Violence against Women
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-08612, in the name of Shona Robison, on violence against women. We are incredibly short for time, so members will have to keep to their times. If the opening speeches could be slightly less than indicated, that would be helpful. I call Shona Robison to speak to and move the motion. You have a maximum of 10 minutes in which to do so, Ms Robison.
16:07
On behalf of the Scottish Government, I am delighted to open this debate and to have an opportunity to reaffirm the Government’s unreserved commitment to tackling violence against women. I cannot say strongly enough that violence against women has absolutely no place in our society.
I welcome the interest and support for the agenda among the members who are in the chamber and beyond. We might not always agree on every detail, but our desire and passion to see an end to violence against women in Scotland has united the Parliament since its earliest days. I sincerely hope that that continues to be the case.
Sadly, there is still much work to be done to eradicate violence against women in our society and beyond. Violence continues to be perpetrated against women and girls across the globe on a daily and unrelenting basis. In Scotland, women and girls continue to be the victims of domestic abuse, rape, sexual assault and other forms of violence such as commercial sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation. Also, the ways in which violence is being perpetrated are evolving. Social media such as Snapchat, Twitter, Skype and Facebook provide lots of different ways for us to communicate with one another but, regrettably, some people use those tools in a different way: to humiliate and exploit others. One example of that is revenge porn, which we debated earlier this year.
I know that there is a lot of interest in the Parliament on the issue of female genital mutilation, some of which was expressed during the human rights debate a week ago. As a form of violence against women and girls, female genital mutilation will be included in Scotland’s strategy to tackle violence against women. The strategy will be the first of its kind in Scotland, reflect the spectrum of violence that is defined as violence against women and be published in the summer of next year following consultation in the new year. I will return to the subject in my closing remarks.
There is much work to do to achieve the vision of Scotland that we all want, but there is also much to be proud of. I pay tribute to the hard-working organisations on the front line that work day in, day out to help women and children who are affected by the scourge of domestic violence. Many other aspects of the situation are also worth referring to.
In its first year, Police Scotland has shown a great deal of commitment to, and leadership on, the violence against women agenda. It has made tackling domestic abuse and tackling rape two of its top three priorities. A new national rape task force, which works closely with specialist rape investigation units in each of the 14 divisions within Police Scotland, has been established.
Rape is now being taken as seriously as murder. Every rape investigation will be led by a detective inspector or someone above that rank, who will lead a team of people who have the same skill sets as those used in homicide investigations. Rapes committed after 1 April 2013, when the new single service was established, and which remain unsolved will be subject to cold-case reviews in the same way that murders already are.
The Scottish Government already proposes to remove the requirement for corroboration in criminal cases via the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill. That move, which is supported by Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland and Victim Support Scotland, recognises the fact that corroboration can make the prosecution of sexual offences, which often take place in secrecy and without witnesses, particularly difficult. Removing the requirement for corroboration will enable compelling cases to proceed based on the best evidence, putting the focus squarely on the quality of evidence rather than its quantity.
The prevalence of domestic abuse in our society remains acute. More than 60,000 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded in 2012-13, an increase of 0.5 per cent on the previous year. It is likely that that increase reflects to some extent greater reporting of domestic abuse to the police and the confidence that those who experience abuse have in the response of the police and other partners. That is to be welcomed, but the Scottish Government is clear that 60,080 incidents of domestic abuse is 60,080 too many.
That is why the Government has increased funding to tackle violence against women, including domestic abuse, by 62 per cent since 2007, allocating £34.5 million for the 2012 to 2015 period. We recognise that, despite that, there are always pressures on budgets, particularly due to higher costs across many organisations. Nevertheless, compared to the funding support elsewhere, funding has increased and enabled much work to take place in our communities.
We have also strengthened the criminal law in recent years, introducing a new offence criminalising the breach of an interdict with the power of arrest where domestic abuse is involved. The Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced on 6 February this year, will improve the support that is available to victims and witnesses through the justice system, putting victims’ interests at the heart of continuing improvements.
To ensure that the Scottish Government fulfils its international obligations on violence against women, we propose to criminalise forced marriage. Everyone in Scotland who is eligible to marry or enter into a civil partnership has a right to do so freely. We have a proud record of tackling all forms of violence against women, including forced marriage. The legislation that was introduced in the Forced Marriage etc (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act 2011 was a clear statement of our intention to work towards its eradication. Our decision to criminalise forced marriage will ensure that Scotland is compliant with article 37 of the Istanbul convention and demonstrate that the country will not fail to meet its obligations to protect those who are at risk.
I am pleased to tell members that we have taken the decision to reshape our traditional model for consultation to encourage as many people and organisations as possible to engage and get involved in the consultation for the new violence against women strategy. We will invite and support stakeholders that deliver front-line services to host on our behalf discussion groups about the strategy with service users. Those groups will enable us to ensure that the strategy is built on service users’ views and meets their needs.
We will set up a series of workshops with key stakeholders, including Police Scotland, Education Scotland, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and voluntary sector partners, which will take place in February next year. The main focus of those sessions will be on discussing how best to strengthen those organisations’ commitments to tackling violence against women, which will be set out in the strategy.
From the new year onwards, we will widely circulate externally an outline structure of the strategy, which will be accompanied by consultation questions. That will ensure that all who are not directly involved in the discussion groups and meetings and who feel that they have something to contribute to the consultation have a mechanism to do so.
In Scotland, we have much to be proud of. We have been creative and we have truly embraced a multi-agency response to tackling violence against women. As the minister who is responsible for equality, I am immensely proud of what we have achieved in Scotland across Administrations that go back to the Parliament’s establishment. We have the opportunity to build on those successes and we must never be complacent.
