 Felly, mae'n ystafell hwyllwch ar gyfer yr iawn cyfweld clyw, gyda'r lle hefyd yn gweithio arlau a cyfweld cyfweld cyfweld cyfweld cyfweld cynhyrchu a'i rhaglenol, sy'n meddwl ify attwch â'r mewn clywau ajw a'r dweud, oes yn wouldiol ar gyfer y cyfweld, yn y clywau dim sy'n ddufdyn nhw'n cael ei ysgrifennu yn gweithio. Rwy'n credu fydd dŷl i gy earnings, for brevity in questions and responses, and I call question number one, Claire Baker. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government when the nationwide programme of inspection to assess the condition of an impact of climate change on some of Scotland's most significant heritage sites being undertaken by Historic Environment Scotland is expected to be completed. Minister Neil Gray. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The inspection programme continues to progress well. Tactile inspections have been carried out at 30 sites across Scotland since last May. Historic Environment Scotland has been able to reopen a number of sites in Claire Baker's region, including Dooncastle, Burleighcastle and Inchcomammie. There is full or partial access to over 80 per cent of the properties and care, and Historic Environment Scotland continues to assess the potential to reopen sites as soon as it is safe to do so, which I will continue to urge them to do as quickly as possible. Claire Baker. Although, of course, the safety of sites is paramount, it is unfortunate that the progress has made me quicker. The inspection programme has now moved on to level 2 sites. That does include Aberdare Castle in my region, which I was pleased to visit recently and met with Hess. In 2019, there were over 24,000 visitors to that castle, so I know that the minister recognises the impact on local businesses, and Aberdare does have much to offer, but part of its attraction is the importance of the castle, particularly for international visitors. I wonder if the Government is making any assessment of what additional support towns and villages such as Aberdare will need during this prolonged period of closure. I can attest to my own family's relationship with Aberdare. My children love Aberdare beach, but the site of Aberdare Castle is partially open. The wall gardens and driveway were made accessible in October last year. The inspection was completed in November, and work is on going to reopen the internal areas, with some restrictions of the date, to be confirmed with that. However, I would be happy to either meet Claire Baker myself or to ensure that Historic Environment Scotland is able to meet Claire Baker as well, because she is absolutely right. The importance of those sites as anchor organisations for local communities is well known. I want to make sure that she is aware of the progress that has been made. Last week, Historic Environment Scotland's chief executive informed a packed meeting organised by the Llanusco civic trust that the Llanusco palace is to partially reopen in May following necessary works. That is very welcome news, but bearing in mind the damage to the north range of the Llanusco palace and, indeed, many other properties still facing significant and continuing damage from the elements, will the minister consider a new and comprehensive ruins management strategy to ensure that our much-loved and valued ruins heritage can be managed into the future? I thank Fiona Hyslop for that question. I am pleased that she was able to have such a successful meeting with her local community and Historic Environment Scotland, which was able to give good news. Like her, I welcome the partial reopening of Llanusco palace coming in May and the work that has been undertaken by Historic Environment Scotland inspecting and repairing other properties and care. The properties and care represent some of Scotland's most iconic and culturally significant assets, including Llanusco palace. We recently consulted more broadly on a refreshed strategy for Scotland's historic environment, which seeks to prioritise activities such as that suggested by Fiona Hyslop that supports economic recovery and renewal. That strategy focuses on creating a more resilient and sustainable historic environment and helps to communicate the contribution that the historic environment makes to our nation. The core conservation cost for properties and care in 2021-22 was £7.7 million. That represents a 14 per cent reduction from 2017-18. The decline in the provision has been a consistent trend over the past five years. Given the impact of closed heritage sites on tourism and the local economy, can the minister tell me what discussions he has had with HES to ensure that funding for conservation and maintenance is maintained, if not increased, to ensure that no more sites close and those that are already reopened as quickly as possible? I thank Sharn Dowd for that question. Obviously, Historic Environment Scotland has its own decisions to make. I obviously meet with them regularly about their strategic priorities as I have already outlined to previous questioners. The Scottish Government has substantially increased resource to Historic Environment Scotland in recognition of the impact not just of the pandemic on HES's commercial income but also of the need to ensure that our properties and care are maintained. Over 2022-23, we will support Historic Environment Scotland with £60.6 million to main Scotland's heritage and historic environment, an 80 per cent increase on pre-pandemic levels of funding. HES is working hard to reopen our heritage sites as soon as it is safe to do so, and we continue to support them in that endeavour. Question 2 is withdrawn. Question 3, Clare Adamson, who joins us remotely. