Domestic Abuse
The next item of business is a debate on motion S2M-1943, in the name of Malcolm Chisholm, on domestic abuse services, and three amendments to that motion.
I am glad to have the opportunity to debate domestic abuse today and I make no apology for the fact that this is not the first time that we are having such a debate.
I believe that there is agreement across parties in the chamber that the scale, impact and nature of domestic abuse in Scotland demands the continuing attention of the Parliament and the sustained action of the Executive.
Unfortunately, the facts speak for themselves. For example, in 2002, 36,010 cases of domestic abuse were reported in Scotland and 11 women died as a result of domestic abuse. More generally, one in five women will experience domestic abuse from a male partner in her lifetime and, on average, women experience abuse 35 times before making the first call for help, an issue to which Margaret Mitchell's amendment refers. Underneath the horrific statistics are the real-life stories of the women and children who experience domestic abuse, which reveal the associated pain, fear, isolation, shame, loss of self-esteem and identity and, sometimes, the ultimate loss: death. The situation is appalling and it is an indictment of our society that such abuse should still be the experience of thousands in Scotland today.
Domestic abuse has its foundation in the inequalities between men and women and in the abuse of power within a relationship. As long as there is wider acceptance of gender inequality, the task will be harder. It is shocking to think that, not so long ago, people regarded the physical and mental abuse of women as "just a domestic", and even as a patriarchal right. The fundamentally gender-based nature of the problem must be named and confronted and I pay tribute to the work of the zero tolerance campaign in doing precisely that.
The campaign also reminded us that domestic abuse is but one aspect of violence against women, albeit a significant one. In recognition of that, last year, we extended the remit of the national group to address domestic abuse to reflect the wider context of violence against women. The group's work is at an early stage, but it has undertaken a literature review that is to be published shortly and it is setting up an expert advisory group. We will listen to the experts on all types of violence against women, including rape and sexual assault, prostitution, pornography and trafficking—sadly, the list is long. Those issues are important and complex and I will speak to my colleague the Minister for Parliamentary Business to ask for a debate before Christmas on the wider agenda of violence against women.
In the limited time available today, I will focus on the specific issue of domestic abuse, particularly its impact on women and children. As members will know, the strategy that we have pursued has been based around three key themes: prevention, protection and provision. The approach that we have adopted to implement the strategy has been one of partnership. We have ensured that the focus, the decisions and the delivery have been shaped by people who know and understand the issue.
Does the minister agree that we must deprecate domestic abuse from any source and recognise that victims are victims, whether they are male or female, adults or young children?
Of course we must acknowledge that some people who are in same-sex relationships and some men in heterosexual relationships may experience abuse from their partners. However, we must also recognise that the nature and scale of those issues are different and that they do not take away from the fundamentally gender-based nature of domestic abuse.
The national group, which comprises experts in the field, guides our strategy and framework for delivery. It has been particularly effective in developing detailed proposals on prevention, training, legislation, refuge provision and children's services. We also deliver through a network of multi-agency partnerships and in collaboration with Scottish Women's Aid and other key women's and children's organisations. I am immensely grateful to the members of the national group for their work, and to the others throughout Scotland who strive daily to make a difference to the lives of the women and children who are affected.
A difference is being made with the £32 million that will be invested in the period 2000-06. We are continuing one of the most successful awareness-raising campaigns that a Government department has conducted, which challenges perceptions of domestic abuse and aims to change the climate. There is no excuse for domestic abuse. We fund a 24-hour telephone helpline that provides support for women when they most need it. We have launched and implemented a national training strategy that should result in the establishment of training consortia throughout Scotland that will grow the expertise of front-line professionals in the services. We fund a number of domestic violence probation programmes for offenders and we have piloted the first domestic abuse court, which I was pleased to launch in Glasgow three weeks ago. I was also pleased to read the comments of women who have used the court.
The recent advertising campaign on the issue seemed to me to be effective, but what were the results? Has an audit been done or have the impacts been measured? Sometimes an advert looks good, but one does not know whether it will have an impact. What analysis has been done of the results of the campaign?
I agree with Christine Grahame that the campaign has been very effective. I do not know about a detailed, formal audit, but I will write to the member on the matter.
I will mention two other major investments. There is, of course, the investment of £9 million through the domestic abuse service development fund. It funds the Tayside domestic abuse service, which is mentioned in Christine Grahame's amendment. I emphasise that the domestic abuse service development fund will continue beyond 2006, albeit not in its current form. We will work with the national group to decide precisely how the funding will be spent. A sum of £12 million has been invested to improve refuge provision via the refuge development programme. I would like to give more detail about that programme, but I am slightly alarmed to note that I have very little time left.
I must move on to talk about children. We feel that they have been overlooked in the past, and the statistics are chilling. An estimated 100,000 children and young people in Scotland live with domestic abuse. In 90 per cent of cases, children are in the same or next room when the abuse takes place. A third of children try to intervene during attacks on their mothers, and many will be injured during such attempts.
Last week, I attended Scottish Women's Aid's listen louder event, where I heard at first hand the experiences of children and young people who have lived with abuse in their homes. Like everyone else there, I was extremely moved by their courage as they described in various ways what they had been through. It is imperative that we consider what we can do to support these children and to address their needs.
I was pleased to announce £6 million of investment last week. That money will enable us to implement the recommendations of the children's services working group. It will provide more children's workers in Women's Aid groups across Scotland and it will develop the outreach work that is so sorely needed. I emphasise that that £6 million is over and above the existing budgets that fund the domestic abuse service development fund, for example.
I am aware that I am out of time, but I mention briefly the fact that, last week, we also launched a guidance note for planners, which has been sent to all the people who plan children's services throughout Scotland, asking them to plan services with children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse in mind.
We have made substantial progress in winning people over to the belief that there is no excuse for domestic abuse, but we have a considerable way to go. I hope that we continue to work in partnership for change and that we can secure the support of all parties in the Parliament to that end.
I move,
That the Parliament recognises the very serious and totally unacceptable problem of domestic abuse in Scottish society; notes in particular the traumatic effect of domestic abuse on children and young people as well as on women; acknowledges the range of initiatives in this area that have been funded by the Scottish Executive in the last few years, and welcomes the Scottish Executive's partnership working and its investment and work to support those experiencing domestic abuse.
I welcome the announcement that the Minister for Communities made last week, and which he has mentioned again today, of the £6 million of extra funding specifically targeted at children and young people. When she winds up, I would like to hear from the Deputy Minister for Communities what period of time is covered by that £6 million. Does it cover a year, two years or three years? I would like the minister also to give us some specific examples of what the funding covers.
The minister mentioned the 100,000 children and young people who currently live with domestic abuse. In our amendment, we specifically mention
"the lack of suitably-located alternative accommodation for the victims of domestic abuse, particularly those with children".
Children not only witness the abuse of their mothers in their own homes; they have a greater prevalence of mental health problems and difficulties—48 per cent of them have such difficulties, compared with 10 to 26 per cent of the general school population.
The minister mentioned the meeting that he attended, where he spoke to and listened to children and their mothers. I will quote from two children who spoke in a film showing several children speaking about their experiences. One said:
"We just had to go. The house was pure wrecked and she couldn't afford to buy more furniture and everything. So she had to pack our stuff up and go."
Another said:
"It was quite sad actually, because all my friends were there. My mum just kept telling us it would be OK and there would be lots of new friends there."