That is why I have written to Professor Rashida Manjoo, the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women, to invite her to visit Scotland during her official mission to the United Kingdom in April next year. She will visit the UK to examine UK laws, policies and practices that relate to violence against women, and I want her to hear about and see some of the fantastic things that are happening here in Scotland.
As I said at the outset, the Parliament has always engaged a great deal on the issue. We have been united in our condemnation of such violence, which we all agree does not accord with the vision of Scotland that we want. I very much look forward to further discussion with members in today’s debate and beyond, as the development of the strategy progresses. I welcome members’ input on the strategy.
I move,
That the Parliament reaffirms its commitment to ending violence against women; welcomes the development of Scotland’s Strategy to Tackle Violence against Women, the first of its kind in Scotland; notes that the strategy will encompass the spectrum of violence defined as gender-based violence, and commends the valuable contribution that voluntary and third sector organisations have made to the shaping of Scotland’s approach to violence against women
16:17
I very much regret the necessity for the debate. I believe that all members across the chamber regret the fact that, in 21st century Scotland, we are still debating the increasing level of violence against women and the actions that must be taken to tackle its consequences.
The abuse of women—whether domestic or otherwise—is rooted firmly in gender inequality. It is overwhelmingly perpetrated by men and, although it is often blamed on drink, drugs or the results of old firm games, we know the truth: the root cause is wider gender inequality.
Such abuse is ultimately an abuse of power. We see that imbalance of power all around us—in the underrepresentation of women in the chamber, in the boards and senior management teams of our public bodies and in our justice system, to name but a few. While that imbalance of power continues, so will acts of violence against women. Members should make no mistake—abuse is no respecter of money or class; it can happen to any woman at any time.
The behaviours that constitute abuse are not simply forms of physical violence; they also encompass mental and emotional abuse. Ultimately, that is all about control. We need to recognise that there is a continuum of abusive behaviour, which includes not only domestic abuse but stalking, harassment and other actions. The issues are interconnected and complex, but we need to be clear that whatever solutions are arrived at are firmly rooted in recognising that the issue is about gender inequality and an abuse of power. Unless we address that, we will—ultimately—not succeed.
I will illustrate the continuum with the case of a paramedic called Maureen Gordon, who experienced abuse not just at home but at work. She worked for the Scottish Ambulance Service and so did her ex-partner, who was a manager. He engaged in what can only be described as a campaign of terror. He hounded her at work, tried to run her over in an Ambulance Service car, threatened to chop her head off with an axe and engaged in a range of other intimidating behaviours of which there are too many to name.
Shop stewards in the GMB union complained to managers 29 times—and Maureen lost count of how many times she did so—in a two-year period, but the only result was that no apparent action was taken by the Ambulance Service. She had to take a case to the courts, where her ex-partner received a custodial sentence and the sheriff slammed the Ambulance Service for failing to act on her complaints.
That should not happen in any workplace, never mind in a public sector organisation such as the Scottish Ambulance Service. I ask the Minister for Communities and Sport—or the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing—to meet Maureen Gordon and her trade union, the GMB, to discuss her experience as a matter of urgency. I think that we would all agree that her experience is a disgrace and must not be allowed to happen in the future.
Maureen Gordon’s partner is now out of prison with a tag, having served only a matter of months. He has been seen waiting for her to show up outside her mother’s house and elsewhere. She appears to have been failed by her employers, and now by a justice system that allows her ex-partner to be out and about.
Maureen’s experience is not isolated; the numbers of women who are experiencing domestic abuse are rising. In 2003-04 there were 40,000 incidents of reported domestic abuse, but by 2013-13 that figure had risen to 60,000, which we know is probably just the tip of the iceberg. The detail that lies behind the 2012-13 figures is worth considering. Of all the reported cases, 61 per cent involved repeat victimisation. Of that number, 30 per cent had experienced a single incident, another 30 per cent had experienced two or three, and 39 per cent had experienced four or more previous incidents.
Does Jackie Baillie welcome, as I do, the focus that Police Scotland now has on ensuring that repeat offenders are kept under observation?
I absolutely do, and I will talk about Police Scotland in a minute.
Scottish Women’s Aid tells us that two women will be murdered each week by their partner or ex-partner, and Zero Tolerance backs that up with the very chilling statistic that for those in the 15 to 44 age group, men’s violence kills or incapacitates more women globally each year than cancer, malaria, road traffic accidents and war combined. It is clear that the scale of the problem remains.
We used to talk about the three Ps—prevention, protection and prosecution—and I will address those elements in reverse order. On prosecution, we know that the domestic abuse courts are struggling, the case load is increasing and there is no additional resource to cope. There have been no prosecutions for female genital mutilation or for forced marriages, and there are very low numbers of prosecutions for trafficking, even though we know that those problems exist in Scotland. I very much welcome Police Scotland’s renewed focus and the priority that it places on tackling domestic abuse and rape, but we need to be sure that the courts have the capacity to back up its work. I hope that the minister shares that aspiration.
On protection, I note that services are being cut despite demand increasing year on year. Women’s Aid reports that 92 per cent of its services are working with reduced budgets, a third have had to make cuts and a quarter have had to make staff redundant. The impact of that is that women are increasingly being turned away as refuges have closed or reduced their capacity. If we are to encourage women to leave their abusers, we must ensure that there is sufficient resource in place. Notwithstanding what the minister has said, I urge her to address the matter alongside the strategy with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.
