What progress has been made since September 2007 on extending the benefits of the Glasgow pilot domestic abuse court.

This government’s goal is to enable all cases of domestic abuse which come before a court in Glasgow to benefit from specialist arrangements to support victims, bring offenders quickly to justice, and reduce repeat offending. We also aim to support initiatives by criminal justice agencies elsewhere in Scotland to improve the handling of this serious crime.
I wish to record my thanks to the Glasgow Domestic Abuse Feasibility Study Group for their careful assessment of future options for a specialist court in Glasgow and for their report, which I publish today (Bib. number 45747) and which I have considered carefully in consultation with the sheriff principal for Glasgow and Strathkelvin. I endorse the group’s objective to extend the benefits of the current pilot court across the whole of the city. We will achieve that goal in stages, building on the success of the pilot court and taking full advantage of the wider reforms to summary justice as they reduce court congestion and free up scarce accommodation.
As a first step, I can today announce that we will substantially increase the volume of cases being heard in the court, enabling it to hear all cases of domestic abuse arising in police divisions A & G within Glasgow. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will expand its team of dedicated prosecution staff to service the specialist court. The Scottish Court Service will provide the judicial and other resources to enable the sheriff principal to increase the court’s capacity. The government is extending support for the ASSIST specialist victim support service, enabling more victims to benefit from early intervention, risk assessment and support throughout the court process. The specialist court will operate on an enlarged and on-going basis from this autumn.
Domestic abuse cases arising in police division B in Glasgow will be identified for specialist handling within mainstream courts. The ASSIST service model will be adapted to extend support to them also. To the greatest extent possible, such cases will be programmed in such a way as to provide continuity of prosecution and judicial staff dealing these types of cases.
Our wider reforms to summary justice should in due course create additional capacity within Glasgow’s court estate. It will be for the sheriff principal to decide how best to deploy that capacity. We will review the position with him once the summary justice reforms are well bedded in, some 18 months from now. Should he decide that there should be a second dedicated domestic abuse court we will help resource this.
I made clear last September that Glasgow’s case for a dedicated domestic abuse court reflects the volume of this crime occurring in the city. But specialist courts are not the only means by which criminal justice agencies can improve their handling of such crime. I am today publishing a “toolkit” (Bib. number 45750) for local criminal justice boards and others with an interest in developing innovative and effective responses to domestic abuse within the criminal justice system. The toolkit outlines a range of approaches to domestic abuse. It will support self-assessment. It should lead to innovation and experiment.
The announcement by the government and COSLA last week on the national delivery plan to support children and young people affected by domestic abuse sets the policy context for these initiatives on the handling of domestic abuse cases in court. Our overall strategy for addressing domestic abuse in Scotland encompasses prevention and early intervention approaches, as well as rigorous prosecution of crime. The measures I am announcing today therefore underpin this strategy. They confirm government’s commitment to a long-term programme of work, in Glasgow and elsewhere, fully to mobilise the resources of the justice system to deal with this crime and support its victims.