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any engagement that it has had with the UK Government regarding the potential impact in Scotland of the on-going negotiations over the Northern Ireland protocol bill. I welcome the progress announced this week on the Northern Ireland protocol. The Scottish Government consistently called for the UK Government to withdraw its irresponsible Northern Ireland protocol bill and to seek a sustainable negotiated solution to this entirely avoidable and deeply damaging dispute with our European neighbours. However, Scotland is still left with Brexit and all of the damage that comes with it. I urge the UK Government now to seize this opportunity to start the overdue work of repairing relations with our EU partners more widely and rebuilding closer co-operation and partnership across the many areas in which Scotland's interests have been harmed by Brexit. In addition, the UK Government must now clarify the policy on Northern Ireland to GB trade. That will be crucial to understand the impact on devolved responsibilities, including any physical checks on food safety and animal and plant health and any associated infrastructure required such as the border control post at Cairn Ryan. Clare Adamson, I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer, and it all being well, and this goes through, we look forward to a return to horizon funding. However, can it be right that Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain within the EU, has been ignored and is feeling the full force of a hard Brexit, while Mr Sunach shamelessly boasts about the huge economic benefits that access to the EU signal market will bring for Northern Ireland? We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to find a negotiated solution to this entirely avoidable dispute with the European Union. The Scottish Government unequivocally supports the Good Friday agreement, and we welcome the new agreement that has been announced on the Northern Ireland protocol. However, Scotland did not vote for Brexit, and yet we continue to suffer from the consequences, including exacerbating the current cost of living crisis. While Northern Ireland has been given preferential access to the huge European signal market, Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, has been ignored by the UK Government and subjected to the full damage of disastrous hard Brexit. The Scottish Government is now carefully considering the deal and what it means for Scotland. Brexit has brought nothing but harm to people, to communities and businesses in Scotland, and the Scottish Government remains committed to realising Scotland's potential as an independent nation within the European Union. For decades, the troubles in Ireland have cost lives, ruined families and destroyed communities. It has required delicate, pragmatic, exhausting engagement and diplomacy by great leaders over many, many years. Forgive me if I get a little bit exasperated by politicians here who seek to exploit the developments in Northern Ireland to advance their own narrow agenda. Will the First Minister and the Minister here think again about drawing parallels between Northern Ireland and our Scotland? I do not think that we have enough time to do the question justice. As we have learned from the developments this week, it would have been perfectly possible to reach an agreement in principle before, but that was impossible given the confrontational approach of the last UK Prime Minister and notwithstanding his claim that he had an oven-ready deal. I think that it behoves all of us to understand that what will now happen with Northern Ireland remaining within the single European market is that Northern Ireland will have a competitive advantage relative to Scotland and to Scottish businesses. That is a statement of fact. I do not know if Willie Rennie disagrees with that. Regardless of where we stand on the question of whether Scotland should be a sovereign member state of the European Union, it is going to become ever more apparent that Northern Ireland is in an exceptionally privileged position, one that the Prime Minister himself described as being so and Scotland being as a disadvantage. I would hope that the Liberal Democrats and the fellow parties, which at one stage supported membership of the European Union but are now supporting Brexit, to think again and to stand up for Scotland's social, economic and political interests, at least for this. The cabinet secretary has already mentioned harm. Does he agree that the renegotiated NIP protocol could have a harmful impact on Scottish businesses that no longer have access to the EU market, as we have said already, while Northern Ireland businesses enjoy those benefits? I have already put on record that it is a good thing that Northern Ireland is able to remain within the single European market. It is something that the Scottish Government has supported, whilst at the same time saying that Scotland voted to remain in the European Union and that it is possible to find an arrangement for part of the United Kingdom to remain within the single European market. Surely it must be possible for another, namely Scotland. Unfortunately, the UK Government chose to ignore that. It would have been entirely possible to do so, so now we find ourselves in a situation where we are notwithstanding the fact that we think that it is a good thing that the solution has been found for Northern Ireland, is recognising that Scotland not having that status within the single European market puts Scotland at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to inward investment, when it comes to our exporting industries. Surely that should be obvious to everybody in this chamber, and no doubt we will be coming back to it over the months and the years ahead. Michael Marra To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the work of Systema Scotland. Systema Scotland is a brilliant example of how lives can be changed and enriched through culture. Its work contributes to many Scottish Government policies outcomes, in particular our ambitions to tackle child poverty. The Scottish Government has supported Systema Scotland with annual funding since 2012, providing £1.1 million in 2022-23. In addition, we have established a cross portfolio reference group for Systema Scotland to understand where its excellent work aligns with priorities across Government, and the group's next meeting is due to take place in the spring. Michael Marra I thank the minister for that answer and for that support for this vital organisation. Last week, the SNP on Dundee City Council cut all financial support for Systema Scotland's Big Noise Douglas, and right now, the SNP Council in Aberdeen City is cutting all funding. Vital effective support, proven by research by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, for 1,250 of the most disadvantaged children in