families.

We have commissioned NHS Education Scotland to lead the development of a comprehensive Skills and Knowledge Framework and National Training Plan for those working with those of all ages who are affected by trauma and abuse in Scotland.

In 2016 we are investing over £3.4million through our Children’s Services Fund to deliver specialist services for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse

The Equally Safe strategy, published in March 2016, aims to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls including children experiencing domestic abuse.

Through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund the Scottish Government funds a number of third sector organisations who deliver prevention services, and provide support for children and young people who have suffered from different forms of abuse

We have invested £19.8 million over the last seven years to increase the number of psychologists working in specialist CAMHS and to improve mental health services across the whole of Scotland, we’re investing an additional £150 million for mental health over five years.

In addition, Scotland is one of the few countries in the world that has dedicated funding for support services for adult survivors of child abuse. Since 2007, the Scottish Government has invested £9million to third and voluntary sector organisations which offer a wide range of local services across Scotland that support survivors of child abuse, with a further £1.5million invested in survivor support services for people who experienced abuse whilst in care. The Scottish Government’s Survivor Scotland Innovation and Development fund in 2015-16 provides a further £1million to support services for all survivors.

There were eight Ministerial visits to (a) Orkney and five Ministerial visits to (b) Shetland from 2007-08.

The Scottish Government has regular engagement with the Commissioner and his officials. The Commissioner submitted a detailed response to the consultation on the proposal for a Children and Young People Bill, introduced to Parliament in February 2013. Regarding the sharing of children's confidential information, the Commissioner met with officials responsible for Part 4 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 during its development and discussed his views on the provisions in Part 4, and in particular the information sharing duties within sections 26 and 27 of the Act. The Deputy First Minister has recently spoken with the Commissioner about the information sharing duties in the Act as part of his engagement following the Supreme Court judgment on the Named Person judicial review. The Scottish Government remains open to advice from the Commissioner's Office around children's understanding of confidentiality. Currently I am not aware of any official discussions around this matter.