I mention those examples because moving young children away from the area where their family and friends live can only compound the matter and add to their distress and difficulties. I ask the minister to take particular cognisance of the lack of local refuge facilities for children.
Does Sandra White recognise that there are also women who have to get away from their area and that it is sometimes difficult for them to stay? Although it would be good if there were refuges on every street in Scotland, we must do what is possible.
I was talking about choice. If the mother and children are in greater danger staying where they are, they will of course ask to be moved, and I would hope that there would be a refuge place for them to move to. I was pointing out the fact that children will have family and friends in the area where they live, who give them support. It is always better to keep the children there. If the perpetrator of the domestic violence can be moved, that is much better than moving the children away from an area where they might have some help and support.
Our amendment also mentions
"elderly people who are victims of domestic abuse",
for whom even more limited resources are available. Recently, I mentioned in a question to the minister—I think that it was around two weeks ago—that there is only one refuge for elderly people, and elderly women in particular, in Scotland. Surely that is unacceptable. I know that the minister replied and basically said that Scottish Women's Aid and other agencies would look into the matter, but we must take serious cognisance to the problem. Some women have suffered abuse for decades and have worked up the courage to recognise that fact and to seek help. When they do so, there is nowhere for them to go. We should pay particular attention to that matter and ensure that it has been dealt with. I know that the Tayside domestic abuse service has a good and effective strategy, which my colleague Andrew Welsh will talk about.
I return to the Executive's motion and the extra funding for children and young people that I mentioned. I ask the minister to announce as soon as possible where and when the money will be allocated. It is crucial that agencies such as Scottish Women's Aid and others know the level of funding that they will receive. Even more important, they need to know that the funding is long term and secure—that is why our amendment specifically mentions that matter. Lack of long-term funding severely hampers the ability of agencies to provide services that are essential for the protection of the thousands of women and children who seek help. It is unacceptable that funding for Scottish Women's Aid is for only one year in some areas. I accept what the minister has said about examining that issue. Sometimes the level of help depends on the area in which someone lives, which is why the Scottish National Party has consistently called for a national funding strategy. We support Shiona Baird's amendment, as it specifically mentions a national strategy.
Domestic violence is a crime and should be treated as such. Long-term, secure funding coupled with a national strategy is the only way to tackle the issue and to help to eradicate it. Domestic violence is a heinous scourge on our society. I support the Executive's motion, but ask it to support our amendment.
I move amendment S2M-1943.1, to leave out from "and welcomes" to end and insert:
"expresses its concern, however, at the level of secure funding to agencies working in this area and the lack of suitably-located alternative accommodation for the victims of domestic abuse, particularly those with children; further expresses concern that services for elderly people who are victims of domestic abuse are even more limited, and commends the role of Tayside Domestic Abuse Service, the only service of its kind in Scotland where police and a voluntary organisation work together to support the victims of abuse, as a model of effective partnership working."
I welcome the Scottish Executive's domestic abuse initiatives, which include legislation in the form of the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001; the national strategy encouraging interagency co-operation to develop local strategies to drive forward prevention work; the establishment of a national domestic abuse helpline to provide information and support for victims; and the new pilot scheme for domestic abuse courts, which will fast track domestic abuse cases. I welcome in particular the recent funding announcement of £6 million to extend services to help any child who is affected by domestic abuse. Those are all excellent initiatives that are a testament to the Scottish Executive's commitment to tackling such a vexing issue.
However, initiatives in themselves are not enough. According to the latest figures that are available, more than 36,000 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded in 2002 and repeat incidents are up year on year from 8,000 victims in 1999 to almost 18,000 victims in 2002. The Scottish Executive-commissioned research report on the evaluation of the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 revealed that most victims were not aware of the act. As a result, it is clear that much more requires to be done to raise general awareness—hence the amendment to the motion.
Will the member take an intervention?
I am pressed for time, so if the member does not mind, I will move on. I may well cover what the member wants to ask about.
As part of the national strategy, the Scottish Executive has identified the need for fuller public awareness through posters, billboards and television and cinema adverts, together with newspaper and magazine features, all of which highlight the issues.
In addition to that, and as part of a rolling programme of awareness-raising measures, I commend to the Executive a short play on the subject that was written by the Scottish playwright, Anne Marie Di Mambro, entitled "The Letter Box", which the Glasgow-based UK Theatre Group performed as a fringe event at the Scottish Conservative party conference in May. Quite simply, the play illustrated the complex issues that surround domestic abuse more graphically, poignantly and succinctly than a whole day's debate on the subject can do. The issues that were raised included the effect of domestic abuse on children—the secondary victims—whose anxiety can sometimes surface in the form of bed-wetting and the child's subsequent agitation, embarrassment and shame; fear from the victims that the child will let something slip to another member of the family, such as the mother of the abuser; and attempts to cover up incidents in the almost sure and certain knowledge that if the abuser were to be challenged, payback time would inevitably follow.
Drink is referred to almost as an excuse for violent behaviour. Victims attempt to play down injuries to reassure children and panic at the prospect of a child innocently revealing an incident in the news book the next day at school. The play also covered the lengths to which victims go to ensure that information is concealed from authority figures such as teachers or community policemen who visit schools, by giving the clear instruction, "Never mind what these people say—we don't want the family to be split up."
Another issue was the heartfelt desire of victims who are trapped in abusive relationships to escape. Victims may assume the blame, pathetically hoping that things will be different in the future and that in the meantime they will have to try not to make the abuser angry. The play had a profound effect on the audience. The issues that were raised in the subsequent discussion included the link between violence against animals and violence against humans.
To quote Iain Duncan Smith:
"Issues such as domestic violence transcend party politics".
I move my amendment in that spirit, and ask members to support it.
I move amendment S2M-1943.2, to leave out from "acknowledges" to end and insert:
"notes with grave concern the escalating pattern of repeat victimisation highlighting the fact that more and more victims are trapped in abusive situations; acknowledges and welcomes the range of initiatives in this area that have been funded by the Scottish Executive in the last few years, and calls on the Executive to continue to explore different means to raise awareness of the issue generally and to ensure that individuals who are trapped in abusive situations are aware of these support services to help them escape from their abusive circumstances."
I welcome the minister's commitment to attempt to solve this shame in our society. I acknowledge that Scotland is ahead of the rest of the United Kingdom in at least having a strategy to tackle domestic abuse. To that end, I urge the minister to lobby Westminster to follow Scotland's lead and to introduce a strategy to tackle domestic abuse that also covers reserved issues such as immigration and nationality, benefits, employment rights and equal opportunities.
The Scottish strategy must be extended to take into account the interlinkages of all types of gender-based violence, must include those who are in vulnerable minorities and must be broadened to include all violence against women—in or outside the home.
I echo Sandra White's call for more long-term security of funding, which is important. We have heard about Barnardo's Tayside domestic abuse initiative, which is funded yearly. That cannot be the best way to fund such vital services. They must be given the security of guaranteed, permanent funding.
Despite Scotland's strategy, domestic abuse continues to be widespread. The fact that one in five women suffers domestic abuse at some point in her life is shocking. We must never lose sight of the fact that domestic abuse is a human rights issue. All policy must be framed in such terms.
Concern is felt that the courts and existing legislation do not adequately protect children from contact with abusive parents in domestic abuse situations. When contact with abusive parents is being sanctioned, a bias exists towards the rights of adults over those of children. Scottish Women's Aid has many examples of sheriffs assuming that if a father has abused a mother but not a child, the child will not be at risk of abuse if contact is made. Sadly, that is often not the case. Clear links have been recorded between domestic abuse and child abuse.
