3. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that 30 per cent of sheriff courts are failing to reach the 26-week target from caution and charge to verdict. (S5O-00712)

I remind members of my entry in the register of interests, wherein they will see that I am a member of the Law Society of Scotland and hold a current practice certificate, although I am not currently practising.

The 26-week indicator from caution and charge to verdict covers activity by not only the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service but Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. When we compare the period from December 2014 to November 2015 with December 2015 to November 2016, we see that national performance has increased from 64.2 per cent to 66.1 per cent.

In recent years, the reporting and detection of crimes—in particular, domestic abuse and sexual offences—has increased, which reflects proactive policing and prosecution, and greater victim confidence in reporting crimes. Those cases have not only increased in volume but are more complex and often require more court time. That has placed additional pressure on the Crown, the courts and the wider justice system. We have responded, and continue to respond, to those pressures, and additional resources have been made available.

I thank the Minister for that answer, but the performance of almost half of Scotland’s 40 sheriff courts is worse now than it was a year ago. That includes Glasgow and Strathkelvin sheriff court , where only 53.3 per cent of cases were concluded within the target 26-week period.

Solicitors who are working at the sharp end of our criminal justice system cite court closures as leading to a backlog of cases and an increase in the number of adjournments. Can the minister tell my constituents who are seeking access to justice what action the Scottish Government is taking to remedy the situation?

The methodology that Adam Tomkins or his press office has applied in interpreting and analysing the actual statistics that have been collected by the independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service seems to be a wee bit less than robust, if I may say so. Rather than simply comparing a one-month static figure with another month in a different year, we should look at the figures year by year. If we do so, we see that there has been an overall improvement of 1.9 per cent between 2014-15 and 2015-16.

I do not agree with Adam Tomkins on adjournments and the possible effect of court closures. He should bear it in mind that the independent data that are collected by the SCTS show that, while there has been an increase in the overall number of cases, 5.6 per cent of cases were adjourned in 2015-16 and 6.3 per cent were adjourned in the previous year, which in fact represents a reduction.

The Minister touched on the increased reporting and detection of crimes—in particular of domestic abuse and sexual offences. I welcome the funding that the First Minister announced through the violence against women funding stream, which will assist in the development of measures to tackle all forms of violence against women. Is that funding helping to improve domestic abuse court performance?

Ruth Maguire is right to highlight the additional funding that the Scottish Government has made available to deal specifically with the increased case load in domestic abuse. We have made available the sum of £2.4 million in 2015-16 and in 2016-17. That will be also be the case for 2017-18. We can see that the funding is having a significant impact on the timescale on which trials have been proceeding. There is currently an agreed period of 10 to 12 weeks, and the aim is to offer from April 2017 domestic abuse trials within eight to 10 weeks. We are, on the basis that 95 per cent of courts are already meeting that accelerated timescale, very optimistic that that will be achieved.

In the light of the Justice Committee’s inquiry into the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, including the many issues that we have heard about regarding performance and the serious concerns that have been raised, does the Minister believe that a £4 million cut to the COPFS budget this year will improve and speed up access to justice?

I know that the Justice Committee has been looking into the operation of the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service in great depth. We await the committee’s report coming in due course.

A number of figures have been bandied about at the committee; I say to members—Mary Fee knows this well—that the operation of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is ultimately a matter for the Lord President. The performance of the courts is monitored very carefully—I believe monthly—by the justice system planning group, which is a subgroup of the national justice board. We are seeing improvement, as I have indicated, in relation to domestic abuse and the general performance of summary criminal trials. That improvement is down to the great work that is being conducted by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.