Chamber and committees

That does say something to the scale of it.

I want to ask about the change in law in 1735 after the so-called “glorious revolution”. Will you talk a bit more about the impact of that on witchcraft convictions and sentences and give your reflections on why it took more than 200 years for the Witchcraft Act 1735 to be repealed?

I had a bit of trouble with my microphone there. I concur with my colleagues.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Scottish Government has no intention to restructure the health boards, I think that at the crux of the petition is healthcare for individuals in Caithness. I wonder whether colleagues would agree to writing to NHS Highland for an update on the community midwifery unit, including a timescale for its completion.

I also wonder whether we should consider this petition alongside a couple of others mentioned in our papers—PE1845, on an agency to advocate for the healthcare needs of rural Scotland, and PE1890, on finding solutions to recruitment and training challenges for rural healthcare in Scotland—and invite the petitioner to give evidence.

Good morning, Zoe and Claire. Thanks for being with us.

What would lead to a woman being accused of witchcraft? There are some misapprehensions about the type of women who were accused of it. Could you speak about that a little?

Zoe, do you have anything to add on those questions?

I think that they have been covered. I wanted to explore a bit more the discriminatory nature of the issue, but the petitioners have told us in their evidence that it relates predominantly to women and people with other vulnerabilities, so we have covered that aspect. Are colleagues going to ask about Natalie Don’s proposed bill?

I do. Will I just keep coming back in, convener?

Okay. I will not wait for an invite.

Who would normally conduct the trials, and what sort of evidence would be used to secure a conviction? Claire, you gave an example of someone falling ill or any sort of negative experience befalling a community. Are there any other specific examples that you could give about the evidence that the state would use and who would conduct the trial?

In your opening statement, you mentioned 2,500 people being executed and 4,000 being tortured. How confident are you that the figures set out in the survey of Scottish witchcraft present an accurate picture of the number of women affected during the period that it covers?

I appreciate the Scottish Government’s response regarding the details of legal aid and the consultation that has taken place. I also appreciate the point about means testing and affordability in a budget context. Nonetheless, the matter is really important. It comes up in my constituency casework—as, I am sure, it does for other members of the committee.

The petitioner talks about the mental health impact on parents. We need to remember that the issue is not simply access to justice but the wellbeing of children. We need to ensure that what we have in place is as helpful as possible to families that are going through break-ups and looking after children.

I suggest that, in the first instance, we write to some stakeholders to seek their views on the issues that are raised, perhaps including One Parent Families Scotland, Relationships Scotland, the Scottish Civil Justice Council and the Scottish Legal Aid Board.