Kenny MacAskill pledges to tighten the rules on bail

The rules governing the granting of bail are set to be tightened up, justice secretary Kenny MacAskill has said.

The issue was among those raised by Scottish Women's Aid at the inaugural summit for victims of crime in Edinburgh yesterday.

Victim Support Scotland attended, along with Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini and senior figures from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Court Service.

Mr MacAskill said afterwards: "The existing arrangements are working well, but there is room for improvement, and a number of areas for further work were identified such as enhanced national standards and improved information on bail.

"We as a government have learned much from this inaugural summit and we will build on this by working closely with stakeholders to address the priorities that the summit highlighted."

Lily Greenan, manager of Scottish Women's Aid, said: "If bail is granted, the conditions need to be clear and the information made available to the decision maker, so they know what to take account of in terms of safety - so you're not bailing someone back to the same house, or the house round the corner, because their mum lives there."