Scotland, swept away. Yesterday, the world-renowned Gustavo Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic said that these programmes in Scotland have been an inspiration to the world and planted seeds with millions of children everywhere. What will the Government do now? Will it be true to its own words? Will it be culture only for the privileged few? We know that this works. Will you step forward where other SNP members have failed? Thank you very much indeed. We are already engaging with Systema Scotland. Indeed, the Deputy First Minister met them only a few weeks ago around how we can continue to support the work that they do. Obviously, we are aware of the proposed and decisions that have been taken at local authority level, which are concerning given the value of the work system that Scotland does in local authorities across Scotland, and we are working closely with the organisation to showcase the impact of their work. I must emphasise, though, that local authorities are accountable to the public who elect them, and they have the financial freedom to operate independently, taking account of local needs, which I know as a former councillor. Michael Marra will understand and agree with, and so we will continue to work with Systema, we will continue to work with our local authority partners, who we are providing nearly £13.5 billion to through the local government settlement in 2324. However, councils are autonomous, it is their responsibility to agree budgets, considering their statutory duties, local and national priorities. I share the minister's views on Systema and the good work that it does in our communities. That is why I am absolutely disgusted with the SNP Lib Dem Administration at Aberdeen City Council axing the budget for Big Noise Tory. It was something that I protected when I was council leader for four years, so will he now intervene to find a way to save Big Noise Tory? I do not think that this is an issue that is for our local authorities to determine. I do not think that it is for MSPs or Government ministers to intervene on local government decisions. I think that that is a general principle that most of us normally ascribe to. We will continue to work with Systema, we will continue to work with our local government partners to ensure that we are continuing to provide services that ensure that people continue to enjoy cultural experiences, and children in particular are able to enjoy the types of offerings that are provided by the likes of Systema to lift them out of poverty to ensure that they have aspiration to continue to contribute through culture, and I will ensure that those issues are continued to be reported in the work that we do. To ask the Scottish Government what gender-specific risk and safety planning is carried out to support Ukrainian refugees at the point of arrival in Scotland, as well as in the medium and long term? Ruth Maguire can be assured that ensuring the wellbeing and safety of Ukrainian people through early identification of risk and need is central to our response and has been from the very outset of our programme. Our welcome hubs conduct trauma-informed initial assessments to identify any immediate welfare or protection concerns, and that includes gender-specific risks. On-going support is tailored based on the needs of the individual and is delivered locally. The Scottish Government is working with various safeguarding partners to inform our approach, linked to equally safe, our strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls. I am grateful to the minister for that answer. We know that once it happens, it is very difficult to recover victims of trafficking. The CPG on human trafficking last week heard from experts that some of the things that increased people's vulnerability, some of the risks were insecure accommodation, relationship breakdown and complacency from authorities, and in saying that they were putting a challenge to all of us, would the minister agree with me that there is not only opportunity but imperative on us all to be awake to the threat and work together to prevent this heinous crime before it happens? I 100 per cent agree with Ruth Maguire's guidance for practitioners involved in safeguarding. People arriving from Ukraine to identify and respond to risk and need has been published and is regularly reviewed, and we are providing £622,000 to the Trafficking Awareness raising alliance in 2022-23 to support adult females' traffic for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. That is in addition to more than £2.5 million provided to migrant help during this financial year to support all other adult victims of human trafficking and exploitation in Scotland. Given her clear interest in long-standing work in this area, I would be more than happy to meet Ruth Maguire to talk about that in more detail. Serida Scotland recently launched its report on sexual and gender-based violence amongst refugees in Scotland. The report highlighted that urgent need for service in Scotland to focus on forced migrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, including a dedicated working group, to address specific needs of survivors. Given the continued influx of refugees currently coming to Scotland from Ukraine, will the minister advise what action the Scottish Government will take to consider the recommendation of the report? I would be more than happy to continue to consider that. In addition to the funding that I spoke about in answer to Ruth Maguire's question, the £622,000 for Trafficking Awareness and £2.5 million provided to migrant help, we are also funding and working directly with the Scottish Refugee Council. They provide initial support and are also helping us to ensure that, from a policy perspective, we are responding in the most effective way, but I would be more than happy to consider what Faisal Choudhury has raised and thank him for his support and work in this area. To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that Scotland keeps us aligned as possible with European policy developments. The Scottish Government is committed to remaining close to the European Union and to building the strongest possible relationship between the EU and Scotland. Our alignment policy protects the wellbeing of people off