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That issue has been in the news, particularly on the criminal side, because there is quite a backlog that needs to be cleared on the criminal side.

Things have not quite been the same on the civil side. Proceedings have continued throughout. Many of the adjustments that have been made have been enabled by court rules, although some have been made by legislation—including, obviously, Covid legislation. Sheriff courts reinstated business very quickly after the first lockdown and business continued through the pandemic. Often, that was conducted by telephone conferencing, but there is also a civil online service—I do not know whether the committee is familiar with that. The courts were able to use that to carry on. By the end of last year, all sheriff and civil courts were able to conduct proofs, debates and evidential and fatal accident inquiry hearings virtually, using their WebEx video platform.

There has been an impact. We think that business is down in general. There is no backlog, as such, in civil justice, but we think that there has been an impact and that it has reduced the amount of business that has gone through. I ask Neil Rennick to give a little more information.

I agree with Karen Adam’s points. One of the aims of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 that we took through Parliament in the last session was recognition that we need to do more to protect victims of domestic violence on the civil side. A number of representations were made to me by groups of people who were going through criminal proceedings for domestic abuse, sometimes very serious, and when they went into the civil court that would not be taken account of in the way that we might expect. One of the aims of the act and of changing the law was to try to protect victims of domestic abuse more.

We have not commenced all the sections of the 2020 act—that is why we are having this conversation—so not all of its provisions are in force. I am very hopeful that, once all sections of the act come into force, both the perception of what happens and what actually happens to victims of domestic abuse and children when they go through the family courts system are much better. That is what we set out to do.

I set out to ensure that the welfare of the child is paramount and to bring the child’s voice into proceedings, so a sheriff will be able speak to the child, ask them what they want and get feedback. Having the child welfare reporters and the register—which we are discussing now—gives us the ability to ensure that the people who do those jobs, which involves going to families to speak to children and other family members, are able to spot domestic abuse. People have to be trained to see things—it is not always obvious—and to act in a trauma-informed way, as you have just described, so that children have a better experience. We hope that that will be the case.

I am sorry—I cannot remember whether there was a second part to your question. Have I covered it?

We value the SLC’s important work in continually trying to update and modernise Scots law and in the reports that it publishes.

I do not know whether the committee is aware of this, but there was a working group involving the commission and parliamentary officials that looked at a more strategic way of progressing SLC bills through the Parliament. Traditionally the Minister for Community Safety would have done that, but there are, I think, some longer-term capacity issues with the committees. That said, we took forward five SLC bills in the previous five-year session, but we are looking at what more can be done in that respect. That work is on-going, but as there might be an announcement on the matter in the programme for government later today, I will not say anything more about it.

The referral of bills is not really a decision for a minister, but I know that the moveable transactions bill is certainly very important to stakeholders, who are keen for Scots law in that area to be modernised. We are very alive to the issue.

Yes. It does not feel like that long ago; I think that it was in September last year.

We are still working on analysis of the consultation responses, so I will have to get back to the committee once that work has been completed, if that is okay.

The responses point to broad issues that one would expect to come up, around how the child welfare reporters would operate and how they would be appointed. There is broad consensus that child contact centres need to be safe and welcoming. Disabled access to centres was one of the themes that came up.

With regard to timings, we hope to introduce secondary legislation in the autumn—probably around October—which will allow us to commence provisions.

We need to work through quite a lot with those issues. The matter of child welfare reporters was clearly a big part of the bill, so we spent quite a bit of time discussing it. We have a real opportunity to set training and standards for child welfare reporters and curators ad litem, and to ensure that the people who do those jobs are sufficiently trained to work with children in a trauma-informed way. Those are things that members of the committee would, I am sure, want the legislation to have. We still have quite a bit of work to do on getting feedback from the consultation into the regulations that we will introduce. Denise might be able to say more about what came through in the consultation.

Thank you, convener, and good morning. I will be very brief. I agree with the cabinet secretary’s comments about the desire and potential for collaborative working in those aspects of the portfolio for which I am responsible. Anyone who knew me in the previous session will know that I always try to build consensus where possible.

I endorse what the cabinet secretary said about the important contribution of the legal profession as well as that of the third sector, including organisations that work with the victims of crime in our justice system. The engagement and involvement of the legal profession and the third sector, along with other justice agencies, will be vital as the system recovers and renews following the pandemic’s impact.

Returning as the Minister for Community Safety, I am pleased to be taking forward a number of initiatives from the previous session such as those to modernise and strengthen the contribution of our fire and rescue service, reform legal aid and regulate the legal profession. In addition, as the cabinet secretary mentioned, I have been asked by the First Minister to take on the specific role of looking to improve the experience of women in our justice system. Many elements of the justice system including community justice, prisons and courts are designed around the needs of men or the system itself but, as we know, women and children are often disproportionately affected as victims of sexual offending or by the impact of imprisonment.

In taking forward the role, I want to draw on all the relevant evidence and expertise from a wide range of sources and individuals. I look forward to engaging with the committee as I work on that agenda and the rest of our programme for the current session of Parliament.

I think that everyone would agree that the rape statistics that the member has quoted are concerning. Obviously, we have taken quite a bit of action around tackling sexual offending, including things such as improving our laws and encouraging more victims to come forward. The cabinet secretary and Neil Rennick have set out some things that we are doing in that regard. We have the planned spend of £100 million over three years for the prevention of violence against women and girls, which is key.

Obviously, tackling the issue is a key Government responsibility, and we are committed to taking it seriously and looking at what we can do. I see it as a piece of cross-Government work. It is not something that we in justice would be able to tackle alone; I think that we will have to work with colleagues in health, equalities and so on. That cross-portfolio work is going on at the moment.

I echo what was said about Lady Dorrian’s report. It contains six recommendations and I am sure that we will be able to find consensus on some of them. We know that we have consensus across Parliament on anonymity for rape complainers, but there might not be consensus on some of the other ones.

We need to consider the situation carefully and decide how we can proceed. However, we have committed to take forward the recommendation on the anonymity of rape complainers—that was in our manifesto.

No, convener. I think that the cabinet secretary has covered the matter.

I read that, I think, four out of five women in prison have had a serious head injury, particularly from domestic abuse, which is quite a shocking statistic. Last week, I visited the part of Polmont that holds the women prisoners. I also visited Cornton Vale. I looked at the old prison and met some of the staff and some women who were in custody, and then I went to have a look at the new Cornton Vale that is being built.

We all accept that there are some very complex cases involving women in custody who have very challenging needs. The Prison Service, in particular, accepts that, and it works very hard to keep those women safe and to ensure that they get the facilities and treatment that they need.

The Scottish Government’s investment in the new style of prison estate for female prisoners will make a huge difference. The new Cornton Vale estate has been designed specifically to assist people with their mental health and their other challenges. There is a lot of light. It is airy. There is a lot more space. We have talked about activities and education for prisoners. Obviously, that has been impacted by Covid and the fact that there is not a lot of space in some of the traditional prison areas, so the new facilities will make a huge difference.

I am not sure whether the committee is aware of the community custody units. I visited one in Glasgow and one specifically for women prisoners in Dundee a couple of weeks ago. Again, it is about signposting the move towards adapting the experience of being in custody but, more specifically, responding to the challenges of female prisoners and the way they present and the things that they might need in order to treat them. Then, we hope to progress them and enable them to transition and build skills in order to go back into the community and, we hope, not back into prison again.

I am afraid that I do not have any information on that. One of our officials might be able to give you an update.