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To come back to complainers’ experiences, we have heard from complainers that they feel that there is a lack of communication throughout the process, that they are not listened to and that they are treated as a piece of evidence. Some have also told us that evidence that they thought was crucial to their case was not brought up in court.

One witness that we heard from last week told us that her experience was greatly improved because, throughout the process, she had a lot of contact with the advocate depute. Does anything stop that approach from happening just now? What are the barriers to that? Why can we not do more of that?

It is about resources, then.

Would anyone else like to comment?

Does anyone else have any comments?

Although it has been suggested that other parts of the court estate could be used, you would still want cases to have the prominence that comes from them being heard in the High Court.

We heard from the previous panel about a lack of communication. We have heard about independent legal representation, too. Do you think that we should consider allowing more access to the advocate?

Moving on, I note that the bill obliges all courts to roll out trauma-informed practice. What extra trauma-informed practice or training would you expect to see in a specialist court that you do not get in other courts already?

Good morning. I agree with a lot of what you have just said. I am concerned that we spend too much time tying ourselves up in legislation when there might be small changes that we could make just now that would make a huge impact on survivors, one of which would probably be improving communication at courts. There are a lot of things that we could do just now, rather than having to wait until we get to the end of the process.

What is your vision of specialist courts? We have already heard that we will be using the existing court estate. How many existing buildings do you expect will be classed as having a specialist court within them, and how does that number compare with what is being used now? We can start with Sandy Brindley.

I am afraid that that does not make things any clearer for me. [Laughter.]

We have heard about the proposal that specialised courts will not be held in dedicated buildings; existing buildings in the court estate would be used instead. How well would that reduce traumatic experiences for victims? Do you have any concerns about the proposals for specialised courts?