Finally, prevention is where the real prize lies. Changing attitudes and cultures takes time, but it is absolutely where we need to be, and that is the type of action that we need to take. A 2005 survey on young people’s attitudes to gendered violence found that one in five young men believed that women provoked violence, and that one third of young men and one sixth of young women thought that using violence in an intimate relationship was somehow okay.
The challenge that we face is changing their attitudes and culture so that we can change the acceptance of gendered violence in the next generation. While I note the delay in publishing the strategy for consultation, I hope that the minister takes the time to get it right. I know that she will bring all her skills to the task, and we are committed to working with her in doing so. We need nothing short of a revolution to end the abuse of women, and I look forward to the strategy providing the framework to do just that.
I move amendment S4M-08612.2, to insert at end:
“against a backdrop of an increase in the total recorded number of domestic abuse incidents.”
16:25
I welcome today’s debate, which has become an annual one because, sadly, the vexing problem of violence against women and children is not diminishing but is, rather, continuing to manifest itself in a range of crimes, including sexual offences; offences involving prostitution; pornography, including revenge pornography; trafficking; female genital mutilation; forced marriages; and honour crimes.
In the limited time that is available to me, I want to focus on two of the most serious crimes: rape and domestic abuse, which are primarily, although not exclusively, directed towards women. In these areas, a worrying trend is emerging. Although the incidence of other crimes, including violent crime, is falling, the statistics show that violence against women appears to be on the rise. Last year, more than 60,000 domestic abuse incidents were recorded, which is nearly double the figure of 10 years ago. In the same time period, incidents resulting in a report to the procurator fiscal have risen from 9,000 to more than 23,000. Rape and attempted rape are also at a historic high, and sexual assaults rose by 3 per cent last year. Although that increase is partly due to increases in awareness and the commendable efforts of the Government, voluntary organisations and the police to encourage victims to come forward, the statistics nonetheless make for depressing reading.
Violence against women can and does ruin lives. Based on a study that was conducted for the United Kingdom Government, violence against women is estimated to cost £4 billion a year. The emotional cost and damage is beyond measure.
Quite simply, for significant progress to be made on tackling and seeking to eliminate violence against women, the Parliament—with a majority Government, that means the Scottish National Party—must do more than merely reaffirm its commitment to tackling this violence in its ever-increasing forms.
The harsh reality is that women are being let down by sentencing that is not as robust as it should be. Only 12 per cent of those who were convicted of domestic abuse were handed custodial sentences, and the vast majority of them were sentenced to less than six months, which are the very sentences that the Scottish Government has taken steps to phase out.
Zero tolerance of domestic abuse is being let down by zero sentencing. When many of the perpetrators of this violence are being let off so lightly, it is not surprising that many women question whether the violence that is perpetrated against them is taken seriously. Furthermore, almost a third of those who are convicted in court are admonished and, to add insult to injury, the automatic early release of prisoners means that the vast majority of these violent criminals are released after serving only half their sentence. In 2007, the SNP promised to end that practice but no meaningful action has been taken to date.
On the issue of prosecution, does Margaret Mitchell recognise that, where an incident of domestic abuse resulted in a crime or offence being recorded, a report was submitted to the procurator fiscal in 78 per cent of incidents in 2012-13? That is a substantial increase from the figure of 51 per cent in 2003-04.
I acknowledged that increase, and the awareness-raising work, at the beginning of my speech.
To its eternal shame, the SNP voted against the amendment to the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Bill that would have introduced a pilot to provide crucial independent legal advice to victims of rape and other sexual offences when permission to access to their medical records and irrelevant private information is sought. It is well established that the use—or, more accurately, abuse—of that information plays to the prejudices and myths that are known to persist in sexual offence trials, making a conviction all the less likely. I remind the minister that the women who find themselves victims twice in court as that abuse of personal information is used to discredit them have already passed the corroboration threshold. The abolition of corroboration will make absolutely no difference in those cases, other than to increase miscarriages of justice
I would truly like to be consensual, but I am afraid that platitudes are not enough. I am afraid that, when opportunities to do something meaningful now to address this travesty of justice are rejected, I find it hard to be charitable to this majority Government that, on this issue, has become part of the problem.
We come to the open debate. We are extremely tight for time, so I will allow speeches of four minutes. That could change, so it would be helpful if members could take less time.
16:29
I take this opportunity to highlight the invaluable work of the many organisations that are involved in helping women and children affected by violence against them. I give credit to the present Government and previous Governments for the continued importance that they have attached to this very emotive subject. I am sorry that the debate is not consensual, but I hope that we can continue to focus on why we are here, which is to try to help. I agree with Jackie Baillie: I do not want to come back to another debate on violence against women; I want to eradicate it. I hope that we can do that.
We had debates on this topic last month. Jackie Baillie had one, and I had one on Glasgow Women’s Aid’s 40th anniversary, in which I talked about the work that that organisation does to provide support and refuge for women, children and young people who experience many forms of domestic abuse. The continuing hard work and dedication of organisations such as Women’s Aid and others mean that people suffering in an abusive relationship feel confident enough to come forward—that is an important point to remember—in the knowledge that support is out there.
I note the Labour amendment. I want to quote Lily Greenan, the manager of Scottish Women’s Aid—I hope that Jackie Baillie and the Labour Party are listening. She said:
“We expect reported incidents of domestic abuse to continue to rise as the awareness of domestic abuse increases, professionals receive more training and as a result, women are encouraged to report the abuse they are experiencing to police ... We commend the high priority Police Scotland has given to tackling domestic abuse since its establishment in April this year.”
I think that we have to listen to the experts on that point.
