Chamber and committees

Question reference: S4W-30683

Asked by: Roderick Campbell, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: 10 March 2016
Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 March 2016

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there has been an increase in the use of special measures for children and vulnerable adult witnesses since the relevant provisions of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 came into force on 1 September 2015.

Answer

The Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 introduces various measures to improve support for victims and witnesses, putting victims' interests at the heart of the justice system and ensuring that witnesses are able to fulfil their public duty effectively.

Information provided by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service indicates a marked increase in the number of applications for special measures since 1 September 2015. In particular, increases in applications for the use of screens and supporters are extremely encouraging.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service uses a live operational case management system for the processing of court business. The information held on the system is structured for these operational needs, rather than for statistical reporting or research purposes. The information provided in the following tables is based on the best information available from the case management system as at 8 March 2016. Data is produced by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service Management Information Analysis Team.

All solemn special measure applications – adult

Special Measure – Application	Jan 15	Feb 15	Mar 15	Apr 15	May 15	Jun 15	Jul 15	Aug 15	Sep 15	Oct 15	Nov 15	Dec 15	Jan 16	Feb 16	2015 Total	2016 1 Jan to 29 Feb
Video – in court	6	0	7	6	2	1	2	13	2	4	3	8	3	2	54	5
Screens	58	33	46	53	51	57	57	50	47	66	51	40	62	87	609	149
Video – between courts	7	5	0	5	5	0	9	8	1	10	6	2	6	7	58	13
Video – remote	0	2	1	2	1	3	4	2	2	1	3	1	1	2	22	3
Supporter	78	42	61	65	57	62	76	71	52	88	66	51	78	101	769	179
Other application	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	2	2	4	6	6
Total	149	83	115	131	116	123	148	145	104	169	131	104	152	203	1,518	355

All solemn special measure applications – child

Special Measure – Application	Jan 15	Feb 15	Mar 15	Apr 15	May 15	Jun 15	Jul 15	Aug 15	Sep 15	Oct 15	Nov 15	Dec 15	Jan 16	Feb 16	2015 Total	2016 1 Jan to 29 Feb
Video – in court	7	19	4	2	3	6	3	5	7	12	3	7	4	6	78	10
Screens	13	21	25	34	25	22	27	49	27	46	23	18	31	35	330	66
Video – between courts	1	10	10	3	5	15	9	2	0	4	7	4	5	0	70	5
Video – remote	3	5	13	4	3	2	2	13	7	4	1	3	3	4	60	7
Supporter	28	51	51	45	36	41	41	66	44	66	33	31	63	67	533	130
Other application	3	3	0	5	2	1	2	1	2	2	2	5	2	4	28	6
Total	55	109	103	93	74	87	84	136	87	134	69	68	108	116	1,099	224

All summary special measure applications – adult

Special Measure – Application	Jan 15	Feb 15	Mar 15	Apr 15	May 15	Jun 15	Jul 15	Aug 15	Sep 15	Oct 15	Nov 15	Dec 15	Jan 16	Feb 16	2015 Total	2016 1 Jan to 29 Feb
Video – in court	18	15	18	17	22	11	18	12	11	19	20	28	36	24	209	60
Screens	73	73	84	58	68	63	62	74	100	335	454	585	805	965	2,029	1,770
Video – between courts	5	0	1	0	4	0	4	8	1	4	1	4	4	3	32	7
Video – remote	14	7	12	4	9	4	10	10	13	10	8	3	23	4	104	27
Supporter	111	101	121	74	102	82	89	98	134	357	468	639	869	994	2,376	1,863
Other application	0	9	1	0	1	0	1	2	5	21	25	26	43	46	91	89
Total	221	205	237	153	206	160	184	204	264	746	976	1285	1780	2036	4841	3816

All summary special measure applications – child

Special Measure – Application

Jan
15

Feb
15

Mar
15

Apr
15

May
15

Jun
15

Jul
15

Aug
15

Sep
15

Oct
15

Nov
15

Dec
15

Jan
16

Feb
16

2015 Total

2016 1 Jan to 29 Feb

Video – in court

566

123

Screens

202

133

186

159

139

163

170

211

124

193

194

187

222

206

2,061

428

Video – between courts

111

Video – remote

346

Supporter

273

188

258

213

212

233

240

295

204

284

275

274

407

356

2,949

763

Other application

Total

569

399

540

442

436

492

506

623

412

580

554

530

756

640

6,083

1,396

In 2015 there were a total of 13,541 special measure applications of which 12,634 were granted. Already this year (until 29 February 2016) there have been 5,791 special measure applications of which (until 10 February 2016) 3,369 were granted.

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