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I want to follow up on the line of questioning of my colleague Collette Stevenson. Dr Scott, you highlight in your submission some of the barriers that women and children who are experiencing domestic abuse face. They include

“Scarcity of lawyers ... prepared to take on legal aid cases”,

“Lack of ... quality and skill”

in immigration cases in particular, and issues with

“Child contact cases”.

How acute is the problem? Those issues have been around for a while, but are they getting worse? Will you comment on the scale of the issue?

Thank you—that is helpful.

Thank you. In your opinion, have the main drivers of domestic abuse changed over the years? Are they different from the drivers of five or 10 years ago? Domestic abuse has always been with us, I am sad to say.

Thank you. I have a quick follow-up question. Have you seen progress in, say, the past five years on breaking down the barriers and on the cultural side of things? I guess that there are specific issues that you must deal with. Are things getting a bit better?

Thank you. That is fine.

Before I ask my question, I declare that I am a co-convener of the cross-party group on men’s violence against women and girls.

I direct my first question to Dr Marsha Scott and then to Rabia Roshan. In 2014, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities published “Equally Safe: Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls”. Statistics show that not much progress has been made since then. What is the level and nature of violence against women and girls? What are its main drivers? Can you elaborate on where we are now and how Covid has exacerbated the situation?

That will be helpful.

I have a question for Superintendent Colin Convery. In March this year, the Scottish Parliament passed legislation to introduce domestic abuse protection orders, which would mean that the perpetrators of domestic abuse could be removed from the house. I think that royal assent was granted in May. Are those orders up and running yet? If they are, are they being used much and are they having an effect?

Thank you.

Rabia Roshan, are there specific issues to do with ethnicity in the context of domestic abuse? Will you talk about your experience and what Amina does?

Yes. Thank you, convener.

Mary, what is your view on the provisions to protect children as victims of abuse, including domestic abuse, in the Children (Scotland) Act 2020, the Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2019 and so on? Could more be done in legislation to protect children?