It is also worth noting that, as the minister said, funding has increased by more than 60 per cent since 2007 to £34.5 million for the period 2012 to 2015.
I welcome the proposed strategy, which is aimed at tackling all forms of violence against women. I look forward to the consultation and subsequent publication of the strategy next summer. I am very pleased that female genital mutilation will be part of the project and the consultation.
It might surprise Margaret Mitchell and the Conservatives to hear this, but I agree with the comments made by the leader of their party, Ruth Davidson, about the number of repeat victims, which continues to stand at around two thirds of reported domestic abuse victims. Members should listen for a minute. The fact that much of that abuse takes place in the home makes it very difficult for the abuser to be brought to justice, which leads to such behaviour being repeated. I think that we all agree that the cycle must be broken, but if we are to tackle the issue effectively, surely we have to look at corroboration, the requirement for which is preventing abusers from going to trial. Most incidents of domestic abuse, rape and violence against women take place behind closed doors with only the two people present. I agree with Ruth Davidson’s comments and I hope that Margaret Mitchell also agrees with them. If abusers get away with it once, they will get away with it many other times.
The abolition of corroboration is one of the big measures that will ensure that more of the cases we are talking about can be brought to court and that justice can be seen to be done.
I note Alison Johnstone’s amendment, which was not selected. I believe that the sentiment in it is certainly worth noting.
I need to ask you to start winding up.
We have mentioned domestic violence, but we also need to look at the austerity measures that are coming from the Westminster Government, particularly the bedroom tax and the cuts in welfare benefits. Those affect everyone, but they affect women who experience domestic abuse and violence even more. In some of the debates that have been held, Alistair Carmichael said that people who suffer domestic abuse—
I am sorry, Ms White, but you have gone over four minutes.
16:33
We live in a country that recognises prostitution as violence against women, but we continue to prosecute the abused while letting the perpetrator off scot free. Those who profit from that trade peddle the myth that people choose to be prostituted, and the Government continues to turn a blind eye.
There are many stories, but I will tell just one. A young woman is struggling financially and a friend suggests that she becomes an escort, getting paid for eating out and attending glamorous events. She decides that it might be worth pursuing and signs up with an escort agency. Nobody told her that she was expected to have sex with clients.
She was given details of her first client. She was to meet him in an Edinburgh hotel. She arrived at the hotel only to be told to go up to his room. He expected sex—no glitzy occasion or dinner; just sex. She said no, he became enraged and the escort agency, which she called, told her that she had agreed to that and had to fulfil that part of the contract. She was terrified but complied because she was afraid that she would be seriously hurt if she did not.
She immediately told the agency that she no longer wanted to work with it, but its response was that if she did not continue to prostitute herself it would tell her family and friends that she was a prostitute. She was young, naive and trapped. The escort agency pretence was quickly dispensed with and she worked in a sauna for the most part. They drugged her and hardly paid her, and her life was one of basic slavery. She faced violence and was forced to have sex with clients—she was raped.
She said:
“People are not aware of what happens behind closed doors in the brothel. The minute you walk in you are scarred for life, it’s like being raped 10 times a day and pimps telling you it’s ok. You lose everything: dignity, identity, respect and happiness.”
That is what the Scottish Government is allowing to happen in Scotland today, and what makes it so sad is that it is not a one-off—it is commonplace. Most women who are trapped in that trade are those whom the Government has let down already—those who are living in poverty and have nowhere else to turn, and care leavers who have been abandoned by the state with no fall-back.
I was at the same meeting and met the same people as Rhoda Grant. I listened to them, and not once did those people blame the Scottish Government at all. I am very disappointed that Rhoda Grant is raising that sensitive issue, which was expressed at a private meeting.
I am not talking about the content of the meeting that Sandra White and I attended—that was from someone who spoke to me.
The Scottish Government had the opportunity to do something about the issue. I lodged a proposal for a member’s bill, but the Government instructed members such as Sandra White not to sign up to it and the proposal fell, so she cannot say that it is not complicit in the trade. This Parliament used to have a proud history of tackling violence against women. I am sorry that that is no longer the case. We are now being left behind as other countries rapidly adopt the Nordic model, the latest being France, which did so in the past couple of weeks. Ireland—both north and south—is looking to follow suit.
Will the member give way?
The member is just winding up.
Scotland will end up becoming a haven for prostitution, for gangsters and for traffickers who see us as being complicit in the trade. At some point, somebody in that situation is going to ask the Government what it is going to do about their human rights. We need to tackle the issue now and provide a safe space for survivors to be heard, as advocated by the Zero Tolerance Trust and SPACE International. Until we do that—
I am sorry, but your time is up, Ms Grant.
16:37
It is important to recognise that, although we have taken huge strides towards eliminating violence against women and towards changing a culture that had accepted it for centuries, there is still a long way to go before we eradicate it completely. We cannot become complacent.
I hope that every member across the chamber will welcome the steps that the Government is taking to put in place Scotland’s strategy to tackle violence against women—although it does not sound like it. It is the first strategy of its kind in Scotland, and as well as focusing our attention on the issue, it ties in more broadly to Scotland’s national action plan for human rights, which is the first of its kind in the UK.
It is becoming ever more clear that violence against women is a matter of human rights. Over the past couple of decades, it has been seen more and more in that light, including at an international organisational level. The former secretary general of the UN, Kofi Annan, said in 1999:
“Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace.”
That rhetoric has been echoed by his successor, Ban Ki-Moon.
