 Can I remind members of the Covid-related measures that are in place and that face covering should be worn when moving around the chamber and across the Holyrood campus? The final item of business is a member's business debate on motion 1604, in the name of Casey Clark, on domestic abuse charges. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would ask those members who wish to speak in the debate to please press the request-to-speak buttons now. I call on Casey Clark to open the debate. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. It is a very welcome opportunity today to discuss the significant problem of domestic abuse in Scotland and how the legal system deals with those kinds of situations. I would like to put on record my thanks to the members who have signed this member's motion, which has enabled this debate to take place today. I will focus on the issues that are involved in domestic violence charges, rather than rape and sexual offence cases, which I have spoken about previously, and which the Government is of course considering in relation to the recommendations from Lady Dorian's report on rape and sexual offence cases. There were over 33,000 charges with a domestic abuse identifier reported to the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Office during the year 2020-2021. That was a 9 per cent increase on the year before. About one in four of those cases were classed as common assault. Many women and girls, of course, do not go to the police. Violence against women and girls is endemic in our society. That relates to wider issues and the power relationship between men and women. However, the justice system has a track record of failing to deal with many of the domestic abuse cases that are taken to the authorities in an acceptable way. Many women and girls who have suffered domestic abuse have described their experiences of the justice system as being re-traumatising. It is clear that improving the experiences of women and girls requires significant changes to the justice system. Since the creation of the Scottish Parliament, MSPs in all political parties have attempted to highlight the issue of domestic violence and make legislative changes to improve how cases are handled. Some of the examples of how things have changed is that now we have separate facilities for domestic abuse cases in some parts of the country so that the complainer does not have to go through the unpleasant experience of attending court. In some cases, evidence is taken by commission, which means that the victim does not have to go to court. That is often particularly important when it is young children who are giving evidence. My motion calls on the Scottish Government to analyse and evaluate the outcomes of specialist domestic abuse courts, which have operated in some parts of the country, particularly Glasgow and Edinburgh, and to lay out a strategy for rolling out specialist abuse courts across the country. Potentially, specialist domestic abuse courts offer an opportunity to massively change the way that domestic abuse charges are dealt with, with trauma-informed approaches, the ability to have specialist premises, a focus on consistent sentencing and specialist prosecutors dealing with cases. On 30 November, we debated a Government motion on gender-based violence, and Scottish Labour put down an amendment to that motion, calling on the Government to evaluate specialist domestic abuse courts with a view to rolling them out across the country. The SNP voted against that amendment on that occasion, but I very much hope that this is something that the Government is willing to look at and that that vote was on a technicality and that the Government will accept that they have the power to introduce those courts throughout the country. In May last year, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service set up a pilot project for virtual summary criminal trials to be conducted in Aberdeen and Inverness sheriff courts. After an interim report, a virtual trials national project board was established, where all interested groups were represented, and in Aberdeen, the pilot continued for domestic abuse cases only, using a remote facility for witnesses under the supervision of Victim Support Scotland. Last week, the board reported to the Lord Justice General and the Cabinet Secretary that it recommended that every sheriffdom in Scotland should have a dedicated specialist online court for domestic abuse cases. Their report says that a virtual dedicated specialist summery court would offer advantages by increasing protection, reducing trauma for complainers, making it easier for witnesses to give evidence, offering some efficiencies in reducing travel, maintaining efficiency and consistency and also introducing trauma-informed practices. It also said that virtual courts had the impact of mitigating delays caused by the pandemic, as about a quarter of all outstanding summery court cases are domestic abuse cases. Victim groups have been campaigning for these courts and have been positive about the pilot. The review also concluded that representation from defence agents was that the accused had received a fair trial. Of course, that is one of the concerns, in particular about virtual courts. It is clear that the way that the police, the courts and the wider legal system have operated in the past has not delivered justice to women. I hope that the Scottish Government will be willing to act to introduce specialist domestic violence courts. There is a debate to be had as to what extent those courts should be virtual, and I have no doubt that the Criminal Justice Committee will look at that aspect over the coming weeks, as it considers the Covid recovery legislation. However, violence and the fear of violence touches all women's lives. I look forward to the contributions from members, and I hope that we will get action from the Government on this issue. I thank Kate Clark for making this important topic to the chamber. As we already heard today, domestic abuse charges in Scotland have now increased for the fifth consecutive year. Kate mentioned her in about 33,000 cases in my constituency that was 111 incidents that were reported last year. That is one reported incident every three days. That alone is a