Children must have the right to enjoy contact with parents, but it is vital that that happens safely and is in the child's best interests. The forthcoming family law bill must amend the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to ensure that contact rights are balanced to protect children adequately in domestic abuse situations and must ensure that the non-abusing parent is equally protected.
The abuse of older women is a little-talked-about problem. No clear picture exists of the number of older women over 50 who suffer domestic abuse or of their experiences. By ignoring that group, we ignore almost half Scotland's female population.
Will the member give way?
No; I want to continue.
More research is urgently needed. Easier access to services that are aimed at that age group is vital. I urge the minister to act on that, and we will support the SNP amendment.
Yesterday's opinion poll by Amnesty International highlights the additional problem of public complacency about domestic violence. The poll shows that people consistently underestimate how widespread domestic abuse is and, if they have no experience of it, often see it as something that has nothing to do with them. That attitude must be changed. There is a need for a continued focus on public education and awareness raising, starting with education in schools, in addition to the work of supporting those who experience domestic abuse. In particular, it might be valuable to recruit non-perpetrating men in tackling domestic abuse and violence against women. Although there is a worrying acceptance of violence against women in our society, many men and boys consider it to be totally unacceptable but do not know what they can do about it.
I move amendment S2M-1943.3, to leave out from "recognises" to end and insert:
"notes with concern that, despite Scottish Executive initiatives, domestic abuse continues to be widespread; recognises the recent public opinion poll from Amnesty International showing the level of complacency in society about domestic abuse; believes that tackling domestic abuse will require concerted effort by the Executive including a continued focus on public education and awareness-raising, in particular focusing on education and involving non-perpetrating men, along with extending support for those experiencing domestic abuse; welcomes the Executive's recent announcement of £6 million funding for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse but calls on the Executive to detail as soon as possible how this funding will be allocated; notes with concern that there is no national funding strategy for domestic abuse services, that funding for Women's Aid groups throughout Scotland is often on a yearly basis and that the quality of service varies widely according to local authority area and calls on the Executive to put in place a national funding strategy, and recognises that, to tackle domestic abuse effectively, Executive policy-making needs to take into account the interlinkages between all types of gender-based violence and continue to broaden its focus to encompass all forms of violence against women including those in vulnerable minorities."
One of the benefits that this Parliament has gained from having a considerable number of female members is that we have addressed this subject much more vigorously than some other Parliaments have. It is important that we continue to do so.
The Executive has done quite a lot of good things in producing money for various causes that are involved in the issue and in its attempts to raise awareness of domestic violence. However, as has just been said, there is a long way to go. We have to aim for zero tolerance of domestic violence. I hope that we can widen the issue to enable us to achieve even more zero tolerance—that is not very mathematical, but members will know what I mean.
In the coming months, we will discuss licensing. In doing so, we must consider the impact of the abuse of alcohol on domestic abuse. For example, it might be suggested that off-licences should be treated differently from licensed premises. However, I think that a lot of the drink that is taken from off-licences might lead to domestic abuse. If there is any tightening up of the licences for pubs, the position of off-licences should be tightened up as well.
The multi-agency partnership on domestic abuse defined domestic abuse as being between a partner or a former partner and the person who is abused. That might have been the right approach at the time, but now that we have made a reasonable amount of progress, we should adopt a broader, more consistent and more comprehensive definition that covers all abuse among members of a household. If we widen the definition in a clear way, we will strengthen the idea that no violence within the home is acceptable.
The police and the courts accept the current definition; although they will pursue other questions of violence, of course, their focus is on violence perpetrated by a partner or former partner. The area is a difficult one, but the police need encouragement and support in their work on abuse in the home. Obviously, violence against women, perpetrated by their partners or former partners, is the single greatest aspect of domestic abuse—I do not deny that or attempt to play it down—but there are other aspects.
There is child abuse, whether it is perpetrated by the parents or happens when children become involved in the abuse between their parents because they try to stand up for a parent. There is also elder abuse, which is a largely neglected aspect. Often, it occurs in residential establishments, but it can also occur at home. There is abuse perpetrated by members of the extended family, such as grandparents, uncles or whoever. There is abuse perpetrated by a large son against a small single parent. Members will not be surprised to hear that my colleague, Mike Rumbles, intends to speak about another aspect of domestic violence, which is the abuse of men.
A wide range of abuse within the household must be brought together under the banner of domestic abuse. Research needs to be done to find out what the figures are. As has been said, there is under-reporting of what happens. If the wider definition is used, the police will have better statistics to work with.
We have to make it clear to groups that have a culture in which violence is acceptable that it is not acceptable at all. We are going along the right lines, but it is important that we widen the definition and make a serious attempt to educate the public on the unacceptability of any form of violence in the home.
Most cases of domestic abuse involve partners—whether married, cohabiting or otherwise—or ex-partners. It is overwhelmingly women who are the victims of domestic violence at the hands of men. Scottish Executive figures show that such cases make up more than 90 per cent of incidents that are reported to the police. Of course, victims often suffer for a long period of time without complaining. As many as one in five women in Scotland will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime.
Domestic abuse includes physical abuse such as slapping, hitting, kicking, burning with cigarettes and pushing. It includes sexual abuse such as withholding contraception, sexual assault and rape. I will talk more about emotional abuse if I have time later, but that includes name-calling, withholding money and isolating from family and friends. The violence might be actual, threatened or attempted and although the severity of abuse varies, there are several common characteristics. The incidents are seldom isolated. They tend to be repeated over time. They often extend to children who are living in the same home and they often increase in severity and frequency. They are particularly common during a woman's pregnancy or following the birth of a child.
Most people visualise black eyes and bruises but the scars of emotional abuse are just as deep and the pain can last much longer. All victims who experience violence experience emotional abuse, but there is a tendency for that to be minimised, even though those who have personal experience tell us that it can be the hardest to cope with. Emotional abuse creates low self-esteem and traps the victim in abusive relationships. There have been significant improvements in provision and in the protection from and prevention of domestic abuse throughout Scotland. Domestic abuse is a priority for the Scottish Executive and I welcome that, but more needs to be done to respond to emotional abuse in particular.
Women who are abused come from every class and background. Some women, particularly those from black and ethnic minority communities, might experience abuse from other family members connected through marriage. Forced marriages are a form of domestic abuse.
Any woman can be abused. She might be a woman with whom we come into contact—a sister, daughter, mother, friend, or neighbour. Men who abuse women come from every class, religion and background and are of every age.
Children live with domestic violence. They may see violence and threats against their mother, they may overhear abuse, they may see the effect of it and they may have been abused themselves. We know that 90 per cent of children who experience domestic abuse are in the same or adjacent room during attacks on their mothers. Children are very aware of domestic abuse in the home and can experience high levels of anxiety and stress as a result. More than 100,000 children and young people in Scotland are estimated to be experiencing the difficulties and effects of domestic abuse.
I congratulate Scottish Women's Aid on its listen louder campaign, and particularly the children and young people who have been involved in it. I am pleased that there has been further progress in developing a comprehensive training strategy that builds on the partnerships and multi-agency working to ensure that those who suffer domestic abuse get a sympathetic response across the spectrum of the public and voluntary sectors. The Scottish Executive has proved to be a major support in providing resources to fight domestic abuse and I welcome the £6 million funding to improve services and extend support for young children.