It is crucial that a strategy to tackle violence against women encompasses the full spectrum of gender-based violence, from domestic abuse to rape and human trafficking, in order to tackle the issues head on. The terms “violence against women” and “gender-based violence” are often used interchangeably, as most—but not all—gender-based violence is inflicted by men on women and girls. It is important that we properly define what it is. It is violence that is directed against a person on the basis of gender and is almost always motivated by power. We must also understand that gender-based violence reflects and reinforces inequalities between men and women.
It is encouraging to see that the Scottish Government is working to reduce inequalities in many areas, all of which will indirectly feed into one another to eradicate gender-based violence in Scotland.
That approach is recognised by the UN commission on women, which stresses that it will take multiple approaches to tackle the issue, from Governments implementing policies to empower victims and prosecute perpetrators to the creation of a culture in which gender stereotypes are broken by encouraging men and boys to take an equal share of responsibilities in their homes and families.
The work of the white ribbon campaign in organising men and getting them to condemn other men who commit violent acts against women has a key role to play, as does the work of the violence reduction unit, which is headed by Karyn McCluskey and which has been at the forefront of groundbreaking research into methods to curb violent behaviour since it was founded in 2005. A method that it has found particularly useful is its mentors in violence prevention project, which involves an approach to gender violence and bullying prevention that is designed to train students to speak out against rape, dating violence, sexual harassment, bullying and all forms of violent and abusive behaviour. It does that by focusing on an innovative bystander approach and teaching viable options in response to incidents of harassment, abuse or violence.
That teaching method is particularly important because research that was conducted by Dr Nancy Lombard on young people’s attitudes to violence found that men’s violence against women was justified through the use of gender stereotypes, and that the triggers for violence that were identified were things that women had not done. The 10 and 11-year-olds concerned already had a view that the victim was to blame, not the perpetrator. That belief needs to be challenged at a younger age, and I hope that the strategy will look at that.
I am sure that the strategy will also recognise the importance of local groups and networks in the prevention of violence, including violence against women, and the vital support that they can provide for women and children. I am delighted that I will host a members’ business debate in the early new year to highlight the work of the children experiencing domestic abuse recovery—CEDAR—project and the Castlemilk Domestic Abuse Project, which includes the work of the women against violent environments group, in supporting women and children who have been affected by violence.
I look forward to seeing the strategy when it is launched next year and firmly believe that it will be crucial as we continue to work to change the blame culture and gender inequalities that we now recognise as being key factors that we need to address if we are stop violence against women once and for all.
You need to bring your remarks to a close.
The only thing on which I agree with Margaret Mitchell is the hope that this is not an annual debate.
16:41
The phrase “violence against women” is made up of three little words, but involves so much pain. It encompasses domestic abuse, rape, child sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, commercial sexual exploitation, forced and child marriages, honour crimes, stalking, verbal and emotional abuse and vile online bullying and abuse. It is a litany of misery that can be summed up by another three little words: abuse of power.
I pay tribute to the many organisations that work with the people who are affected by such violence. I acknowledge the progress that has been made and note that Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have recently undertaken welcome initiatives on the issue.
However, we do not need to look far to find examples of how much more needs to be done. I will give just a few. In September, Scottish Women’s Aid’s annual census showed that, on one day in Scotland, 341 women and 257 children were living in a Women’s Aid refuge. On that same day, a further 809 women and 319 children were supported by a Women’s Aid group.
Last month, a video emerged of the University of Stirling’s men’s hockey team taking part in offensive and misogynistic chanting on a packed public bus. Last week, Laura Bates’s everyday sexism project, which documents women’s daily experiences of gender inequality, hit the 50,000 mark: it has collected 50,000 stories of abuse and harassment. Here is just one them:
“I’m only 14 yet almost every conversation I have with a guy involves them asking for nudes, my bra size and trying to sext me, and when I say ‘Please stop’ or ‘No, you’re rude’, I’m called a bitch, whore and slut and they eventually stop talking to me. I’m 14 and this is considered normal for girls my age.”
A couple of weeks ago, a team at the University of Bedfordshire published “A qualitative study of gang-associated sexual violence towards, and exploitation of, young people in England”. I grant that it looked at the situation in England, but there are lessons for us to learn. It makes chilling reading and demonstrates just how little deep-rooted attitudes have changed in our country. I despaired when I read:
“Boys are predators, girls are prey, innit?”
That was the view of a 16-year-old boy. A young woman at a focus group explained fatalistically:
“I’m used to it ... It’s normal ... It’s wrong, but you get used to it ... Welcome to our generation”.
My goodness, there is a lot yet to do.
I therefore welcome the development of Scotland’s strategy to tackle violence against women, but fine words alone will not bring about the kind of change that we need. We need a shared understanding and approach that must be at the forefront of everyone’s minds every day. The report “Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights 2013-2017”, which was published last week, recommended that the strategy must be accompanied by an action plan. SNAP priority 6 urges that we adopt a comprehensive human rights-based strategy to tackle violence against women.
It is clear that we need to see investment in work that tackles the root causes and creates an understanding of women’s inequality as a cause of violence against women. I urge the minister to ensure that the strategy prioritises work with young people in our schools, colleges, universities, workplaces, youth groups and young offenders institutions. We must do so much more to promote understanding of healthy relationships, equality and respect.
I will read from the foreword of the piece of research that I mentioned earlier:
“The final message therefore is that each of us has a role to play in combating the attitudes exposed in this report. From national and local government through to communities and individuals, we must support boys and young men to value healthy relationships and to understand ‘consent’. We must work with all children to ensure that women and girls are treated with respect, that there is a clear message that the sexual objectification of females will not be tolerated, and that children are brought up with hope and opportunities, channelling their energies and resourcefulness for their own and society’s good.”
The strategy would do well to embody those words.