staggin figure. However, we all know that those figures do not reveal the true extent of domestic abuse in our communities. Recently, I visited Eastland, Lothian and Zedd, and one of the things that they talked about was barriers about action going on. Talking about that, I suppose that what they have seen is justice for the actions that have been carried out in them. For a myriad of reasons, they do not often report their abusers up. I will let the minister address the key point that Kate Clark mentioned in her summit about domestic abuse courts. The scale of violence within our society has reached pandemic proportions. That violence is very core, and it is gender-based. Men's violence against women, girls or men's violence against men and boys. Domestic abuse, which is perpetrated by men against women, is rooted in women's and equal status in society, and that is at the core of the problem. Men need to be seen that more and more and more. It is part of the wider social problem of male violence against women and girls. Research from the University of Bristol reveals that sexism and misogyny set the scene for male abusive partners with coercive and controlling behaviours. Dr Jackson Katz researches delves even further into the root causes of male violence against women. That work focuses predominantly on attitudes and beliefs of manhood that society actively teaches. He encourages us not to think of men who are violent towards women as pathological monsters and not as individual perpetrators, but instead we need to think about our society. Our society that is producing abusive violent men on a regular basis generation after generation across the class, race and ethnicity, rape culture, sports culture, porn culture, peer culture and media culture. All those influences teach men certain lessons about manhood and social norms that are produced and reproduced at every level. Early today, I met with Graham Golden, formerly of the violence reduction unit. There was an eye opening meeting certainly for myself. He said to me in our meeting that it is the same system that produces men who abuse harm and violent towards women. It produces men who abuse and harm and are violent towards men also. That is not said in the spirit of minimising women's experience of male violence, but rather to illustrate that men and women have a common enemy and that is male violence. This recognition is important to help on his frame male violence against women in a way that brings men into the conversation. Again, we need to do that more and more and more. We have a leadership role in our Parliament to do that. Men have been largely raised from so much of the conversational subject which is essentially about men. That is why campaigns like Do Not Be That Guy campaign are so important because domestic abuse and violence against women and girls are symptoms of the socialisation of boys and the definitions of manhood society creates and upholds that lead to these current outcomes. For so long, women have been the only ones to stand up and speak out against male violence. I know men who care deeply about this issue, but caring deeply is not enough. We need more men to have the courage and the strength to stand up and not remain silent in the face of abuse. We need men to challenge behaviours and attitudes that have left alone manifest and transform into rape and murder of women. We need this, so abuse of behaviour will be seen as unacceptable not just because it is illegal but because it is wrong and unacceptable in pure culture. As the action cat says, we need men to break the silence in male culture about the on-going tragedy of men's violence against women. Just to conclude again, I thank Kate Clark for bringing forward this motion today. I am very pleased to speak in this debate brought forward by Kate Clark. I agree with her motion on what has already been said by her and the very important points raised by Paul McLennan about the deep-rooted nature of some of these crimes and the responsibility of men across society to do something about that. I have faith in the new Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain QC, who has clearly got her work cut out. Not only has she been left with the mess of the rangers' malicious prosecutions caused by her male predecessors, but she has got even bigger issues of the tens of thousands of backlogged criminal cases and how so many women and girls are still failed by the justice system. Last month, the Lord Advocate candidly told the Criminal Justice Committee that victims of sexual offences may not be getting justice and her candor is welcome. While anyone can be a victim of domestic violence, we know that the majority of victims are indeed female. The National Procurator for Domestic Abuse, Moira Price, recently said that the Crown takes a rigorous approach to these crimes and the crime of stalking. Those include a presumption in favour of prosecution where there is sufficient evidence, better training and prosecutors working more closely with the police. I still hear far too many accounts of women being failed by the justice system. In recent times, there was the so-called Boys Club of Police Officers in Murray. A female police officer reported a catalogue of alleged bullying and criminality, but her concerns were ignored. Then there are victims of stalking who tell me how the criminal justice system exacerbates their ordeal. Manipulative men abuse our courts by using spurious excuses to string out proceedings. That can last for years, even before Covid, and I believe that it is a tactic of control that is in itself an extension of the stalking campaign. Then there is a woman whose serious domestic violence case limped through the courts for four long years. At every turn, her attacker played the system and sought delays and excuses not to proceed. In the end, he was even allowed to strike a plea deal to have numerous charges either dropped or watered down quite significantly. This brave woman and many others tell me that they would not go through it again. Damningly, they say that they would advise others in the same position not to engage with the system, which I would obviously not encourage, but these are people who have been through horrific ordeals. Some criminals know that using this