Hansard

The member raises an important point about the quality and frequency of engagement with victims throughout their justice journey. He may be aware that an independent review of the victim notification scheme is currently under way. I am hopeful that that will report back to all of us in the not-too-distant future.

Implementation of the framework is now key. We are providing £240,000 to fund trauma specialists to support that across the sector, which brings our investment in the framework to nearly £0.5 million. That work will continue to be led by the victims task force, which I co-chair with the Lord Advocate. The task force includes cross-sectoral representation and hears directly from victims, through support organisations and the recently established victims advisory board. It is only through partnership and strong collective leadership that we will make progress.

The launch of the framework follows on from the introduction of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill. The bill is rightly ambitious and demonstrates the strength of our commitment to the priorities that are set out in the vision for justice and the First Minister’s policy perspectives. It focuses on improving the experience of victims, witnesses and vulnerable parties in the justice system and ensuring that their voices are heard. By including a definition of trauma-informed practice, the bill will help to ensure that there is a consistent understanding and approach and that trauma-informed practice is embedded across the system, including in court scheduling. It requires justice agencies to make efforts to reduce retraumatisation.

The bill also takes forward the recommendation in the Lord Justice Clerk’s review of the management of sexual offence cases to establish a specialist court for sexual offences, in which trauma-informed training will be a key requirement, evidence will be pre-recorded by default, and there will be an automatic right to lifelong anonymity for complainers and state-funded independent legal representation when applications are made to lead evidence on sexual history and character.

Establishing an independent victims and witnesses commissioner for Scotland will also help to make the justice system more trauma informed and person centred. The commissioner will champion the rights of victims and witnesses and will hold Government and criminal justice agencies to account by monitoring compliance with standards of service and the victims code.

In particular, we know that the experiences of women in the justice system are many and varied, and that they may differ significantly from those of men. In this Parliament, it has been a priority, spanning more than 20 years, to work together to build a shared understanding, and a consensus, on how to deal with violence against women and girls.

I am pleased that the bill also proposes to safeguard vulnerable parties and witnesses in civil cases by extending special measures to prevent cross-examination by an abuser.

The justice vision prioritises better outcomes for women and girls and the need to reduce the gap between men’s and women’s feelings of safety, and it reflects the principles in the equally safe strategy, acknowledging that violence against women and girls is underpinned by inequality, societal attitudes and structural barriers that perpetuate that inequality.

When women need recourse to the justice system, it is important that we respond effectively, competently and with compassion and understanding. The outcomes from our women’s justice leadership panel will be vital in continuing our understanding and awareness of the impacts of gender.

We will work to empower all victims and survivors by supporting them to understand what lies ahead, and will ensure that their voices are heard by recognising that people do not cast off their emotions and become just a complainer or just a witness. When we treat people as individuals, we empower them to give their best evidence.

We know that every contact that a person has with the justice system counts. Victims and witnesses need to know that the services that they encounter are designed to support and help them, and to know that the people who work in those services will listen to and respect their needs. Therefore, we are taking action to ensure that victims, witnesses and survivors are, at every point in their justice journey, met by staff and systems that minimise retraumatisation and support recovery.

Alongside training staff and introducing legislation, we are working with partners to improve communications and make the practicalities of navigating the system and attending court easier. One example of introducing innovation into the justice system is the Victim Support Scotland and CivTech project to develop virtual reality experiences as a means of preparing victims and witnesses for court. That interactive tool has the potential to reduce anxiety and the risk of retraumatisation, and we are delighted to be in the vanguard of developing such a solution. We are separately funding collaborative work to review and rewrite communications across the justice sector in order to make them more accessible and person centred.

Of course, person-centred and trauma-informed approaches cannot be only for adults. We are also committed to making sure that children are treated in trauma-responsive ways by our justice system. That is why we are rolling out the groundbreaking Scottish child interview model across Scotland. The model is designed to make the interview process less stressful for children, to secure their best evidence as early as possible and to reduce the risk of retraumatisation. It is already being used by partnerships working across 20 local authorities, nine police divisions and nine health boards, and we will have introduced the model across Scotland by the end of next year.

Building on that momentum, we will continue to work to deliver on our commitment that all children in Scotland who have been victims or witnesses of abuse or violence, as well as children under the age of criminal responsibility whose behaviour has caused significant harm, will have access to a bairns’ hoose, where they can receive holistic trauma-informed support. In the coming weeks, we will publish the national bairns’ hoose standards, which will be tested in pathfinder partnerships from autumn this year.

I am under no illusions about the task ahead: achieving person-centred and trauma-informed justice services will require strong partnership and resolve from Government, Parliament and every part of the justice sector. That matters, because the most serious offences are most likely to cause the most trauma and are least likely to be reported, so improving the victim and witness experience makes for, and delivers, better justice for everyone. Feeling safe and having confidence in the justice system are fundamental for individuals and communities for a just, safe and resilient Scotland.

I look forward to hearing contributions from members on all sides of the chamber.

I move,

That the Parliament notes the publication of Trauma Informed Justice: A Knowledge and Skills Framework for Working with Victims and Witnesses, which identifies six key aims of a trauma-informed justice system; recognises that victims and survivors of crime and witnesses can be affected by trauma in many ways, and that there is, therefore, an imperative for the criminal justice system to be designed to be person-centred and trauma-informed, so that victims, survivors and witnesses are supported to recover from the harm and trauma and possible re-traumatisation that they have experienced; recognises the critical importance of staff having a shared understanding about the impact of trauma, and the knowledge and skills to minimise re-traumatisation and support recovery, and notes the opportunity for the Parliament to further consider these issues through its scrutiny of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, which puts victims and witnesses at the heart of the justice system.