I am glad that the Parliament is debating this important issue, but I look forward to the day when I do not have to take part in such a debate. It is a shame.
It is important to think about what domestic abuse is. I suggest that it is anything that damages anyone in mind or body, or which through repetition might do so in the future. At the core of our consideration of domestic abuse must be the victim's view. The initial presumption must be that there is truth in a victim's claim of domestic abuse. We must not be diverted by the difficulty that, for example, 48 per cent of young children in refuges are apparently suffering from mental illness. We should not assume that, because people are mentally ill, they are unable to describe and relate the conditions in which they are living.
I want to talk about the support agencies that exist and their strengths and weaknesses, as well as about some of the things that we can do. To Maureen Macmillan, I say that we are some considerable distance away from having a refuge on every street. I suspect that to be as true in her constituency as it is in mine.
There are individual examples that we will all see in our constituency lives of people being let down due to individual failures. For example, I met a wife who was separated from her husband but who still lived in the matrimonial home. There was an interdict on her husband to keep away, but he broke that interdict. I saw the photographs of what he did to that woman, and it was anything but nice. The court fined that man £100 and patted him gently on the head. We have got to do more. That was an individual failing, not a failing of anyone in this room.
In his introductory croak—I hope that he gets better soon—the minister focused on the essence of the issue. I welcome the news that we are getting Executive support for the domestic abuse helpline. I note that there is a degree of independence in the report that has been prepared on the helpline, as it states that it does not necessarily reflect the views of ministers. I ask the minister to see whether we can get the helpline to operate 24 hours a day. One of the graphs in the report shows something that our personal experience might confirm: that the number of out-of-hours calls rises rapidly from 6 am to 9 am. We are not all good humoured when we get out of our bed in the morning, but the helpline does not open until 10 am. That is a key issue to which the minister might turn his thoughts.
It is great that Thus has sponsored the 0800 number that is used for the helpline. However, many people who have had to leave their matrimonial home will be using a mobile phone, from which 0800 numbers are not free. That is a particular problem for people with pay-as-you-go phones. That is a difficult issue to deal with, but it is a point to note.
I conclude by mentioning briefly mediation services and the family mediation service that operates in my constituency and a little bit beyond. Like many agencies that support victims of domestic abuse and children in particular, they experience difficulty in sustaining the funding stream that enables them to do their work. That is an issue to which we must turn our minds.
I was pleased to go to the Scottish Women's Aid conference at Our Dynamic Earth last week. It was well attended and well organised and it involved children and young people. As other members have commented, the minister's announcement at that event of £6 million for improved services was of huge significance. I am pleased that the Executive has made such a substantial commitment towards working to improve the lives of children and young people who are experiencing domestic abuse. The Parliament and the Executive can be proud of the work that has been done on the domestic abuse agenda since devolution. Since the publication of the "National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland", the Executive has displayed a consistent determination to tackle all the related issues.
With an estimated 100,000 children and young people in Scotland affected by domestic abuse, the funding that has been announced by the minister will build significantly on the £500,000 that has already been provided since 2003 to ensure that every Women's Aid group in Scotland has at least one dedicated children's worker. The additional funding will also allow Scottish Women's Aid to secure its existing provision as well as expand its support services. In fact, it will double its number of dedicated children's workers. I understand that the funding will also assist in the provision of more outreach workers to address the needs of children who are living outwith refuges and the immediate reach of specialist services. Given the suggested correlation between domestic abuse and the physical and sexual abuse of children, it is vital that we make reaching those children a priority. That requires the strategic and co-ordinated involvement of many different agencies. I am pleased to note the importance that the Executive has placed on that. I stress in particular the role of education in both the prevention and the outreach aims of the agenda. I ask the Executive to ensure that essential support in the form of training and resources is provided for those education sector workers who are often the first point of contact for many of those vulnerable children.
Like Shiona Baird, I sound a note of caution about the plan to amend family law. Although, for the most part, the proposal to extend access to parental rights and responsibilities to unmarried fathers is laudable, when we consider all the provisions, we must take adequate precautions to ensure that those rights cannot be manipulated, thus allowing abusers access to families and ex-partners. Without such safeguards, the measures will fail to protect the best interests of the child and could endanger a significant number of women and children.
Indeed, one Women's Aid circular tells us that 76 per cent of children who are ordered by courts to have contact with a violent parent were said to have been further abused as the result of contact being set up. One child said:
"It is better for my dad just not to know where we live, to keep our safety."
We have to bear that in mind. I realise that the Executive has recognised those concerns and I urge it to take action.
To achieve the objective of eradicating domestic abuse, we have to be willing to take bold action and we need to work harder to reduce inequality, to tackle the pervasive culture of violence towards women and children and to foster an understanding of the importance of equality and respect among our young people. With that in mind, I am glad that the Equal Opportunities Committee has asked me, as gender reporter, to undertake an inquiry into pornography and possible causal links between it and violence against women and children. I am also pleased that the minister wants to have a debate on the wider issues that surround the subject.
I have a little problem with today's amendments. I agree with much that is in them, although my point to Margaret Mitchell is that I note that the Conservatives have taken great pains to make their amendment gender non-specific. We have to accept that we are talking about an inequality issue that mainly affects women.
The Executive motion is perfectly acceptable as it stands. I welcome the commitment that the Executive has shown to the issue and I congratulate it on its past record and recent moves to provide better services.
There is too much violence in Scotland. There is too much violence in the streets, in the pubs and clubs, in the football grounds and even in the schools. However, we have to recognise—this is an argument that I have always fully accepted—that perhaps the most serious violence of all is the violence that occurs in the home. That violence impinges on children, as a number of members have graphically illustrated this afternoon. It also has a particular characteristic. Although one can avoid going to certain locations—to the pubs, clubs and football grounds—one cannot avoid going to one's home. If someone is subjected to violence in the home, it is all the more difficult for them to cope.
I have heard little with which I can disagree this afternoon, but I say to the minister with the greatest respect that he cannot abstract or detach himself from the general failure of Executive policies in a number of directions. Violent crime has risen and much of the reason for that is a lack of policing and a creaking and overworked legal system with massive court delays.
I frankly acknowledge and praise the Executive initiative for a separate domestic abuse court that is being piloted in Glasgow. However, I say to the minister that a target for disposing of such cases in four months is not all that helpful to a woman—let me be the first to fully concede that it is largely women who are affected, although that is not exclusively the case—who waits time and again for a drunken bully to come home and assault her, in some instances very seriously. We are talking about summary justice and I do not regard four months as an acceptable timescale in which to dispose of cases of this type.
In my experience, those who commit domestic assaults have a history of committing violence in other directions. It would be interesting to learn how many of those charged with domestic violence have other outstanding cases of violence that have not yet come before the court because of the overworked legal system.
Specialist sheriffs are perhaps an interesting innovation, but I suggest that, given the range of available disposals, any sheriff who does not know how to deal with crimes of this type should simply not be a sheriff. I know that people can behave out of character from time to time and that, in many cases, there may be genuine contrition, but it is difficult to see why anyone who has been convicted of more than one incident of domestic assault should not receive a custodial sentence.
We do not take great issue with what has been said in the debate, but I wonder whether we should perhaps seek to take a more proactive approach in certain directions, particularly with regard to the helpline that is in force. I know that that is largely run on a voluntary basis and I am full of praise for those who give up their time to do that. However, domestic violence does not operate on the basis of office hours. The helpline closes at 12 o'clock at night and we can expect a large number of episodes of domestic violence to occur after that time. Perhaps the Executive should consider that aspect.