tactic of what is known as churn the constant delaying of cases can result in witnesses moving on for getting key details and victims simply losing patience. Then there is also the practice of plea deals, which largely operate unseen from the public eye. I was pleased when the Lord Advocate gave a commitment recently. In response to a question, I asked that these will not, the temptation to use these by prosecutors to clear the backlog, will not happen. They will not be misused for that purpose. As I have already mentioned by Katie Clark, I am very interested in the new report by the virtual trials national project board. Among other things, it calls for specialist online courts to deal with domestic abuse cases. It sounds from what Ms Clark has said that these have been very successful and welcomed positively not just by victims but by legal practitioners and others involved in the process. They say that this would increase protection and reduce trauma for victims. It is this kind of radical approach that the Lord Advocate needs to consider. While she has got victims on her side and many MSPs backing change, one challenge might come from the powerful legal lobby, which often seems culturally resistant to change. I am sure that we all wish her the best of luck. I now call Pauline McNeill, who will be the last speaker before I ask the minister to respond. Thank you to my colleague Katie Clark for bringing this important debate to Parliament and the committee's excellent speeches of Paul MacLennan and Russell Findlay. The message of violence must remain at the top of the agenda of this Parliament because by it is very nature. Violence committed usually by men against women is committed to get behind closed doors. It is on the increase that is more prevalent during the pandemic, and sadly, those figures are heading in the wrong direction. The men who think that they will never be held accountable when they use physical or psychological violence have to fear a robust criminal justice system, and that is why the existence of specialist domestic courts can play a very significant role. Male violence against women is endemic in our societies. We have all debated many times what we know is a global issue, and it is on the rise globally, sadly. If we have to have any chance of making any serious inroads, as I have said many times, I believe that we need to start teaching our boys and girls at a young age what is and what is not acceptable in relationships. As I have had a chance to discuss with the minister the cross-cutting programmes that are being conducted and are needed in justice education and equality are absolutely vital. I know that we agree on that point. Talk of rape culture in schools, the sending of unsolicited photographs, is becoming commonplace. Every time I open a newspaper, I am reading more of this. Sexual violence inflicted on teenage girls is really alarming, and sadly it is more alarming now than it probably was a few years ago. It is something for this Parliament to address. In a recent Sunday Post report, three out of five girls said that they had endured some form of sexual harassment. We need a seismic shift in attitudes to reverse this trend and we need to focus on what is happening in our schools and in our education system. I fully support the Government's equally safe programmes that promote healthy relationships, and I also support the work of Rape Crisis Scotland. I think that we need to hear how it can be rolled out across the country. The pandemic has highlighted just how unsafe home is for many women. The United Nations declared a shadow pandemic as women across the world face being stuck with their abuse and unable to get help or respite. Lockdown also caught off access for children to a safe space out of the home. The number of domestic abuse cases reported to the police in 2020-21 was over 6,000 or 5,000. Those are quite shocking statistics, but we consider that only one in 10 cases are estimated to be reported. It gives even more pause for thought. Specialist domestic abuse courts seem to be an appropriate way to address the magnitude of the problem of domestic violence. If we think that there is an appropriate solution, then we need to make sure that they are rolled out. Of course, domestic abuse does not only take the form of violence. Psychological abuse such as coercive and controlling behaviour can have a profound and damaging long-last effect on any individual. It is a part of behaviour that is often not obvious at first, but it can do real damage. It has been a crime since 2019. We also have to be alert to the fact that perpetrators are now often using social media and software like Apple air-tags to track victims. It was Isabel Unane from Women's Aid to Zed stocking and tech abuses are very real and dangerous forms of abuse with survivors who have been sought by their ex-partners often at the greatest risk of harm. Given the scope that domestic abuse can take, we need specialist courts to provide the resources and expertise to deal with this issue. I am glad to take part in a debate, although I am obviously sad to reflect on the figures. I know that there is absolute energy behind this in terms of the Government's approach to this and the cross-party issue. I do not think that it is a party issue. It is sadly an issue for society to deal with. It is not just a problem in Scotland, but in Scotland we are leading the way and we can continue to lead the way by the further adoption of domestic courts to apply our specialist prosecutors and those who work in our courts to make sure that we can provide a solution and make it clear that we have a robust system for anyone who wants to abuse men or women. I thank Kate Clark for lodging the motion for debate today. I commend her clear desire for action on the subject, which I would like to see. Domestic abuse has been one of this Parliament's priorities with a sea change in public attitudes since this Parliament was formed. In the not-too-distant past, all too often, there was a dominant view that domestic abuse was a private matter that took place behind closed doors and that it was no business of the criminal law or the justice system. Thankfully, that misjudged view has been well and truly demolished. There is a broad consensus