Scotland by maintaining and advancing the standards that we share with the EU wherever it is practical and possible to do that under the current constitutional settlement. This policy was approved by this Parliament in June 2022 and has been delivered through evidence-based policymaking and stakeholder engagement. Our alignment policy helps to realise the vision that we share for the continent's future and its part in the world, from ensuring our people's prosperity to tackling the climate emergency and supporting the people of Ukraine and helps to pave the way for an independent Scotland's return to the European Union in the future. Can the cabinet secretary confirm that this work is properly resourced in order that Scotland, given the opportunity, can join the European Union as seamlessly as possible? With all the UK political parties, Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats embracing Brexit with no intention of rejoining the EU, can he confirm that the only road to joining the European Union goes through independence for Scotland? Yes, and the Scottish Government's approach focuses on maintaining and advancing the high standards that we share with the European Union where that is possible and its consideration is integral to our approach to evidence-based policymaking across the full range of devolved policy areas. At the same time, the UK Government's retained EU law bill threatens these high standards and undermines devolution, which is why this Parliament has agreed not to give consent to that bill. The member also references other parties' policies in relation to the EU. Labour, of course, does not just now support Brexit, it supports the hard Brexit negotiated by Boris Johnson, which keeps Scotland and the UK out of the huge European single market and customs union despite all of the economic damage that it is causing. I'm brief supplementary from Sarah Boyack, who joins us online. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It will come as no surprise to the cabinet secretary that I'm wanting to raise transparency. I have raised this issue before. It's about the ability of MSP to scrutinise the Scottish Government on where it does decide to keep pace with the EU legislation and where it doesn't. It's severely constrained due to the lack of information, so can the cabinet secretary confirm whether the Scottish Government is still considering the SEAC Committee's proposal for a memorandum of understanding between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament to provide information and scrutiny on the Government's approach to keeping pace with key pieces of EU legislation? I'm happy to confirm to Sarah Boyack that our officials are continuing to work with parliamentary officials on the question of European union alignment. It's not just with the historic issues, but it's also with the forthcoming challenge of the retained European union law process that we're going to have to go to. I'm absolutely seized of this matter. This will be no doubt a subject that Sarah Boyack and others in the chamber will wish to be reassured on. I am happy to again give the commitment to her that I want us to have the best transparency in place as we go forward, making sure that members understand the ways in which the Scottish Government intends for us to remain aligned with the European union law. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of its contributions to development in Malawi through its Malawi Development programme 2018-23. The Scottish Government committed £11.4 million for the current programme for projects that contribute to the achievement of the UN sustainable development goals. For example, our project establishing Malawi's first dental school, which now has more students enrolled than registered dentists in Malawi, with 50 per cent of the latest intake now female. We require six monthly progress reports before any grant payments are made, and those allow for an ongoing assessment of each project's contribution to development in Malawi. Grant holders are also required to provide an end project report with details of the project's achievements and any lessons learned. I thank the minister for his answer. I think that we would all agree in the chamber that the partnership between Malawi and Scotland remains important now, perhaps more than ever, as both countries face immense global challenges. How is the Scottish Government ensuring continued support from Malawi and other partner countries, like Rwanda and Zambia, beyond March 2023? I thank Christine Grahame for that question. It allows me to re-emphasise the importance and how proud I am of the incredible and durable relationship that there is between Scotland and Malawi and the incredible work that is done by our partners, including the Malawi-Scotland partnership and the Scotland-Malawi partnership, in ensuring that that can be continued and sustained. We are currently working on the design of our new programmes to implement the outcomes of our international development review. While that programming is under way, I have taken the decision to extend our existing cohort of projects until March 2024. This additional spend on those programmes will help ensure that the Scottish Government continues to support our partner countries, while ensuring that we utilise our international development fund in an efficient and effective manner. Across our whole programme, the Scottish Government remains in close contact with our partners in Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia and are aware of the immense challenges in those partner countries and continue to respond to them as we can. I thank the minister for his answer. Thank you, Presiding Officer. NHS Tayside developed the Scottish Emergency Medicine Malawi project, with the aim of delivering Malawi a national emergency and trauma network. Can I ask the minister what progress has been made on the project to date? I hope that the correspondence that I sent back to Mr Stewart will be of assistance in this regard. We are under the process, as I have already said, of reviewing and restarting some of our programmes, where there is an opportunity for groups and bids to be brought forward. I will be happy to continue to work with Mr Stewart and others who are looking to be part of that. Thank you very much, minister. That concludes portfolio questions on constitution, external affairs and culture. