First and foremost, I express my gratitude to justice agencies and front-line professionals across the country for their response to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Scotland’s justice system is responding well. In the context of Covid-19, justice agencies face significant challenges in adapting how they work, maintaining where at all possible access to justice and continuing to protect our communities, vulnerable individuals and people in our care, while also ensuring compliance with essential public health advice and regulations.
In these unprecedented times, Administrations across the United Kingdom and internationally are having to take very difficult actions to boost and strengthen the justice response to help to combat, curtail and control the spread of the virus. I will set out briefly the Scottish Government’s justice response.
Police officers and staff are on the front line of our response to this public health crisis. I pay tribute to the crucial job that they are doing to protect the national health service and other services and to keep us safe. The approach that has been taken by Police Scotland when interacting with the public is very welcome. It makes sense to engage, educate and encourage, and then, only as a last resort, to use enforcement action where necessary. That is in line with our valued traditions of policing with the consent of the public. Only a fraction of those interactions have led to warnings or fines. Compliance with the regulations remains very high. I thank the people of Scotland for their common sense and recognition of our shared responsibility during the crisis.
I welcome the chief constable’s decision to invite John Scott QC to review Police Scotland’s use of the new emergency powers. An independent review by a highly regarded expert in human rights is a welcome check and balance, complementing the role of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland.
Quite rightly, we have heard a lot about the need for the police, as for many of our key front-line workers, to have access to personal protective equipment. I take the issue very seriously. The level of PPE that police officers and police staff must use is, of course, a matter for Police Scotland’s chief constable, given his statutory responsibility for the health and safety of his officers and staff.
PPE is not needed for routine policing activities where there are no suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19. However, if police support is required at an incident involving suspected or confirmed Covid-19, trained officers in full PPE would be asked to attend. Police Scotland’s guidance on the use of PPE is proportionate and based on risk assessments for those circumstances, and follows advice and guidance from Health Protection Scotland. Training for officers has now been increased across the country, with specific roles being prioritised. By Friday last week, around 5,000 front-line police officers had been trained in the use of PPE and had a mask fitted. More than 7,000 kits had been issued.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, which works closely with other first responders across our communities, is also doing a fantastic job. I urge the public, who have increased time at home, to be mindful of fire safety in their homes and to follow SFRS guidance.
During this time, we have all been asked to stay at home but, unfortunately, home is not a safe haven for many people; those who suffer domestic abuse, including coercive and controlling behaviours, can feel isolated and vulnerable, unheard and unseen. Support is available 24/7 on Scotland’s domestic abuse helpline on 0800 027 1234. In addition, Childline is available to support children and young people.
Police Scotland’s response to domestic abuse remains unchanged. Officers will continue to respond to reports and endeavour to prevent harm. The Lord Advocate has confirmed that domestic abuse cases will continue to be prosecuted rigorously and fairly, and bail conditions and non-harassment orders continue to be enforced.
We have developed a Covid-19 domestic abuse emergency response to maintain the delivery of vital services. We have provided support to third sector organisations, including an additional £1.5 million to Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland. We have increased the victim’s fund to £100,000, which is available through Victim Support Scotland to help to meet the immediate needs of victims. We have relaunched Scotland’s domestic abuse campaign, which makes clear that, if a person is experiencing domestic abuse, help is available and they are not alone.
The courts’ spotlight has recently shone on how criminal business is handled, but I recognise that courts deal with an extensive range of civil business, much of which is rightly regarded as essential—a wide range of family law cases, guardianship orders and commissary business, to give but three examples. Maintaining the safety of litigants, the judiciary, court staff and, indeed, the wider public must always be the absolute priority.
The emergency legislation that was passed by the Parliament to facilitate court business has been of great assistance to the courts in progressing business safely. However, it is inevitable that many aspects of court business will be disrupted. I am grateful for the way in which the courts are engaging with the legal profession and others to identify and prioritise areas of work that can continue.
Difficult decisions have also had to be taken in the management of criminal business. That includes the decision by the Lord President and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, in the light of the social distancing advice, to suspend all jury trials in the immediate term. Let me be clear: the Scottish Government is absolutely committed to the principle of trial by jury. Last week, we published a discussion paper setting out a number of potential options, and we confirmed that judge-only trials are not the Government’s favoured option.
I was very pleased that a number of MSPs were able to join the first virtual round table to discuss the issues that our system is facing and the best way forward. I hosted sectoral discussions with, among others, the legal sector, the third sector and human rights organisations. The chief executive of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Crown Agent have shared the latest data on the numbers of cases that we are facing that cannot progress, and the likely backlog. In our paper, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service estimates a potential backlog of 1,600 serious cases awaiting trial by August. We must not lose sight of the impact that backlogs and delays will have on real people, including victims, vulnerable witnesses and, indeed, those accused of crime who are held on remand.
I turn to the options in the paper. Based on the discussions so far, we will focus on a number of the options, including the potential for smaller numbers of jurors; social distancing measures within existing court facilities; measures to enable faster progression of jury trials to address the backlog following the easing of public health restrictions; and potentially adjusting the sentencing powers of sheriff courts.
I am aware that not everyone will be supportive of all those options. Representatives from the third sector spoke powerfully of concerns about any options that still require juries, due to the possibility that, in these times, there might be a greater likelihood of jurors falling ill or self-isolating, and of trials starting and not being able to proceed, which would cause extreme distress for victims. I am sure that every member has received the letter, signed on behalf of the four largest victims organisations, expressing some of their concerns.
