Chamber and committees

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.

It is up to local authorities to determine what learning opportunities are provided through Community Learning and Development, and to assess that provision. This information is not held by the Scottish Government.

Local authorities and other listed authorities are required by the British Sign Language (BSL) Scotland Act 20156 to publish a BSL Plan by October 2018, setting out how they will promote and support BSL. These plans could include current or planned provision of BSL though Community Learning and Development.

Our British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan which we published in October 2017 sets out specific steps we will take by 2020 to support the teaching and learning of BSL. This includes working with Scotland’s National Centre for Languages to provide resources which will enable our schools to offer BSL alongside other languages. We believe this will play a crucial role in supporting and promoting BSL in Scotland, however it is the decision of each individual school and local authority as to which languages are taught and as such the Scottish Government is unable to intervene in these decisions.

Local authorities and other listed authorities are required by the British Sign Language (BSL) Scotland Act 20156 to publish their own BSL Plans by October 2018. These plans could include strategies for increasing access to affordable BSL classes in local areas.

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 Funding Council mostly recently allocated £62,016 for British Sign Language (BSL) at Heriot Watt University in AY 2012-13. The university sits within the Lothian parliamentary region.

The Scottish Funding Council does not currently specify that any of their Teaching Funding should be allocated to BSL. However, colleges and universities must publish their own BSL plans by October 2018 setting out how they will promote and support BSL and this may include information about teaching of BSL.

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 recognises that sexual violence is an abuse of human rights and is committed to preventing and eradicating it in Scotland. We agree that it is vital that survivors of rape and sexual assault have early access to crisis services that meet their needs, and we are working with Rape Crisis Scotland to determine the best way to support services to meet demand.

We are also investing over £2m (2017-20) through our Rape Crisis Fund in resources for 16 rape crisis centres across Scotland and in addition, we recently announced £1.7m in funding from Justice Budgets to support advocacy in the justice system for victims to be delivered by local centres. We also provide nearly half a million pounds (2017-2020) to support the operation of the National Rape Crisis Helpline and continue to invest resources in a number of organisations working to tackle all forms of violence against women and support survivors.

Provisions relating to the use of sexual history and character evidence in sexual offence trials are contained in sections 274 and 275 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. The operation of the law in this area was subject to a full and independent evaluation in 2007. The law in this area has not changed substantively since the 2007 evaluation.

In December 2015 a commitment was made to Parliament to undertake a small high level data collection project to review the usage of the provisions in section 274/275 of the 1995 Act. This exercise concluded in June 2016 and the results can be found here:

http://www.parliament.scot/General%20Documents/20160624CSfJtoConvenerILR.pdf .

The Scottish Government is working with Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to interrogate this data further. This exercise will inform any future consideration of the operation of the law in this area.

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.

The Scottish Government welcomes the transparency that the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulation 2017 can help deliver. All those subject to the Act's provisions should comply with them and not seek to avoid reporting any gender pay gap in their organisation.