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next portfolio question. The next portfolio is justice and veterans. Again, if a member wishes to ask a supplementary, I invite them to press their request to speak buttons during the relevant question. We have quite a bit of interest again in this section, so brief questions and responses please. I call question number one, Jackie Dunbar. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress being made to ensure that domestic abuse legislation better reflects victims' experiences. We must treat domestic abuse survivors with compassion and availability of services that acknowledge the significant trauma that they have experienced. Our victim centre approach fund has awarded £48 million to provide support to victims, including £18.5 million for specialist advocacy support for survivors of gender-based violence. Research on the operation of our groundbreaking domestic abuse legislation found that it does better reflect victims' experiences. I am acutely aware, however, that more needs to be done and I am committed to working with our partners across the justice system to do so, including through legislative reform and rolling out of trauma-informed practice. I thank the minister for her answer. I, too, welcome the findings of the recent interim report into the ground-breaking domestic abuse legislation, which highlights the beneficial impact of including emotional and psychological abuse in this area of the law. Can the minister outline how the measures in the 2023-24 budget will support the on-going work to ensure that victims' rights and needs are at the centre of Scotland's criminal justice system going forward? We are strengthening how justice and wider public services support victims through our budget. That includes continuation of support to more than 20 organisations through the Victim Centred Approach Fund and support to victims of violent crime in Scotland through the criminal injuries compensation scheme. As part of our vision for justice and the commitment to support victims in their journey to healing and recovery, we must offer approaches and justice that place victims at the heart. A victims advisory board has been established by the victims task force to ensure that victims' experiences are directly informing our action and the actions of our justice partners. I know that Jackie Dimbar will welcome the establishment of the women's justice leadership panel, which I chair, which is looking at how we address gender inequality and improve women's experiences within the justice system. One of the ways that we can legislate to crack down on domestic abuse is to crack down on forced marriages involving young people. The minister will be aware of steps taken in England and Wales to raise the age of consent of marriage to 18. Can I ask the Scottish Government plans to do the same? This is something that the Scottish Government is actively looking at. A report published by the Scottish Government this month looked into the experience of families who have fallen victim to domestic abuse. Female victims of domestic abuse told interviews of their haramie experiences in the courtroom with their abusers exhibiting, intimidating and threatening behaviour towards them before and during the trial. In one case, I know of a complainer of rape alleges that her abuser solicit her turn to the galleries and pointed at her during sentencing. Does the minister believe that there should be clear protocols for behaviour within courtrooms as well that there should be enforced and clear ways of being able to complain about any incidents? In 2021, we, in consultation with the Victims Task Force, commissioned NHS education for Scotland to create a knowledge and skills framework specifically to support the development of a trauma-informed workforce in the justice sector. The framework was endorsed by the Victims Task Force on a meeting of 7 December 2022, so this is something that we are acutely aware of. A number of my constituents have advised me that their abusive ex-partners were able to continue to abuse them in ways that were difficult to evidence in court, despite the robust legislation in place, for example by using child contact arrangements to exert control over their ex-partner. Can the minister advise me of what action can be taken to increase understanding across the justice system of the often insidious nature, as we have just heard, of abuse to ensure that even less, obviously, examples of abuse are recognised as such? I fully appreciate the need to ensure that abuse is recognised across the justice system in both criminal and civil cases. In relation to child contact cases, the legislation requires the court to have regard to abuse and the risk of abuse. The Scottish Government is committed to preparing a discussion paper on the interaction between criminal and civil cases. A key part of that work will be to consider how all forms of abuse can be tackled to prevent the situations as clearly narrated by Fiona Hyslop. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle cybercrime. The Scottish Government works closely with national and with UK partners, including Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland, to tackle fraud and cybercrime and to reduce the harm it inflicts upon communities in Scotland. There is a range of advice to help people to improve their online safety found on cyberscotland.com, as well as from the National Cyber Security Centre, Cyber Aware, Take 5 and Get Safe. Victims of any crime should phone Police Scotland. I would highlight to the chamber that, currently, Cyber Scotland week, which I opened at the future Scottish Cyber Security Conference on Monday is on-going, there are over 100 events taking place across the country, raising awareness of being safe and secure online and promoting cyber security careers. Kenneth Gibson. I thank the cabinet secretary for that fulsome response. In recent years, there has been a huge shift in small firms moving their business online, yet BT research shows that thousands of Scotland's small firms could be open to cyber attack because of little or no business-grade cyber security