Many challenges remain, but I am heartened by the progress to date. We will continue to work to mitigate and reduce the potential backlog of cases. However, we need to be realistic that the impact on the courts will continue for a significant period, even after the current health restrictions begin to be lifted.
I come to the most significant aspect of my update today. The Scottish Prison Service has taken comprehensive action to ensure that the social distancing requirements and public health advice are met within our prisons. Some of those measures, which were set out in recent amendments to prison rules, were necessary to ensure operational stability and to preserve safety and wellbeing across prisons.
Let me take this opportunity to thank prison officers and staff for the incredible job that they have done to maintain safety and order in our prisons during these challenging times. I also thank the range of social workers, public sector staff and third sector groups that have continued to support people in prison and after their release.
As of last night, 89 people in custody across 12 sites are isolated, as per protocol, and they are being monitored accordingly. The monitoring of conditions in our prisons continues to be very important, and I can confirm that Her Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons for Scotland will be implementing a remote monitoring framework shortly.
Measures to mitigate the impact of social isolation on those who are in the care of the Scottish Prison Service have been introduced, such as in-cell support material, which has been developed for those in SPS care by psychologists and experts in mental health wellbeing.
The suspension of prison visits, which has been in place since 24 March, will be being felt by prisoners and families alike. On Friday, I announced our intention to provide mobile phones to those in custody in order to allow them to maintain vital family contact, while putting in place robust restrictions to prevent their misuse. There are still, of course, some security, technical and legal issues to be resolved before phones can be rolled out, but that is a priority for the SPS and the Government.
We recently debated the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, and provisions on prisoner release secured unanimous support. Work continues within the SPS and justice social work to carefully assess prisoners and decide who can be permitted to spend the last section of their sentence on a tag on home detention curfew. The slowdown in court business has also reduced the number of people in prison.
However, we should not underestimate the challenges that our prisons face in protecting and managing the prison population in the context of Covid-19. There are still a significant number of prison staff who cannot be in work due to ill health or a requirement to isolate, or as a result of needing to take care of children or family members. Taken together with the changes to prison regimes, those factors make prisons an especially challenging environment at present for prisoners, prison officers, NHS staff and others who work in our prisons. We have also had recent confirmation of a further three weeks of lockdown, so we need to make arrangements now with a view to the continued running of prisons over the following weeks.
I can advise the Parliament today that, after careful consideration and in agreement with the views of the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, I will be asking the SPS to consider the release of a limited number of short-sentenced prisoners towards the end of their time in custody. I believe that that is a necessary and proportionate response to the current situation in our prisons. It is in the interests of maintaining security and good order in our prisons, and it is vital in maintaining and safeguarding the health, safety and welfare of prisoners and those who work in our prisons. The action will help to give the SPS sufficient capacity, including increased single cell occupancy, to continue to maintain a safe custodial environment.
By the end of this month, we will lay regulations to make use of the powers that Parliament agreed, and release will begin at that point. In advance of regulations being laid, I can advise members of some of the detail of the arrangements.
Only those prisoners who are serving sentences of 18 months or less and who are in the last three months of their time in custody will be placed under consideration for possible release. They are short-term prisoners who are already due to be released over the next three months as their time in custody ends, and they would typically be released without any further requirement for supervision in the community. The release process is scheduled to begin at the end of this month and to run for four weeks.
The act already rules out any early release for certain types of prisoner, such as those who have been sentenced for sexual or terrorism offences and those who have been sentenced to supervision orders after their release. The regulations for the process will rule out the release of further categories of prisoner, including those who are serving sentences for domestic abuse offences, those with non-harassment orders and those who have been convicted of certain Covid-19-related offences.
Under the act, prison governors will have the power to veto any individual’s early release where there is evidence that they would present an immediate risk to an identified individual. The individual at risk may be a specific person or a person who belongs to a specific group.
The process will consider for release around 450 prisoners, who will all be approaching their scheduled release date. The review and veto process will inevitably reduce the eventual numbers who are released. We will work with a range of public and third sector services to enable prison leavers to access the housing and healthcare benefits and other support services that they need.
Changes are being made to the victim notification scheme so that victims and their families who have signed up to receive updates from the VNS will be informed if an individual whom they are registered in connection with will be released under the arrangements.
I understand that that will a difficult decision for some, including, of course, victims of crime. Let me be clear: it in no way diminishes the harm that victims have suffered. However, in these exceptional and unprecedented times, we must take difficult decisions that best reduce the risk of further harm.
I am aware that that decision will not be universally popular. However, it is my judgment that it is the right course of action for the safety of those who work in our prisons, as well as for those in our care. At times like these, we must recognise our obligations to all those in society, including those who live and work in our prisons. The action is necessary and proportionate and is the right one for a responsible Government to take. I trust that members across the chamber will support that difficult but necessary decision. I will remain in dialogue with colleagues across the chamber and will listen to any concerns or suggestions that they may have.
I invite members to join me in expressing their appreciation for those who support, and work within, the justice system as we continue to deal with the profound impact of this public health emergency, and to work with us in taking the necessary actions to assist justice agencies and their staff to fulfil their roles.
The Government will continue to engage with others to provide the support and capacity to maintain public confidence, to keep people safe, to protect lives and to instil and maintain confidence in Scotland’s justice system. My thanks and deepest appreciation go to all those who are in the front line of our justice system, for all that they do to keep us safe.