I have no difficulty with this matter being debated in the chamber today but, like Cathy Peattie, I regret the need for the debate. Perhaps we can move on in a more positive direction, if the Executive is prepared to be a little bit more determined on the wider issues.
I declare a relevant interest in that I am a director of Ross-shire Women's Aid.
I am glad that so many speakers in the debate have acknowledged that the abuse of women is a product of our unequal society. I will illustrate that by recounting a conversation that I heard on a train from Edinburgh to Inverness not all that long ago. Three young people—two girls and a boy, aged about 18 or 19—were sitting fairly close to me. They were obviously students going home. After a lot of chitchat they started talking about a mutual acquaintance: a boy who was going out with a girl. The two girls were interested in that. The young man said, "Oh, well, we've told him that he should finish with her because she is so ugly, but he doesn't want to do that because when he asked her to split up she started to cry. So what is he going to do? I think he should give her a smack in the face." The young man smacked his fist against his palm to show what he meant.
One of the two girls laughed nervously and the other looked out the window. The train arrived in Inverness and everybody got up. It so happened that I had been reading Amnesty International material about violence against women. I thought, "Here we are. All the work that we have done and we still have this young man who thinks it is clever to make such an announcement in a loud voice in a crowded railway carriage."
I am sure that nobody in the chamber could imagine that conversation taking place if the gender roles were swapped. In our society, women are too often judged on their looks and controlled by physical and psychological force. Some men think that it is manly to do that. We must change such attitudes and make it a priority to do so through education. Women's Aid has often written to schools in our locality asking to speak to senior pupils, but too often schools have not even bothered to respond. I am pleased to say that Highland Council, through its domestic abuse strategy, has now taken on board the need for that kind of education.
We must deal with prevention, but we must also deal with the provision of protection. The refuge development programme has doubled the capacity of refuges in Dingwall and Inverness and has provided flats for families rather than crowded rooms. It is also perfectly possible for older women to be in refuges. In Dingwall, we have had women in their 70s in refuge. Refuge workers will also support people in the community. If a women does not desperately have to get away from her partner or if her partner slopes off, she can be supported in the community. The Dingwall refuge is supporting nearly 60 women around the Dingwall area who are not in refuge.
Although we have doubled the capacity of our refuges in Dingwall and Inverness, we still have to turn away a considerable number of women and children, as we have had to do over the years. There are 46 children in refuge in Dingwall this year, and 52 in Inverness. Members will note the large number of children, and we are all aware of the listen louder campaign to highlight children's experience of their mother being abused. With that in mind, I and other members want to draw the Executive's attention to the worries that we have about the family law bill. When it was debated earlier this year, I asked the Deputy Minister for Justice to ensure that the needs of children who had experienced the abuse of their mother by their father would be taken into account, and he promised that that would be the case. I urge the Executive to meet Scottish Women's Aid to discuss that issue.
I also want to ask the Executive how it is promoting the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001. I noticed recent articles in the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland and letters in that journal from Scottish Women's Aid asking for information on how the act was working. That act was created by a bill that was introduced by the Justice 1 Committee and was the first committee act of the Parliament.
We must protect, prevent and provide. We must provide refuge for women and children, we must ensure that relevant legislation is used to protect them and we must prevent through education the attitudes that some young men still have.
First, the Executive should be given credit where credit is due on its domestic abuse strategy and on the continuation of the domestic abuse strategy development fund. Secure funding will allow projects and workers to continue their excellent and essential work in the field, and the strategy is making a difference. Also, having a collective definition of domestic abuse means that all workers, agencies and political parties can, and should, have a common understanding of what domestic abuse is.
Although I am happy to voice my support for the strategy and for the development fund, I have some concerns that I would like to present to Parliament. First, service provision is far from uniform. Quantity and quality are not consistent. Women come to me in my surgery in Glasgow, often distraught, and tell me that they cannot be rehoused. They tell me that when they are seeking safe and supported refuge they cannot always get any and that they are offered bed-and-breakfast accommodation, sometimes miles away and sometimes in different local authority areas. Often, the stark choice for women is the frying pan or the fire, the devil or the deep blue sea, homelessness or domestic abuse. We need to get among that.
I draw the chamber's attention to the staying put project in Leeds and Bradford. That project helps women to stay in their homes safely. It involves changing locks, putting in alarms, ensuring that there are safe-and-well checks from local police officers and using legislation to keep abusive men away. That helps women and children to stay in their own home where possible and if that is what they want to do. It allows them to stay in the community, it allows children to stay at the local school with their friends and it allows them to continue with the same family doctor and other supports. It is not a panacea, but there is community responsibility involved in keeping women and children safe.
We need to be able to give answers to women who come to our surgeries because they were forced to give up their tenancies. One woman told me that she was forced to do that because she was in refuge. The council would not pay housing benefit on the home that she had fled, and that gave her no option of return. Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, that vulnerable woman, who has had enough uncertainty in her life, will now be offered one tenancy. If she does not take it, she has had it. Her choice of returning home to her children has, sadly, been taken from her. The going rate for staying in temporary accommodation or refuge is around £260 a week. That is usually paid for by housing benefit. If a woman is not on housing benefit, how can she afford to pay for refuge or accommodation while keeping up the rent or mortgage on the home that she has had to flee?
Women seeking interdicts, with or without powers of arrest, would have to be either in poverty or in wealth to manage to achieve that. Women earning more than £18,000 cannot get legal aid, which could mean that they are unable to get an interdict and would have to make a choice about whether they could afford to protect themselves.
Unfortunately, I shall have to leave out much of what I had planned to say, but I want to make it clear that domestic abuse is not a women's problem. The vast majority of domestic abuse is perpetrated by men on women. In Scotland, on average, a man executes a current or former partner each month. Child deaths that are also connected to domestic abuse are regularly investigated in Scotland. Although service provision for women is needed, we cannot ignore the cause, which is men's violence to women. Men must be held accountable for their abuse and for their violence towards women.
I do not have time to go into detail on a booklet that I have with me, which was produced by Respect. The Scottish Executive strategy refers to the principles that are contained in the booklet, as does the national health service. How many of the projects that the Executive funds through the DASDF or through the 100 per cent funding under section 27 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 meet those minimum standards?
The member must finish now.
There was a lot more that I wanted to say but, sadly, I have to finish.
First, I join in the congratulations to the Executive on the progress that it has made in tackling domestic abuse. This policy area is a clear example of the difference that a post-devolution Scotland can make to people's lives.
Thanks to the Executive, more women feel confident about reporting their experiences to the police and seeking help from organisations such as Scottish Women's Aid. As policy makers, we like to talk about taking a comprehensive, strategic approach to domestic abuse, but we should also ask what we mean when we do so. Taking a comprehensive, strategic approach means prevention, protection, increased support for children and young people, additional legal protection for victims and—of course—provision with more choice and better quality refuge provision.
Even with the progress that has been made in the area, domestic abuse continues to go unreported. However, not reporting abuse—for whatever reason—does not make it go away. It is imperative that we emphasise that people who are experiencing domestic abuse should seek help. All the services and provision in the world cannot help if the problem remains a secret one.
As Maureen Macmillan rightly said, the ultimate goal is to get better at prevention. We need to get better at challenging the attitudes and culture of some in our society. Domestic abuse is never justified and it must never be tolerated. Although we can acknowledge the comments that Donald Gorrie and Mike Rumbles made, I hope that they acknowledge that the starting point is where the problem is most acute. More than 90 per cent of the people who are abused are women—the issue of domestic abuse is one of gender and inequality. I also agree with the comments that Elaine Smith made on family law.
