1. To ask the Scottish Government what progress the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has made on implementing plans for the introduction of videolink facilities and family hearings in those towns where courts are to close. (S4O-02402)

The Scottish Court Service commitment was to establish a videolink in the vicinity of the town where a sheriff court would be closing. The SCS is introducing that in phased stages and plans are well advanced for those closing in November 2013, with potential sites identified and evaluation work under way.

The cabinet secretary’s answer reveals that the words that were given to those courts that are closing in 2015—for example, the one in my home town of Haddington—were indeed just warm words to take the sting out of an unpalatable decision. Indeed, the Crown Office has recently confirmed that the fiscal office in Haddington will also close as a result of the decision, which will mean another huge vacant site in the middle of my home town’s high street. I thought that the cabinet secretary believed in community payback by vandals, so when is he going to start paying Haddington back for his vandalism in closing the town’s courts?

Mr Gray will be aware that Haddington court is not due to close until January 2015. Clearly, for the courts that are closing before then, work is on-going. Matters change and times change, as Mr Gray will remember. I have been checking and I note that all out-of-hours emergency child protection orders for Lothian and Borders, including cases in the jurisdiction of Haddington sheriff court, are actually dealt with in Edinburgh sheriff court. That arrangement has worked well since 1999. I know that at that stage Mr Gray was not the elected representative for East Lothian, but I recall that he served as a justice secretary for the then Scottish Executive, so he would have been aware of the arrangement that I have described. Therefore, it seems to me that Mr Gray is being rather hypocritical. When steps were taken to protect children when he was in office he made no criticism, but when steps are taken to progress justice overall, as we face tightening budgets from south of the border and the Scottish Court Service protects the integrity of the system, Mr Gray is critical.

I understand from my correspondence with the Scottish Court Service that it is setting up transitional planning groups to oversee the transfer of business from courts that are closing, such as Cupar sheriff court. Will the cabinet secretary assure me that the Scottish Government will do all that it can to assist those transitional planning groups to bring forward plans, including on rolling out video facilities and family hearings?

Absolutely. I have every confidence in the Scottish Court Service taking forward those plans and working with stakeholders. The SCS intends to address the needs of vulnerable witnesses as a priority and will build on the platform of this provision to examine opportunities to extend the use of video technology within the terms of current and future legislation and to apply it to other types of procedure and hearings, including family hearings. I can give Mr Campbell the commitment that the matter is being taken forward for the particular community in which he lives. However, it is also the case that the Scottish Court Service, in conjunction with the judiciary, is seeking to extend video technology as much as possible in order to make justice better and simpler and to provide protection, especially for vulnerable witnesses.

The cabinet secretary will be aware of mobile banks, mobile libraries, mobile breast-screening units and mobile magnetic resonance imaging scanning units, all of which can be moved by road to appropriate destinations. Has he considered the possibility of creating similar mobile court facilities as an alternative to videolinks to meet the legitimate concerns of people, particularly witnesses, about having to travel very long distances to give evidence?

That is an interesting thought. It would not be a matter for my domain, because ultimately it is one for the Lord President and the Scottish Court Service. However, Mr Scott’s suggestion is an appropriate one, and courts have always had the ability to be mobile. For example, as a defence agent, I have in the past taken evidence in people’s houses and attended at people’s hospital beds when sheriffs took evidence there. Therefore, such mobility is available when there is a clear need for it because individuals are unable to attend court, as Mr Scott will have seen even on television when locus visits are carried out.

We already have, I think, a system that allows the flexibility to ensure that certain matters can be dealt with. However, I am happy to feed Mr Scott’s suggestion back to the Lord President when I meet him later this week. I am sure that he will take it on board, because he understands the requirement for people to have access to justice.

I refer the cabinet secretary to the closure of Peebles sheriff court and to page 6 of the document “Proposed Joint Feasibility Study to Review Future Delivery of Justice Services in the Scottish Borders”, which states:

“all opportunities to provide a technology solution will be investigated.”

Can I take it that that will not be in place of the proposed justice centre in Galashiels?

The work on technology is on-going. As I mentioned to Mr Campbell, it relates not simply to the courts that are due for closure, but to the making justice work programme across the judicial sector in Scotland. These matters are not an either/or; they are not mutually contradictory. I understand that the Scottish Court Service has already had bilateral discussions with Scottish Borders Council and that a remit for a feasibility study has been agreed between the Court Service, the council and justice organisations to assess the most efficient, effective and economically advantageous method of future provision of an integrated justice service for the Borders. The feasibility study group has met and is taking forward wider engagement with Victim Support Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and other such organisations.