10. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the report by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Scotland, “The Right to Recover”. (S5O-02216)

Child-centred and trauma-informed healthcare is at the heart of the current paediatric services that are provided to children in Scotland who experience sexual assault. The Scottish Government’s child protection improvement programme is undertaking work to ensure that effective protection is in place for all children who are at risk from abuse and neglect. We have established a task force for improving services for adults and children who have experienced rape and sexual assault, which is led by the chief medical officer for Scotland. In addition, we have established an expert group for preventing sexual offending involving children and young people in order to identify actions to better prevent sexual crime involving children and young people.

In May last year, the Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland published a national trauma skills and knowledge framework to support strategic planning and delivery of training for those who have contact with people who have been affected by trauma across all parts of the Scottish workforce.

The report says clearly that there is a lack of services for children following sexual abuse in most local authorities across Scotland and that, where services exist, they are patchy, inadequate and unable to meet demand. What exactly is the Minister doing to ensure that the resources that she has match the rhetoric that she has just used?

Getting it right for child victims is a priority in our on-going reform of our justice system

. I assure the member that we are working across portfolios with our health and justice colleagues. We have made significant progress in recent months in improving the support for child victims. I know, from my Constituency, that the issue has been raised of the distances that people have to travel from Orkney and Shetland, but there have been great strides forward in improving that. The Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Bill has just been introduced in the Scottish Parliament and will deliver on the commitment that we made in the programme for government. The bill will create, among other things, a new rule that children who are due to give evidence in the most serious solemn cases should have their evidence pre-recorded in advance of the trial. That is an important step towards achieving the Scottish Government’s vision that, where possible, child witnesses should not have to give evidence at trial.