In the remaining time that is allowed to me, I want to highlight an emerging area of concern. Despite the welcome victim information service, some women's experience is that no information is given to them or that they are wrongly informed about their rights and about why and when things will happen in the justice system. Essentially, the problem appears to be that once the abuse has been reported to the police, the victim is left out of the loop when the case gets to the Procurator Fiscal Service and into court.
I will quickly illustrate the problem. A husband who was the subject of an impending abuse case continued to harass and threaten his wife and children while he was out on bail. His wife reported the harassment to the police only to be told that, as there was no hard evidence to support her statement, nothing could be done. She was given wrong information, however, as her husband should have been brought in for questioning. The experience left the woman and her child with the message that in some way her abuser was above the law.
The case gets worse. When her husband was finally brought to trial, she had no idea what was happening in the trial, as nobody explained the court procedures. She discovered that her husband had left the building, as his not-guilty plea had been accepted. The woman was left feeling extremely let down by the system that was supposed to protect her. We cannot allow the victims of domestic abuse to be further victimised by a lack of information and to end up mistrusting the very system that was put in place to protect them.
In another case, substantial assault charges were dropped and a lesser charge of breach of the peace was accepted without any information being given to the woman who was the victim of the case. Although I welcome the pilot domestic abuse court in Glasgow, the positive experience in that court is not one that is shared elsewhere in the country.
I would be grateful if ministers would discuss the issue further with the Lord Advocate. The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive must send out a clear message to the women and their children who are victims of domestic abuse that domestic abuse is never acceptable and that the people who perpetrate it will be prosecuted.
The statistics with which the minister opened the debate were shocking and in many ways sum up why this debate is vital to the sort of Scotland that we are building in the 21st century through this Parliament. Domestic abuse is a disgrace to our society. It ruins lives, harms individuals and cannot be tolerated. Although there is no universally accepted definition of domestic abuse, we all know what it is when we see it. Our society has a duty to protect and defend the innocent and the vulnerable.
I commend to Parliament the Tayside domestic abuse initiative, which is jointly operated by Barnardo's Scotland and Tayside police. The initiative provides support to victims of domestic abuse and, in particular, develops assistance for children who are affected by such abuse. When the initiative was witnessed by the chief constable John Vine he was so impressed that he extended the unique Angus scheme to the rest of Tayside using financial assistance from the Scottish Executive. For that, I thank the minister.
I also commend the Angus partnership on domestic abuse, which has created positive input and co-ordination involving Women's Aid, Victim Support, local sheriffs and procurators fiscal and every Angus Council department. It truly is a community response to a community problem. Everyone who needs its services can approach the partnership with confidence. In one year, 259 women and 13 men were helped along with 446 children, while 13 children received an individual service, which made a positive difference to the lives and life prospects of those involved.
I congratulate my colleagues on Angus Council and the Angus partnership members, and today seek a positive response from the Scottish Government to ensure that medium and long-term financial security is provided for a scheme that works well and could be replicated throughout Scotland. The number of referrals is increasing steadily as the true extent of the hidden abuse problem emerges, therefore continuing medium and long-term Government support is vital. I ask the minister to ensure that such life-restoring initiatives are established on a more sound basis with assured, sustainable core funding
We really are talking about the kind of Scotland that we want to live in. The more I hear of the statistics, the more shocked I am. Some things in life should never be done, and hitting a woman is one of them.
To help to solve the problem, I ask the minister to guarantee Government funding, which will allow for flexibility in the development of new models of care that work, use existing services better and can be replicated elsewhere. We can all learn from best practice. All voluntary organisations suffer from insecurity and short-term funding. Will the minister ensure that clearly successful initiatives are financially supported by central Government in the medium and long-term, and that Tayside's success will be reinforced as part of a national strategy to meet and defeat the fundamental issue? The University of Dundee evaluation of the Tayside initiative reveals its reliability and the positive reaction from users. It is now menaced only by insecurity over long-term sustainable funding.
Domestic abuse simply cannot be tolerated in 21st century Scotland. This community problem can and will be solved by community action. I seek the minister's assurance that the Government will replace short-term funding with longer-term sustainable resources for a proven initiative, as part of a truly national strategy.
I call Marlyn Glen. I regret that I can only give you two and a wee bit minutes.
I draw the attention of members in the chamber to the strategy of the London domestic violence forum, which is in its annual report. Part of its remit is to focus on bringing about a societal shift. Instead of concentrating just on services for abused women, it also targets the societal collusion of men. Too often, men who are not abusers turn a blind eye. It is not enough to hold only abusers to account; we all have to be accountable. The Executive's own national strategy on domestic abuse needs a great deal more publicity if we are to achieve such an attitudinal shift.
The statistics that we have heard are chilling. One in five women experience domestic abuse, which accounts for a quarter of recorded violent crime and is the crime of violence that women are most likely to suffer. The report of the working group on hate crime recommends that a statutory aggravation for domestic abuse be considered and the working group on legislation has recommended a domestic abuse bill. Given the statistics, such a bill and/or a statutory aggravation for domestic abuse have to be a priority for legislation. I look forward to hearing about the minister's intentions on that. We have strategies for prevention, training and refuge provision and the domestic abuse courts initiative. Now we need further legislation.
It is important to remember that reducing the level of these crimes will reduce associated costs to the public purse by cutting expenditure on policing, court proceedings and the health service including, in extreme cases, the costs of hospitalisation. Most of all, it will reduce the unacceptable and sometimes ultimate cost to women and children.
If we are to make every woman in Scotland safe, they must be safe in their own home. Only then will we see at least the beginning of the end of domestic abuse in Scottish homes. I look forward to the Executive's continuing action to reduce the scourge of domestic abuse.
I thank all the contributors for what I think has been a valuable rehearsal of the arguments on this important topic. The minister gave us a well-balanced speech that combined factual and statistical information and helped to define the nature and scale of the problem—I always like to be nice to the minister—with clear reference to the meaningful impact that domestic abuse has on individuals' lives.
The Executive has made progress on the issue not only by allocating more resources to services for victims but by ensuring that services are sensitive to the needs of children and young people. That is why Shiona Baird's amendment acknowledges at length the work that the Executive is undertaking.
It is a sign of the level of agreement on the importance of this issue that the debate has been relatively non-confrontational. If we are honest, we can say that there is much in every amendment as well as in the motion that we can all support.
I welcome Sandra White's support for Shiona Baird's amendment. Her call for long-term funding, which Shiona Baird echoed, was an important contribution. Addressing that need would be an important contribution to improving domestic abuse services. Margaret Mitchell gave me the novel and interesting opportunity to welcome the words of Iain Duncan Smith.
Among the issues that Shiona Baird raised was the need to meet the needs of older women. Although services for them might be available, many of them are reluctant to access them or are hesitant about doing so. The literature review that NHS Health Scotland published cites much evidence of that.
I will focus on another of Shiona Baird's points, which was about the involvement of non-perpetrating men and boys in challenging and changing our society's attitudes. I will relate a story about a family I know. Many years ago, the mother was called to jury duty. The defendant in the case was a victim who fought back after years of abuse. The case affected the juror deeply and sometime later she discussed with her family the issue and the impact that the case had on her. It was the first time that her young sons had been aware of the issue of domestic abuse and it led directly to discussions in their primary school class, which was an opportunity for attitudes about gender, respect and violence to be raised sensitively. We obviously do not want to wait for everyone to be involved in jury duty, but that case shows that we need to find innovative ways to involve boys in particular but also men who oppose domestic violence to challenge the underlying attitudes.
