Chamber and committees

On numerous occasions, Scottish Women’s Aid has raised the issue of domestic abuse survivors being able to access legal aid, and the issue of their eligibility for it. Do you have any plans to address that situation and the availability of legal aid solicitors basically, because that seems to be a huge gaping hole in the justice system?

That is encouraging, and I think that the funds that you mentioned might go some way towards alleviating the issue of the lack of legal aid solicitors that are available and will help women who have suffered violence.

Good morning, panel members. I want to ask about your contract with GEOAmey, which I understand is worth around £240 million. There have been highly publicised problems with GEOAmey, with one lawyer describing it as an “absolute disgrace”. In your written submission, you say:

“Additional funding is likely to be required”

for that. How will you look to improve the service, and what kind of additional funding are you looking at?

Were any alternative suppliers considered during the period of trouble once it was clear that there were such problems? You told us the reasons for those. Are you stuck with GEOAmey or can you look around?

Good morning. I want to ask a couple of questions about the Scottish Government’s commitment to combating violence against women and girls. Can you identify or break down how that budget has been spent? I appreciate that you might not have that information to hand, and a response in writing would be fine if that is the case.

I have a quick supplementary that follows up on Pauline McNeill’s line of questioning. You said that building costs increase astronomically year by year. I do not know whether there are any precedents for this, but would you ever put a cap on the final cost? Could you say, “This is the maximum that we can go to and the design needs to be brought into line with that”? I do not know whether that has ever been done, but would it be a way to provide more certainty?

That is interesting. In your submission you say that the definition in the bill of trauma-informed practice should be amended to include supporting recovery and minimising barriers to effective participation. Could you explain what “minimising barriers” means?

Thank you for mentioning legislation, because that is the bit that we are most interested in—how the bill will change things.

Good morning, panel members. I am not sure whether this question is for David Fraser or Laura Buchan. For context, how much evidence by commission is being done at the moment? What is the percentage?

I take your point. However, we as a committee will be able to judge that, because we speak to victims and victims organisations, and they are not telling us that a lot has improved. Obviously, we will be able to monitor how effective all of that is.

Chief Superintendent Frew, you said in your submission that the training required for trauma-informed practice “will require significant investment”, and the submission raises significant concerns. Everyone has said that they are well down the road of doing that, so why is significant investment required? Can you give me an idea of why that was raised?