in place, and almost half suffered cyber breaches last year. What measures are in place specifically to help our small businesses and other plans to step up the share of police resources dedicated to tackling cybercrime? A very important point that Kenneth Gibson raises is not least because the nature of some of the cybercrimes, in particular ransomware and so on, has now shown that smaller and smaller companies have been attacked whereas, in the past, it tended to be larger companies. However, for the part of the Scottish Government, we funded Cyber Scotland to partner Scotland IS to engage and support the Scottish IT managed services sector, as many small businesses rely on them for their security. We also support another partner, the Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland, previously SBRC, the host of cyber incident response helpline, which aims at offering first-line incident support to small businesses. The allocation of other resources is a matter for Police Scotland. However, despite the UK Government austerity, the Scottish Government has increased police funding year on year since 2016-17, and in 2023-24, the service will receive additional resource funding of £80 million, a 6.3 per cent increase. The national crime agency has estimated that up to 850,000 people in the UK pose a sexual threat to children, which is a truly horrifying and terrifying statistic. Two years ago, Police Scotland's award-winning Get Help or Get Caught campaign targeted those who might seek to groom children online or in real life. Given the constant online threat to children, can the cabinet secretary tell me whether there are any similar measures or initiatives that his Government might be taking? In the general area, we work closely with the UK Government and have done so in terms of its online crime bill—a number of provisions relating to the crimes that Russell Findlay is talking about. We do that with them. It is best that we work together on areas where there is no border online. It is not an effective mechanism to stop those crimes, so we do that in conjunction with the UK and with other partners. The Scottish Police Authority, through the series organised crime group, looks at a number of ways in which children, not just in terms of sexual abuse but in terms of human trafficking, can be victims through online activities. There is a great deal of work on going. I am happy to provide further information on other initiatives to Russell Findlay in writing. Question 3 is not lodged. Question 4 is from Natalie Donne, who joins us online. To ask the Scottish Government how the Victim Surcharge Fund is aiming to support women who are victims of domestic abuse. The Victim Surcharge Fund has opened three times to applications from organisations that provide support to victims of crime. So far, 11 organisations, including Victim Support Scotland, Dumbarton District Women's Aid, Edinburgh Women's Aid and Angus Women's Aid, have shared more than £917,000 grant funding to provide practical help directly to victims, including victims of domestic abuse. Examples of support provided by the fund include demeaning clothing and other essential expenses for those escaping domestic abuse and the installation of alarming video systems to help victims feel safe. Natalie Donne? I would like to thank the minister for that answer. The trauma and fear that victims of domestic abuse suffer is incomprehensible for many and the support required can vary. We have a whole range of organisations in Scotland. The ministers named a few who play a vital role in supporting women through the most difficult circumstances. Remasters Women's Aid, who operated in my constituency, offered tailored support to women who are experiencing domestic abuse. However, I note that they did not receive funding from the Victim Surcharge Fund. I ask the minister if and when there will be a fourth round of this funding and what other funding opportunities there are for organisations providing support for victims of domestic abuse. Victim Surcharge Fund will open to more applications once sufficient money has been collected. We anticipate that that will be towards the end of this year. So far, all organisations offering support to domestic abuse survivors that have applied have received funding. In the meantime, organisations supporting victims of domestic abuse that have not applied to the Victim Surcharge Fund can approach Victim Support Scotland on behalf of those who are supporting for help as Victim Support Scotland manages an emergency assistance fund partially funded through the Victim Support Surcharge Fund. I encourage Natalie Donne and all MSPs to make sure that that is well known. Given the context of increasing anti-immigrant sentiment in some parts of Scotland, what signposting and support is available to women survivors of domestic abuse who have no recourse to public funds? Like myself, I know that Maggie Chapman has a keen interest in this area. The Scottish Government is clear that women with no recourse to public funds should be offered the same level of support as other women in Scotland and not face disadvantage. We continue to urge the UK Government to ensure that all victims of domestic abuse are afforded, the same protections and support. Our ending destitution together strategy presses the UK Government to extend the destitution domestic violence concession to make it available to anyone who is in the UK as a dependent on someone else's visa or protection status, regardless of the timescales of that status. We will continue to make the case in the strongest of terms going forward. To ensure that the fund is fully utilised, will the Scottish Government make sure that it is available and well communicated across rural Scotland and island areas for the benefit of all women who are victims of domestic abuse? Absolutely. I can give Beatrice Wishart the assurance that we will seek to make sure that it is communicated effectively. To ask the Scottish Government whether all victims of crime are given notice in advance of their case going to court. The Victims and Witnesses Scotland Act 2014 provides that all victims of crime with the right to request and obtain information about their case. That includes information on the stage that any criminal proceedings