Donald Gorrie mentioned alcohol. It is important to address that issue as alcohol can be a trigger for domestic abuse and can make individual incidents more likely to occur. However, we must keep our eye on the ball when it comes to the underlying social attitudes that cause domestic abuse.
I am sorry that I do not have enough time to cover many of the points that I intended to raise. However, I particularly want to mention Cathy Peattie's passionate and valuable speech and should say that Maureen Macmillan's account of the incident on the train added a valuable touch to the debate.
I close by referring to Mike Rumbles's usual point about male victims of domestic abuse, which on this occasion was echoed by Donald Gorrie. I do not think that there is any reason why we cannot do two things at once. Some victims take the difficult step of making a phone call to try to access services only to be told that nothing can be done to help them or, worse still, that they are not the victims of real domestic abuse. However, there is no reason why we cannot address that issue while acknowledging that the overwhelming number of people affected by this problem are women who are victims of violence by men. The problem is by its very nature gender-based.
This topic has been addressed before and will no doubt be addressed again. We must continue to do so because the underlying problems and attitudes have not gone away.
Once again, the Scottish Parliament is addressing the very important issue of domestic violence. As Patrick Harvie pointed out, over the years we have debated the issue I have continually expressed my very real concern that we are saying to some victims of this dreadful violence that we do not care enough about them to include them in the motions that are lodged. That is sending out the wrong message.
In the previous debate on this issue, I said:
"I hope that, when we next address the issue of domestic violence in this chamber, the motion that we debate will be inclusive and not exclusive in its recognition of the complete unacceptability of domestic abuse, from whatever source it comes."—[Official Report, 27 November 2003; c 3704.]
It is, to say the least, regrettable that ministers have insisted on lodging this exclusive motion, despite the fact that representations for a more reasoned and inclusive motion were made to them. This debate really cannot continue in such a light. How long will it be before ministers and other MSPs understand that acknowledging and supporting all victims of domestic violence is an essential first step towards rooting out this evil?
In that regard, I commend Margaret Mitchell for using non-sexist and inclusive language in the debate. She talked about victims and abusers; other members did not do so. People are victims and people are abusers. We seem to go out of our way to ignore some victims of violence while highlighting the traumatic effect of domestic abuse on others. I cannot think of any other sphere of parliamentary business in which that would happen.
I have said on many occasions that it is right to highlight the fact that, proportionately, women and children suffer far more than men do. We know that, among adults, 90 per cent of the victims of domestic abuse are women and 10 per cent are men. However, such statistics are meaningless to victims. A victim is a victim and it is about time that we stopped adding insult to injury. We must stop pretending that only men are violent and that women cannot be violent.
We in the Parliament are rightly proud of the importance that we attach to equal opportunities. In last year's report on the founding principles of the Scottish Parliament, the Procedures Committee said:
"We recommend that MSPs should always apply equal opportunities principles in their work."
Very few of us have done so today. In lodging this motion, the minister has broken that important founding principle of the Parliament.
Will the member give way?
No.
Although female and male victims of domestic violence have come to see me, the male victims have asked me why the Scottish Parliament does not seem to acknowledge that they have a right to be recognised as victims. I could not give those victims of domestic violence a real answer.
The terms of the motion do not recognise more than 3,000 incidents of violence recorded by the police. The problem cannot be ignored or hidden away. If anyone says that such statistics are not important or serious, I can repeat only what I have said before in this chamber:
"there are none so blind as those who will not see."—[Official Report, 27 November 2003; c 3703.]
Behind the statistics lie real people traumatised by real violence. Given that the Scottish Executive is so good at ensuring equal treatment in every other sphere, I cannot understand its position in this respect.
Last November, I ended my speech in the previous debate on this issue in the terms that I have already outlined. That proved to be wishful thinking on my part. I hope that the new Minister for Communities will take an inclusive approach the next time we debate this subject. It is the least that he can do. If we are to combat domestic violence in all its forms, then—for heaven's sake—we have got to leave our prejudices behind.
I welcome this debate—after this morning's rather confrontational debate, I also welcome its tone. I note both that the motion focuses on support for those who experience domestic abuse and that the minister commented that there is no excuse for domestic abuse.
Many excellent contributions have been made today but I want to highlight Cathy Peattie's thought-provoking contribution. Domestic abuse is not all about black eyes; emotional abuse is equally damaging. I acknowledge all the other comments made and, like my colleague Bill Aitken, I found very little to disagree with. I also commend those MSPs who raised issues relating to older women.
There has been an increase of more than 10,000 in recorded incidents of domestic abuse in the past three years. That should give us cause for concern. As the minister has said, many people experience abuse almost 30 times before they call for help. We know that there is gross under-recording.
I would also like to support a point that Mike Rumbles made. There is a serious under-recording by women of abuse by men, but I think that men who are abused by women could well make up more than 10 per cent of the total, because there is equal, if not greater, under-recording of such abuse. We need early recognition and early intervention. Whatever the figures, we can be sure that they all underestimate the extent of the problem.
There are three types of domestic violence and most of us have spoken, and rightly so, about the primary victims—the ones who are directly attacked. Many MSPs have spoken about the secondary victims—the children who witness violence. When they are in refuges, a total of 48 per cent of those children are found to have mental health problems.
I want to focus on the third type of domestic violence and the tertiary victims. A future victim may enter a relationship with a perpetrator. I fully support all the investment in providing women's refuges and in looking after children, but more research is needed into understanding why men—predominantly men—abuse women. I realise that that may be a controversial point but I feel that abusers need help as well.
You have one minute left.
Those people will go on into further relationships and abuse further.
Recently, I met some speech therapists who told me that they had been doing work in prisons. They said that many prisoners found it very difficult to express themselves verbally. Those prisoners had a communication impairment and often, because they could not express themselves, they would lash out at others. I am not suggesting that the issue is that simple, but I feel that a bit more research needs to be done.
Mental health difficulties may also play a part. Men in particular are not good at talking about their problems. They are less likely to visit the doctor and extremely unlikely to seek help. I have met many families in Inverness who have lost a male family member because of suicide. It is shocking how few of the suicide victims actually talked of their problems to their families before taking their own lives. It is also shocking how few—I have not heard of any and I have met many families—who left a note.
You must finish now. I call Christine Grahame. Ms Grahame, you have five minutes.
I will keep to that because you are being very fierce, Presiding Officer.
The Scottish National Party will accept both the Green and the Conservative amendments. We lodged our amendment because of our genuine concerns over long-term funding.
Of course, this should be a consensual debate. I heard the minister use the expression "just a domestic". That is a phrase from the mists of time when it was often attributed to the police. I am glad to say that that attitude has long since been dispelled, although there are problems with police responses, which I will deal with shortly.
There is a cultural issue. It is shocking that a survey that was conducted as recently as 2003 showed that one in five young men thought that it was all right to be violent towards women. It is even more shocking that one in 10 young women thought that violence towards them was acceptable. We have a great deal to do in our schools and elsewhere to turn around that dreadful cultural attitude.
