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I will go back to Colin. Earlier, you spoke about the legal aid model being 70 years old and not fit for purpose today. We have so much diversity in Scotland now, and I certainly think—and I hear from people who use it—that the model is not fit for purpose.

I have a question on language barriers. It would be good to hear from Colin Lancaster, Fiona McPhail and Gillian Fyfe on those. Do you face or see any language barriers to accessing advice or even to accessing the legal aid system today? Obviously, a 70-year-old system is not fit for purpose, given the changes in Scotland.

To go back to Gillian Fyfe, Citizens Advice Scotland is among the largest advice services in Scotland. Do you see any language barriers, Gillian? If not, what is it that you provide that helps people who cannot speak English? I also put that question to Fiona, but Colin can start.

I will stay on the subject of domestic abuse. Often, women who are fleeing domestic abuse are temporarily homeless, as has been mentioned today, and are without access to finances. It is sometimes the case that their abusive partner controls the finances.

The third sector is really good at providing a support mechanism for those women, but at times they may be trying to access advice and services in private without their partner knowing. What barriers currently exist in that regard, and how can we remove them to enable the advice system and the courts to help those women more? I am open to any of the witnesses answering that one.

Yes. With regard to the financial side, I have had cases in which it is more often the woman who does not have a financial cushion and is out of her home, and there is also a criminal domestic abuse case going on.

We are finding that there is a broken bridge between a civil case and a criminal case, in that one does not talk to the other, so both cases are taken separately. Is that something that witnesses have dealt with? I am currently dealing with a case involving a woman who has come forward as a result of domestic abuse. Access to her finances has stopped, so that is the subject of a civil case, but there is also a criminal case, as she has been hurt through domestic abuse. However, those two processes are not joined up. Quite a few people have spoken to me about that concern.

I agree with Rachael and with everything else that has been said. I put on record my thanks to the petitioner as well.

I do not know whether this has been mentioned, but I have made a note that we should write to the office of the public guardian or the Mental Health Welfare Commission for Scotland for information on the number of Makaton users and the level of demand for interpreters. We should also write to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and Police Scotland to learn how many requests they have received for the provision of Makaton interpreters. We should do just a little bit more exploring, as everyone else has been saying, while we keep the petition open.

Yes, of course. There was overwhelming support from the Scottish Youth Parliament for the ESOL support motion, with 94 per cent of its members agreeing to the motion. The motion was on classes being available for every school and college across Scotland. Should there be geographical differences between urban and rural areas in the roll-out of ESOL support? Should all of Scotland be getting the same ESOL support, or should there be geographical differences depending on where the support is needed?

Thank you very much for your response.

Thank you for that response. The motion speaks a lot about ESOL support being available in schools and colleges, but there is not a lot of mention of community learning. You may remember that the last time that we spoke, I was saying that we should be looking at places of worship. I know that mosques, gurdwaras, temples and many other places of worship do a lot with education, especially Sunday school, which could include learning a language such as Punjabi. Should we be reaching out to those communities to help deliver ESOL support as well? Should that be considered, so that we can reach out to those communities?

Good morning, Ramiza and Zainab. It is always good to see Fernando again.

The ESOL support motion had overwhelming support from the Scottish Youth Parliament, with around 94 per cent of the members agreeing to the motion. The motion stated that the classes should be made available in every school and college across Scotland. Should there be geographical differences—for example, between rural and urban areas—in the roll-out of ESOL support? I will go to Zainab.

You talked about facing racism every hour, Pervin. I have spoken to people about that and I come from an Asian background. Racism is there and people sometimes ignore it. We are parliamentarians and this is a committee. The Scottish Government will be listening as well. What more can we do to stop racism? How can we build trust with the criminal justice system and the Scottish Government so that people, whether they are refugees, asylum seekers or born here, can come and speak to us about it? It is not acceptable in the 21st century.

It is similar, but it is a slightly different subject.

Pinar Aksu, I saw the protests that you mentioned on television. I was not there, but it was terrifying to watch some of the words that came out of people’s mouths. That is happening in Scotland. I was born here, and I would think it disgusting if that happened to me or to anybody else around me. My question is on hate crime. Recent hate crime statistics reveal that racism is the most commonly reported hate crime, but there is a lack of data collection on race, particularly in criminal justice. Why do you think that is, and what effect, if any, do you think that that has on the ability to tackle racist hate crime?