that domestic abuse is a shared issue and that effective justice system response is essential in protecting victims. The vast majority of domestic abuse is committed by men against women. We all recognise that this is not a women's issue but that they are disproportionately affected by it and that men have to take responsibility. It is heartening to see that so many men are taking responsibility for their own actions and no longer being bystanders to the actions of others. That was a point that was well made by Paul MacLennan in his contribution. The Parliament has taken significant steps to improve the criminal law response to domestic abuse. In 2010, the Parliament acted swiftly to close a loophole in the breach of the peace law with the introduction of a new offence of threatening or abusive behaviour. In 2016, the Parliament introduced a new statutory aggravation of domestic abuse and, in 2018, a new specific offence of domestic abuse was introduced. That has been lauded by experts who work with victims of domestic abuse as being world-leading or gold standard legislation. Countries all over the world are looking to learn from the Scottish domestic abuse offence. For the first time under the criminal law, the new offence captures the totality of what domestic abuse is for victims. Conduct that is criminalised includes physical abuse but also psychological abuse, all to evidence in the coercive and controlling behaviours displayed by perpetrators. The value of having a law that captures this type of insidious behaviour is that victims and those supporting victims can see that the law is on their side. Perpetrators will also understand that behaviour amounting to coercive and controlling domestic abuse is not tolerated and can be dealt with under the criminal law. The motion for debate raises important issues about how the justice system responds to domestic abuse and the role that specialist domestic abuse courts may have. I agree with a number of contributors, Katie Clark and Pauline McNeill among them, that they appear to play a significant role in that. It is important to briefly remind the chamber that the operation of the criminal courts is an independent responsibility of the Lord President as head of the Scottish judiciary. The Parliament has enshrined that independent role in statute through the Judiciary and Courts Scotland Act 2008. As such, it is not for this Parliament or the Scottish Government to instruct the judiciary as to how the courts should operate. Where the judiciary themselves consider it appropriate for specialist courts to operate, it is right for Parliament and Government to consider how best that can be supported. On 21 January, the virtual trials national project board, chaired by Sheriff Principal Pyle, published a report on the piloting of virtual summary trials recommending that specialist online courts be set up to tackle domestic abuse cases. The report highlighted the opportunity to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on court processes for survivors of domestic abuse, as well as reducing trauma. We will now work with justice agencies to move those recommendations forward. A key aspect of specialist domestic abuse courts is that they guide survivors through the process to sentencing with appropriately trained staff available and advocacy support built in. Specialist courts can have a significant role to play in delivering better access to justice. That is why specialist domestic abuse courts operate in Glasgow and Edinburgh as part of how the judiciary consider it best to deal with such offending in those areas. The original pilot of specialist domestic abuse courts in Glasgow, dating back in the mid-2000s, was positively evaluated and praised by victims' organisations, resulting in its permanent establishment and other courts followed. The motion rightly talks about evaluation of the benefits of specialist courts. I am aware that Katie Clark was not in Parliament when the new offence of domestic abuse was being debated in 2018, when there was discussion about specialist courts at that time. Parliament agreed that understanding better how different types of courts deal with domestic abuse was an essential element in assessing the role that specialist courts could play. That is one reason why there is a statutory reporting requirement contained in the Domestic Abuse Scotland Act 2018, which requires the Scottish Government to publish information on the experiences of victims and witnesses in relation to the new offence. That information will be published in a series of reports that we are expecting later on in 2022 and into next year. Respecting the constitutional position of the Lord President, one of the reports will contain information provided from the Lord President as to how domestic abuse court business has been arranged to deliver that efficient disposal of cases. The impact of the pandemic, I imagine, will permeate through the reports from which I am sure there will be further learning. The motion notes that official figures reflect an increase in domestic abuse reporting. That was a point that Katie Clark made in her contribution this evening. Although that is a stark reminder of how far we have to go in eradicating domestic abuse, it may indicate that more victims are coming forward to report. Recent figures show that 84 per cent of court proceedings involving a charge under the Domestic Abuse Scotland Act are leading to a conviction. I am very encouraged that the law is doing what it was intended to do. The prioritisation of domestic abuse cases was a welcome decision taken by the Lord President early in the pandemic as a recognition of the trauma for such cases and survivors. The Scottish Government funding of £50 million in this financial year to support the criminal courts system recovery from the pandemic was also an essential part of helping to deliver justice, including in domestic abuse cases. That has been a useful debate today with some very important issues that have been aired. I just want to reaffirm the Scottish Government's commitment to preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls and to continue to support the work of justice agencies and the third sector in delivering better outcomes for survivors of domestic abuse.