Scottish ministers are being challenged to set out a timeline for when a planned sexual offences court will be established, after MSPs were told no money had been provided to the Crown Office for the scheme.
Plans for the court were included in the same legislation which abolished Scotland’s controversial not proven verdict, the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Act, which was passed by Holyrood last year.
While the Scottish Government has scrapped the not proven verdict, plans for a specialist court for sexual offences have not yet materialised.
And John Logue, the chief executive of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), revealed that the organisation had not been given any extra funding to bring in changes outlined in the legislation – adding that the establishment of a sexual offences court was a “sizeable commitment”.
Ministers must set out a timeline for the creation of a specialist sexual offences court.
In a letter to MSPs on Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee, Mr Logue said that COPFS was “actively engaged” in implementing measures contained in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Act.
He added that the organisation “is contributing to ongoing work relating to the proposed specialist sexual offences court”.
But Mr Logue said: “The challenge in implementation is one of funding, as to date no additional resource has been made available to operationalise the provisions of this Act with some such as the Sexual Offences Court being a sizeable commitment.”
Hitting out at the Scottish Government, Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey said: “The SNP have an exceptionally poor track record of making lots of commitments in legislation and then failing to do the practical work to implement them.”
The challenge in implementation is one of funding, as to date no additional resource has been made available.
She added: “The sexual offences court is at risk of suffering the same fate as greater protections for domestic abuse victims, protections which were promised in law more than five years ago, but which have yet to be implemented.
“I am concerned that the SNP’s approach to tackling violence against women and girls is a fundamentally superficial one: warm words that grab headlines but go nowhere.”
The Lib Dem MSP demanded: “Ministers must set out a timeline for the creation of a specialist sexual offences court.
“They must also clarify whether additional resource will be given to ensure the law is implemented.”
Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson Stephen Kerr meanwhile said the letter provided “further damning evidence that victims are a complete afterthought for John Swinney’s government”.
The Tory MSP said the government had been “at great pains to champion their Victims Act”, but had “now shamefully failed to follow through”.
Mr Kerr continued: “Neil Gray needs to come clean and urgently explain why this funding has failed to materialise, at a time when justice resources in Scotland are already under huge strain.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to introducing a sexual offences court as part of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Act. The Act puts victims at the heart of the criminal justice system and will lead to significant and meaningful improvements in their experiences.
“We are working with justice partners, including the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, on implementation of the specialist sexual offences court and the resource needed.
“The costs for the court will fall to the financial year 2027-28 and beyond. Neither Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service or the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service sought funding for financial year 2026-27 to support preparations for the sexual offences court.”