have reached. In relation to victims in our most serious cases, including sexual, domestic abuse, stalking and hate crimes, and in relation to bereaved relatives who have lost a loved one through crime, the Crown provides notice without any request so long as the individual victim or bereaved relatives so wishes. I should make the point that the provision of information to victims was considered by this Parliament during the passage of the 2014 act and the enacted legislation reflects the decision of Parliament to enable victims to receive this information should they wish it. I thank the Lord Advocate for that answer. I am aware of examples in the Highlands where victims have not been notified in advance when the trial is going to court, sometimes reading the outcomes in the press. Can the Lord Advocate confirm whether this issue is widespread throughout Scotland? If so, how many victims have not received advance notifications of trials in the last year? I thank the Lord Advocate for the follow-up question. I should say to Mr Mountain that, before today, an inquiry was made of your office to ascertain if the question that was being posed today was prompted by any specific prosecution or any specific complaint. I was advised that the question posed today was simply one of a generic nature. What I would like to do is to request Mr Mountain to contact the Crown Office and Procate of Fiscal Service with the examples of the cases that he has given today. I will look at those and follow up the specific cases that he wishes to raise. That is the response that I am able to give today only as a follow-up to the question posed. If there are specific cases where there has been no notification or there has been difficulty communicated to Mr Mountain in his office, I am more than happy to hear about that and to respond to that in specific detail. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service capital budget for 2023-24 on the amount of maintenance work that is required in court buildings across the country. Prioritisation of maintenance work in Scotland's courts and tribunals is an operational matter for SCTS. Essential capital works are carried out on a priority basis informed by an on-going programme of condition surveys. The capital position is particularly challenging across a number of portfolios, including justice, but despite that, we have been able to increase the capital allocation to SCTS in 2023-24 by £4.7 million towards known capital pressures on top of the baseline £8 million annual capital allocation. Current levels of Scottish Government capital funding should ensure that programme of maintenance will continue. Last time SCTS faced such difficult financial circumstances, it closed 10 sheriff courts, including Arbroath and Stonehaven in my region. There is a £7.3 million maintenance backlog in our courts at the moment, and the spectre of 2013 is never far from the minds of those in local justice. Will the cabinet secretary provide them with the certainty that they need and say that there will be no more court closures in the lifetime of this Parliament? It is important to put some context in relation to what the member mentioned of the 10 sheriff courts that were closed in 2015. It is worth pointing out that context, and it necessarily includes what we received from the UK Government and what they spend on justice. The two are linked and extricably, and I am sure that the member will acknowledge that. In England and Wales, for example, there were 239 courts—I do not know if this is uncomfortable to hear, but if you could do me the courtesy of listening to the answer to the question that you have asked, if it is possible. We have had a good session so far, where questions have been asked and responses have been provided. Can we continue in a similar vein, Mr Kerr, cabinet secretary? 239 court closures in England and Wales since 2010 have closed, and with reference to the courts, this is a court from the Bar Council. Crumbling court buildings are not fit for purpose, including leaks, infestations and lack of basic facilities. The obvious link is that what they spend on justice in England and Wales has a direct consequence for what they spend in Scotland. Despite that, in response to the point that was made by Mr Kerr, we have no current plans to initiate further court closures in Scotland, despite the appalling funding from England and Wales and the UK Government. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service, NHS boards and others to support the health and wellbeing of people in prison and prevent deaths by suicide. We recognise that people in prison often present with higher levels of risk and vulnerability than the general population as a whole. We are committed to ensuring that they can access healthcare that is, as a minimum, equal to that offered in the community. We are working with the Scottish Prison Service and NHS boards to improve health outcomes for people living in our prisons, including to prevent deaths by suicide. The work is informed by the Scottish Government's prison healthcare needs assessments, the mental welfare commission's report on prisoner mental health support and the independent review of the response to deaths in prison custody. Across the work, we will embed the principles of time, space and compassion to ensure that people are able to access high-quality, compassionate, appropriate and timely support that supports wellbeing and recovery. According to the University of Glasgow report, there has been a 42 per cent rise in lives lost to suicide in Scottish prisons since 2016. Last year's progress report on the independent review of the response to deaths in prison custody showed that the uptake of the review's recommendations has been disappointingly slow. Can the cabinet secretary provide reassurances that progress is being accelerated towards implementing all of the recommendations that were in that review? Just to say first of all that my thoughts are first and foremost with anyone who has lost a loved one in prison custody by suicide. Every death by suicide is a tragedy. We are committed to working with partners to implement the recommendations from the independent review into deaths in custody. Whether progress report in December recognises that some of the