Seòmar agus comataidhean

We have run out of time, so I must bring the session to a close. Thank you very much indeed for attending, Mr Brown.

Tomorrow morning, in what will be our final evidence session on the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, we will take evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs.

Yes.

Thank you very much, Lord Matthews. You have set out a very comprehensive and well-articulated position. I will bring in Sheriff Cubie on that same question.

Sheriff Cubie, would you like to come in on that?

That helpfully leads into a question that I was going to ask. Staying with the rape trial pilot, this concerns a point that has come up in evidence, which I was very interested in. During previous evidence, it was suggested that some of the concerns about the pilot without juries might be lessened if there were more than one judge involved in a ruling. I am interested in whether the judiciary has a view on that proposal, as a hypothetical. I will also bring in Sheriff Cubie on that.

That is understood.

I will close this part of the evidence session. Thank you both for your attendance, which has been hugely helpful to us.

I welcome our final panel today. They are Dr Andrew Tickell and Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe, who are both lecturers in law in Glasgow Caledonian University’s department of economics and law. We are very grateful that you have been able to join us. I intend to allow about 45 minutes for this session, in which we will primarily focus on the proposal to grant automatic lifelong anonymity to victims in sexual offences cases.

I will open with a broad question. Will you outline the work that you have done as part of the Glasgow Caledonian University project on complainer anonymity, and the main findings of that research?

Thank you. I will ask a couple of other questions later, but I now open the discussion to members.

Thank you for that nice round-up. It is most helpful.

I will close the session now. I thank the witnesses very much for attending. It has been fascinating evidence.

Next week, we will return to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill with two meetings. The first is on Tuesday with the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association, and the second is on Wednesday with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs. That will be our final evidence session on the bill.

You have spoken about children in response to Russell Findlay’s line of questioning. I will read out what you have written in your submission.

“It is critical that Scots law respects the legitimate autonomy of complainers in these cases and facilitates their decisions to share—or not to share—their experiences, without imposing additional legal or economic costs”.

You go on to say:

“Finding the right balance ... may be particularly challenging in terms of child complainers”.

Could you outline a wee bit more about your research, specifically on the issues that have an impact on children?