Rape crisis charity calls for clarity over new sexual offences court

A rape crisis charity has called for greater clarity after it emerged there is still no timeline or funding for Scotland’s new sexual offences court.

Legislation establishing a dedicated court for crimes such as rape was passed in September 2025.

However, the head of Scotland’s courts services told Holyrood’s Public Audit Committee there was currently no timeline for setting it up.

Justice Secretary Neil Gray has described a dedicated sexual offences court as ‘necessary’

Malcolm Graham, chief executive of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), said there were “too many variables for me to try and put a date on it now”, adding that “it’s not something that’s entirely within my control”.

Catriona Dalrymple, director for justice at the Scottish government, said no money to create the court had been allocated yet.

READ MORE: Rape survivors risk being 'let down' as SNP ministers fail to fund flagship sexual offences court

But she told MSPs she was “anticipating that that will be part of the budget round for 27-28”, which the Finance Secretary will announce in early December.

Nicola Love, the external affairs manager of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: "Survivors often tell us that the process of seeking justice, particularly their experience in court, is at least as traumatic as rape itself.

"The need for a specialist sexual offences court came about because the current justice system is regularly failing survivors of rape and sexual abuse.

"We knew that such a significant change to the court system would not come overnight, however we are now nearly a year on from the passing of the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act, which committed to introducing the specialist court. We expected the work to be further on than it is.

"In light of recent evidence from justice agencies, we need greater clarity on funding and a proper timeline for implementation to ensure that meaningful and necessary change is delivered for survivors navigating the criminal justice system."

Ms Dalrymple told MSPs work was underway to develop what the court would look like and identify how much cash will be needed to create it.

“We need to develop the model of the sexual offences court before we’re able to identify any phasing of any funding,” she said.

She said the implementation of the court was led by the judiciary but that government would work “very closely” on it.

Mr Graham said work was undertaken ahead of the legislation being passed but that it was now “historical” because the “volumes and nature of cases” had “dramatically changed”.

He said that included the number of sexual offence cases at the High Court doubling.

Mr Graham told the committee: “We haven’t got a timeline at the moment in terms of when it would be operational because we haven’t done the the work that we’ve just described, and there are too many variables for me to try and put a date on it now, largely because it’s not something that’s entirely within my control, so it would be improper for me to try and predict when we could implement it.”

He said “critical work” was “absolutely” ongoing at the moment. In the meantime, it would not be “wise to try and put a date on” it, he added.

In September, Justice Secretary Neil Gray admitted a dedicated sexual offences court would be “difficult to deliver” but described its creation as “necessary”. He said work on it will not begin until next year.