16:46
There are two distinct but entwined threads in this debate. The first is that men’s violence against women continues to blight our country and to cause immense misery and suffering; it destroys its victims and their families and it lurks like the malevolent Gollum underneath the surface of normal life. The second thread is about justice but more particularly about access to justice; hundreds and perhaps thousands of women in Scotland are being denied the right to see alleged attackers stand trial in court.
Abuse of women comes in many guises, and we have heard of many of them today; they range from verbal degradation, rape, beatings, revenge porn and ritual humiliation, to the ultimate evil of murder. I am, with my colleague Malcolm Chisholm, co-convener of the cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on men’s violence against women. We have heard a great deal from groups such as Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and Police Scotland about the kinds of evil abuse that certain men enjoy inflicting, mainly on their own partners but sometimes on their relatives or innocent strangers. It is not likely that members in this chamber would think that that happens only to a small minority of women living in very deprived areas of inner cities who fall victim to the Saturday night syndrome of the favourite football team losing the game and the alcoholic binge that usually comes with that, with the anger getting taken out in the privacy of the home. Have such women less right to justice? No, I do not think so.
We in Scotland have little idea of how much violence against women takes place. We know that almost 30,000 domestic offences took place between 2011 and 2012—that includes 307 attempted murders and 12 homicides, plus 485 sexual offences—and domestic common assaults made up 14,154 of the total. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg, and those involved directly with victims believe that the reality could be 10 times worse. We know that at least one in five women has suffered domestic abuse, but it might be more like one in three. That is a really scary thought.
We are not talking about a small section of society here, because men of all ages and backgrounds inflict abuse. I know from shocking and distressing stories that I have heard—I have heard some of them today—from women to whom I have spoken that marital rape is frequent and that the clichéd “I walked into the wall” story or the “I walked into the cupboard door” story are far more common than we might imagine.
Women’s Aid says that together we can change it. That is the crux, because it is only together that we can and must change it. Violence of any kind is wrong, but violence carried out on someone because they are female, physically weaker or can do nothing to hit back is exploitative in an even more extreme way. The law and those who practise it are sometimes viewed by society at large as antiquated, out of touch, resistant to change and restrictive. However, the new Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill is progressive and focused on human rights, and entitlements through the bill for both suspect and victim will improve access to justice.
Lord Gill, the Lord President of the Court of Session, said last month that the requirement for corroboration was a “good rule” that was the result of centuries of deliberations by the country’s finest legal and political minds. We used to think that capital punishment and burning witches were sensible, too, but perhaps we have moved on. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Lord Carloway argue that the requirement for corroboration is an outdated rule that has failed Scotland, and the Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland, agrees with that. He has pointed out that in the past two years alone more than 2,800 cases of domestic abuse have been unable to proceed to court because they could not satisfy the requirement for corroboration. Research by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service shows that 268 out of 458—58.5 per cent—of criminal cases over 12 months were dropped after the initial court appearance even though they would have had a reasonable prospect of success had there been no corroboration test.
Will you start winding up, Ms McKelvie?
A further 141 cases were reported to the national sex crimes unit but had not been in court. The situation creates a double negative, in that judges do not see the cases in court and the victims do not get justice. Lord Carloway could find no other criminal justice system that operates like this. An end to this blatant discrimination against abused women, who have the right to justice, will be an important statement that together, as Women’s Aid says, we can change it.
16:50
The motion reminds us of
“the valuable contribution that voluntary and third sector organisations have made to the shaping of Scotland’s approach to violence against women.”
As it happens, many of those organisations celebrate their anniversaries this year. I pay tribute to 20 years of Zero Tolerance, 40 years of Glasgow Women’s Aid, 40 years of Edinburgh Women’s Aid and 35 years of the Edinburgh Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre. I am glad that all those events have been marked in one way or another by the Parliament this year. The organisations’ importance does not lie just in their contribution to the strategy, which the motion refers to, or in the briefings that they sent us for this debate. For decades, they have led, educated and challenged, and in many cases they have provided essential and invaluable services.
Of course it is important that men are involved in challenging men who abuse, and I am glad that some Edinburgh footballers and rugby players have been involved in highlighting that today, but the reality is that it is women who brought the issue out of the shadows in the 1970s and, crucially, placed it within the context of gender inequality and unequal power relations between men and women.
We all recognise and celebrate the progress that has been made in many ways during the years of this Parliament, but there is no point in us spending the whole of this debate congratulating ourselves, although a great deal of good work has been done. We have to pay heed to the briefings that we have been sent by some of the organisations that I mentioned. Jackie Baillie has already mentioned the Scottish Women’s Aid briefing, and I will refer to two points from that, without getting into the interesting area that Sandra White raised in her intervention. Scottish Women’s Aid states that 68 per cent of women’s aid groups have reported greater demand for their services, whatever the reason for that, and nearly a third of them have had to make cuts to their services as a result of reduced funding. We all understand the financial difficulties, but equally it is right that we highlight the concerns that Scottish Women’s Aid has raised.
Zero Tolerance also sent us an interesting briefing that echoes some of the points that were made in the human rights action plan last week. It highlights concerns about domestic abuse courts. They were a great innovation, but there is a 23-week wait in Glasgow and a postcode lottery in Edinburgh. It also highlights other issues including the way in which rape cases are badly handled. If the Government would not accept Margaret Mitchell’s amendment last week, it must at least take some action in regard to the human rights of rape victims. There is also the issue of there being no prosecutions for female genital mutilation and very few for trafficking. I pay tribute to Jenny Marra’s work in that regard and hope that the Government will support her bill on trafficking.