issues are complex and will take some time to resolve and implement further pace, as the member suggests, is needed. Following publication of the progress report, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and I jointly wrote to the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service and to all NHS Scotland chief executives and integration authorities, chief officers, requesting the greater priority given to timely implementation of the recommendations. Gillian Emery, the former chief inspector of Constabulary, will continue in her role as the external chair of the review into late 2023, providing support and leadership to implement the recommendations. A further update on progress will be published later this year. I welcome the commitment to improve provisions for people who live in our prisons. Can the cabinet secretary outline what steps are being taken ahead of the publication of the review to improve prisoner mental wellbeing? The Government in partnership with its stakeholders commissioned a comprehensive needs assessment of the prison population in relation to social care, substance use, mental health and physical health. We are working with senior leaders from across the Scottish Government, the prison service and the NHS boards, to provide additional oversight and to drive forward priority improvements. We are fully engaged with the SPS in the development of the Scottish Government's new mental health and wellbeing strategy. The Scottish Government also sits on the SPS mental health and wellbeing steering group. That close working is informing our collective approach to improving wellbeing and suicide prevention in all of our prisons. The minister will have heard deep concern from all sides of the chamber today about the high rates of suicide and also other deaths. Can he give us an indication about how quickly we are going to get this situation turned around? I have heard the detail of the answers that he has provided, but when are we going to see some returns on this investment? I have mentioned in my original substantive answer that we expect a further update from the chair of the review later this year, but already a lot of these actions have been implemented. For example, simply making sure that people are told, the family are told immediately, was something that was not done routinely previously, that is being done by Governors and associates now. Those are being implemented now, but as I say, a further update will happen this year to give more information to the member and the chamber. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the outcome of its investigation into the provision of reconviction statistics for the 2019-20 offender cohort. As noted in the response to a previous parliamentary question, that was S6W-13874. The heavy impact of the pandemic and subsequent court closures on reconvictions data means that user needs for information must be balanced against the provision of meaningful and informative statistics that carry minimal risk of misinterpretation. The investigation into what information we could helpfully provide to users and respect of reconvictions stats is still on-going. We plan to communicate the outcome of this investigation by the end of March. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer, but I am sure that he will agree that third sector-run programmes offering pre- and post-discharge support to prisoners can play a hugely important role in reducing, re-offending and improving outcomes more generally. Given that the funding for such projects relies on being able to demonstrate their effectiveness with empirical data, does he agree that its vital data-like reconviction statistics is gathered, validated and published in a reasonable time frame? It is absolutely the case, as the member says. If we were to publish the data that we have, which will show a substantial drop, as the member will appreciate, in the year after—the first year of lockdowns, for example—it would show a dramatic reduction, but it would not be an accurate picture. There is more to it than that. In order to give meaningful information, we have to do the investigation that has been referred to, but we also have to make sure that the stats that are provided come up to a certain standard. They are at the gold standard now, they are accredited, they are vindicated and validated. We want to make sure that is the case. There is no reason for not providing this information other than to make sure that it is accurate as possible, and that is what we intend to do. I very much welcome the crime statistics released this week, which show a fall in the number of crimes recorded by police last year. The Scottish Government's vision for justice aims to shift the balance from short-term sentences to community-based interventions, which we know are more effective at reducing re-offending. How the bail and release bill will help to reduce re-offending, crime and future victimisation? It is a really important question. The member will know, of course, as the chair of the committee, that the bail and release bill will help to reduce re-offending in future victimisation by ensuring public safety and victim protection are at the heart of bail decision making and improving support for people leaving prison custody. The bill recognises the negative impact that short periods of imprisonment can have, particularly for those who have not been convicted of a crime, and the evidence that community-based interventions can be more effective at supporting rehabilitation. The bill supports the principle that those who do not pose a risk to public safety or, in certain circumstances, a risk to delivery of justice should be admitted to bail. Effective support for people leaving prison reduces their risk of re-offending, something that we all want to see. That is why the bill includes reforms to improve pre-release planning and the support provided to individuals on release. The bill should be seen alongside our ongoing investment in community-based alternatives to custody, as well as our continuing investment in the third sector of voluntary through-care services across Scotland. That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause for the front benches change before we move to the next item of business.