I asked the minister about the television campaigns. Perhaps I should have read my papers more closely, because an Executive research finding paper that is entitled "Evaluation of the Scottish Domestic Abuse Helpline" makes it clear that, following the TV campaign that was broadcast between Christmas 2002 and new year 2003, the average number of calls to the helpline went up by an extraordinary amount—972 calls were received in January 2003. The same thing happens when much-maligned programmes such as "EastEnders" or "Coronation Street" deal with domestic abuse issues—the number of calls to the helpline increases. It is unfortunate that such increases seem to occur in spurts. Given the cultural background, there is much work to be done.
I have some brief questions for the minister. He mentioned the expert advisory group. I would like to know more about its composition and characteristics. Which areas of society will its members represent? Malcolm Chisholm mentioned that £12 million would be invested as part of the Executive's future development programme. Over how long a period will that money be spent and how will it be allocated? Will there be a bidding war for it? That is what is happening with a great deal of funding for Women's Aid and other agencies.
Maureen Macmillan was right to mention the good work that was done on the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001, much of which was instigated by her. We mulled for ages over the attachment of a power of arrest to the common-law interdict in cases of domestic abuse. It is a bit depressing that a measure that we thought would be extremely useful, in that it would no longer be necessary to obtain a domestic interdict or to be in a marital relationship, appears to be withering on a vine somewhere.
One of the problems of having an interdict with a power of arrest and exclusion orders is police response times. I do not blame the police for that, but we cannot have a situation in which a woman who has a court order pinned up beside the telephone phones the local police because the man involved is banging on the door and it takes the police 10 or 15 minutes to get there. The man does not care, because he has been drinking and no court order frightens him. I used to be a lawyer practising in domestic matters and I dealt with cases in which the door was broken down and the woman was assaulted again. That is a huge issue.
In rural areas, the problem is even greater, because the police are further away. I can tell Rosie Kane that the difficulties with accommodation are especially severe in rural as opposed to urban areas. People can be 50 or 60 miles away from a refuge. In the Borders, there is only one Women's Aid centre, in Jedburgh. I know that Haddington has to take people from other parts of Scotland because of a lack of accommodation.
I turn to the figures on attacks that take place after the breakdown of a relationship. Divorce or separation does not put an end to domestic abuse; in cases involving a determined partner, that often exacerbates the situation. Between 40 and 60 per cent of separated or divorced women continue to experience domestic abuse, in spite of the fact that the marriage is over.
What my colleague Andrew Welsh said about the Tayside initiative is very encouraging. We require co-operation across all sectors. For the reasons that I have elucidated, sheriffs, the police, the health boards and all council departments from housing to social work must work together to support people who have been victims of abuse. Domestic abuse often continues after the courts have become involved. Although Mike Rumbles made some interesting points, men are the main perpetrators. Some men are simply not deterred and the woman and her children have to be protected for years.
I welcome the opportunity to sum up on behalf of the Executive in what is a very important debate.
I would like to think that no one doubts the seriousness of the issues that we have debated this afternoon. I welcome the many thoughtful points that members of all parties have made. I assure members that, if I do not manage to address each point individually, my ministerial colleagues and I will deal with them in writing. That applies especially to the detailed comments that Christine Grahame made. We may divide on some elements of the amendments, but I assure members that the thrust behind them will be taken seriously, because they genuinely seek to reinforce our strategy on domestic abuse.
A debate such as this one raises initial concerns. There is perhaps the feeling that some people might wish to separate domestic abuse from the broader issue of violence against women. I am optimistic that we will have a debate on that broader issue towards the end of the month. We should acknowledge that, in today's debate and in others, we have come a long way towards recognising the issue of the abuse of power. Someone mentioned child sexual abuse. We all acknowledge the role of women's organisations in raising that issue and recognising that a serious problem existed.
Another concern is that we simply focus on the what of domestic abuse and are content to study the bruises and pity the victims. Cathy Peattie mentioned other ways in which domestic abuse expresses itself. However, the survivors of domestic abuse do not look for our pity; indeed, I am often struck by their strength and resilience. Our awareness and action now have been shaped by survivors of domestic abuse. As I have said to Mike Rumbles in the past, a test of the reality of an experience is whether self-help groups begin to develop, no matter how difficult the problems are. The commitment in our strategy is not to good words, but to services that meet needs.
The young people at last week's listen louder event demonstrated powerful composure and a wish to ensure that other young people are helped by their speaking out. They asked us to listen and act. They want the what to be addressed. We must consider how we support young people who experience domestic abuse. We need to improve refuge provision for women and their families in a way that best meets their needs at particular times; we must deal with individuals' pain and fear; and we must provide a range of support services for children so that somebody is there to ask the right question and to make young people feel safe enough to tell the truth. We heard about young people with mental health problems. I have worked with young people who were described as having such problems because they stayed at home and did not go to school. However, what they were doing was entirely logical and rational, because they thought that if they left home their mother would be dead when they came back.
We must listen carefully to what young men and women say. They are entitled to have the what addressed, but we must also address the why. Given that we shall not eradicate domestic abuse only by managing its consequences, we must confront the issues that shape the behaviour of violent and aggressive men. We are concerned about all violence, however it is expressed, such as through male violence on the streets or by young women who get involved in gangs, but the reality is that domestic abuse is not simply about unfortunate individuals who live under the same roof with another aggressive person who might have a drink problem. Any violence in the home is a problem, but female murder victims are far more likely to have been murdered by a partner or ex-partner than male murder victims are. Violence expresses itself in different ways, but I owe it to my daughter and son—we owe it to our daughters and sons and to all Scotland's young people—to accept and confront the pattern of behaviour that is reflected in the figures on domestic abuse. More than 90 per cent of those who perpetrate domestic abuse are men and more than 90 per cent of the victims are women. That is a pattern in anybody's language and we will not break the pattern if we start by denying that it exists.
Many issues have been raised in the debate. I acknowledge the points about funding and I recognise the complicated issues of housing benefit and secure funding. Members can be assured that we will consider those matters further. Margaret Mitchell made the point that initiatives are not enough. The domestic abuse courts are proving successful because women need to know that there is a reason to report a problem. To return to Bill Aitken's point, the domestic abuse courts make the justice system more consistent and show that it takes the problem seriously, which increases levels of reporting. Shiona Baird mentioned the forthcoming family law bill and contact with abusive parents. In the near future, the Minister for Communities and the Minister for Justice will meet representatives from Scottish Women's Aid to discuss its concerns on that issue.
I acknowledge Stewart Stevenson's points about mobile phones and helplines, but we must remember that women are sometimes frightened even to be seen with a telephone or telephone number. How deep the problem lies.
Maureen Macmillan made a particular point about the promotion of the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001. I can assure her that I will ask my officials and Justice Department officials for a report on how that legislation is being taken forward. Jackie Baillie spoke about issues in the justice system, and I will pursue those matters with the Minister for Justice and the Lord Advocate.
Courageous women survivors of abuse are beginning to shape the way in which the justice system affects all victims of crime.
I ask the minister to determine for us the situation with regard to police responses to calls made by women whose husbands are the subject of exclusion orders.
We can do that. We know that the police have moved a long way from the characterisations that have been used in the past.
I am aware that a minister has visited the Tayside domestic abuse service in the past, and we will consider the points that have been made on that subject.
This has been a positive debate, and recognition has been given to a positive strategy. We recognise the range of points that have been made and the consensus that exists. Although we will not support the amendments, we will nevertheless be united in our commitment to dealing with the issues that are addressed in the amendments and the motion.