An important part of the new strategy is prevention. It is an important part of the Istanbul convention, which I know the Government wants to accept. Again, the work of Zero Tolerance has been crucial in that area, both in challenging men in its groundbreaking campaigns and in developing materials for use in schools, for example. I hope that its updated respect materials can be widely used in schools as the evidence is that they have been effective.
However, it is not just a question of challenging individual men. It is a question of challenging the wider culture, because increasingly we see that that is where the problems are perpetuated. Alison McInnes emphasised that. Last week, we heard at the cross-party group on men’s violence against women and children about the horrific bus incident in Stirling, which is one example of the prevalence of a lad culture that is reinforcing those attitudes of men towards women that lead to violence and abuse.
You need to bring your remarks to a close.
Violence against women is a profound societal and cultural problem, but it is also perpetuated and reinforced by many of the products of that culture, which is why action against lads mags and indeed page 3 is also important.
16:54
If I had a Christmas wish, it would be that we did not have to debate this subject. The campaign about a child’s Christmas wish that its parents did not shout and fight is one of the saddest that I have known.
We have no way of knowing whether the increase in recorded domestic abuse incidents represents an increase in domestic violence itself or a greater willingness to report cases in the knowledge that such abuse will be taken seriously by the police and other services.
I welcome the 62 per cent increase in funding since 2007 to £34.5 million between 2012 and 2015, and the comments from Scottish Women’s Aid that, as the awareness of the issue increases and professionals receive more training, more women are encouraged to report the abuse that they experience rather than suffer in silence. I hope that it is the former.
I continue to be appalled by the discrimination against women that I come across and the lack of awareness among men of what is and is not acceptable behaviour. For example, I have received some appalling comments from pretty prominent people in the community about a recent high-profile sexual assault court case in Aberdeen. The idea that several women individually should not report behaviour that they find unacceptable and threatening shows a total lack of respect for women.
I agree with Jackie Baillie that attitudes are the key to eliminating domestic violence. Until we live in a country that has a thread of equality running through every single aspect of society, we will have men who believe that it is acceptable to treat women as their inferiors and to commit acts of violence, whether physical or psychological, against them. That thread means parents giving the same opportunities to their children, whether boys or girls, and not steering them into gender-stereotyped roles from an early age. It means schools ensuring that all pupils have access to and assistance with science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects so that all career opportunities are open to women and men. It means equal pay for work of equal value, and that means giving caring and nurturing roles the gravitas and value that they deserve.
I welcome the advent of a strategy that is aimed at tackling all forms of violence against women, and hope that a very large part of it will be about education about violence against women being totally unacceptable and as illegal as drink-driving or not wearing a seat belt. However, it should also be about penalties. That is why I welcome the proposed changes on the requirement for corroboration. Far too often, constituents of mine who have been subject to domestic violence have been unable to get redress in the courts. Those constituents have received excellent support from the police domestic violence unit in Aberdeen, but they, like the victims, are frustrated that allegations do not proceed to court, let alone conviction. I know that, in the north-east, the procurator fiscal is as frustrated as the victims and the police. The sooner corroborative evidence does not have to be from another person, but can be other obvious factors, the better.
Rhoda Grant should think hard about the consequences of what she proposed—forcing prostitution underground and hugely increasing the harm to women. That is why the proposal is not supported by groups that work in the area.
The song goes:
“no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.”
Those lyrics, like the sentiment, must be part of the past, not the future of a modern, safe, stronger and equal Scotland.
16:58
Violence against women was a significant issue in my election, but my concerns neither began nor ended with the behaviour of Dunfermline’s former MSP. Throughout the world, 2 million women and girls every year suffer genital mutilation. Millions are raped—many in wars—and others suffer forced marriage or are the victims of honour killings. As Jackie Baillie has already highlighted, for the 15 to 44-year-old age group, men’s violence kills or incapacitates more women around the world every year than cancer, malaria, road traffic accidents and war combined.
Sometimes abuse is widely known about and even institutional, but it is often hidden and we are unsure of its extent. Most abuse and violence occurs within the family home, behind closed doors. That is an abuse of power and trust, mostly by men, which is surprisingly common. Indeed, at least one in four women in Scotland will experience domestic abuse at some stage in their life, and one in three cases either starts or escalates during pregnancy. Domestic abuse happens in every community in Scotland, and damages the lives of thousands of women, children and young people. There is no socioeconomic, age or cultural barrier to abuse, and there is no doubt that violence against women is rooted in persistent gender inequalities in our homes and workplaces, the media, and across society.
Scotland’s progressive stance to tackling domestic violence is widely acknowledged and I hope that the new strategy will build on that. Many of the very positive measures taken here have resulted from multi-agency partnership working. A successful example of that approach in Fife is the CEDAR programme for children who have experienced domestic abuse and are suffering behavioural, emotional and social difficulties as a result. Another example is MARAC, the multi-agency risk assessment conference, which has been introduced to identify and protect the highest-risk victims of domestic abuse. Those programmes demonstrate the real benefits of partnership working—with police, health and council services working closely with voluntary sector organisations such as women’s aid.
Last year, Fife Women’s Aid gave support to 1,369 women, including 200 very high-risk domestic abuse MARAC cases. It does a fantastic job in supporting women across Fife. Unfortunately, however, funding for that vital work is not assured and is dependent on partners allocating resources in increasingly tight financial circumstances. Indeed, Scottish Women’s Aid has found that almost one third of groups are reducing services due to funding cuts at a time when demand is higher than ever. It is the victims of domestic violence who are paying the price.
On 18 September, women’s aid groups across Scotland took part in their annual 24-hour census to identify how many women, children and young people were supported on that day. A shocking 51 per cent of women and their children seeking refuge on that day were turned away because there was simply no room. It is simply unacceptable that women fleeing from abuse are unable to access help when they need it most. It is vital that more is done to ensure that domestic abuse support services are placed on a secure financial footing.
Although most of us are looking forward to spending time with our families, for victims of domestic abuse, Christmas can be an extremely difficult and frightening time. I wish all victims the courage to seek help and I wish for the rest of us that we will provide it. We will never achieve the Scotland that we aspire to when thousands of our citizens live in constant fear. Violence against women is never acceptable—it is always a crime and we all have a responsibility to put a stop to it.
17:02
Domestic violence, 80 per cent of which has a male perpetrator and a female victim, and attacks on women by strangers have one common factor: the power that some men choose to wield over women. We all agree that violence against women is always wrong, in all circumstances.
It is sobering to remember that Scottish Women’s Aid was only established in 1973 and that the first refuges for women who were victims of domestic violence were not set up in Scotland until that year. Only 40 years ago—that is within the lifetimes of most members of this Parliament—women who were being abused had nowhere to turn.
Scottish Women’s Aid has indicated that 450 women contact women’s aid in Scotland for the first time every week. Women’s Aid, sadly, is still vital. However, some things have changed over the past 40 years. Who would now argue that women should be paid less than men for equal work? Women obtained 59 per cent of first degrees issued by higher education institutions in Scotland in 2011-12. Society’s attitude to women has changed and women have more education and greater financial and legal power than they have ever had. That is excellent news but, sadly, there is still a long way to go and we must not become complacent—not in the face of 60,000 incidents of domestic abuse.
We have made progress but, worryingly, the rights of women to equal treatment and autonomy in the public sphere are being challenged. Last month, Universities UK, an organisation that provides guidance and support to universities and higher education institutions, including 15 such institutions in Scotland, issued guidance in which it indicated that it may be acceptable at an event to segregate the audience by gender if the speaker has requested that and his religious views are that women should sit separately from men at public events.
Apparently, according to Universities UK, if the room is separated on a left to right, rather than a front to back basis, there is no discrimination as men and women are being treated equally. That may be legal—I am not convinced—but it is not right or moral. It allows, for example, a speaker, if he so wishes, to address his remarks and take questions from only one section of the audience.
The guidance states:
“Ultimately, if imposing an unsegregated seating area in addition to the segregated areas contravenes the genuinely held religious beliefs of the group hosting the event, or those of the speaker, the institution should be mindful to ensure that the freedom of speech of the religious group or speaker is not curtailed unlawfully.”
I am pleased to say that, under political and public pressure, Universities UK has now withdrawn that guidance and is in talks about a revision.
There is no balance of rights between the right to speak, which is not affected by where people sit in an audience, and the right of women to decide where they seat themselves at a public event. People are entitled to their beliefs and opinions, but they are not entitled to impose their views and restrict choices for women in the public sphere as a result of their beliefs.
The more we treat women as different, the less empowered they are. Violence against women is at the end of a continuum of abuse of power by men over women and disrespect for women’s rights. Putting the beliefs of a speaker at an event at a university over the rights of the female students and staff at the university is the soft end of that continuum. Members should make no mistake: this is all about men asserting their power over women, and we must oppose it.
17:05
As members said, men’s violence kills or incapacitates more women each year than cancer, malaria, road traffic accidents and war combined. That statement is in Zero Tolerance’s briefing, and I had to read it several times. UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon is right to insist that we
“take this issue with the deadly seriousness that it deserves.”
Violence against women affects us here in Scotland and affects women across the globe. We see it at its most extreme in countries where femicide occurs, and the resulting imbalance in the gender ratio is threatening women’s lives in sinister ways and making it ever harder to attain the equality that is required if such practices are to be addressed.
When she was 14, Tarcila Rivera Zea was told that, as an Indian servant, she was not considered worthy of further education. Nearly 50 years later, she is the director of Chirapaq, which is a leading agency that campaigns for the rights of indigenous women in South America, and she has spoken out against women’s inability to access education or achieve economic autonomy. She recognises that women are often unaware of their rights, and she says:
“We believe that this situation of complete vulnerability, in which we find ourselves submerged, is a form of violence.”
Her powerful words are worthy of much consideration.
Scottish Women’s Aid, in its briefing for today’s debate, said that 92 per cent of its services are working with a reduced or standstill budget, which represents a budget reduction, given inflation and increased energy costs—and that is at a time when almost 70 per cent of women’s aid groups report greater demand for their services. We are told that the bedroom tax has resulted in women remaining longer in refuge and that fewer women are able to access refuge when they are at crisis point.
Our justice system appears to be unable to cope. Domestic abuse courts are under strain. In Glasgow, women need to wait longer for a domestic abuse case to be heard than they would wait for a generic case to be heard, even though the domestic abuse court is supposed to be much faster. As Malcolm Chisholm said, there is currently a 23-week waiting list, and access to courts is a postcode lottery, particularly in Edinburgh. The lack of dedicated resources must be addressed.
As Jackie Baillie and other members said, violence against women is rooted in persistent gender inequality. We must engage with all the issues that make it a shameful and persistent feature of national and global life. We need to intervene, to monitor and to demand change.
Last week I was made aware of a chain letter that is circulating among a group of 11 and 12-year-old girls. It is entitled, “Did U Know?” and it informs its young readers, “It’s true. Guys DO insult you if they like you.” That is not harmless and we must intervene. We need to ensure that our young boys and girls understand that abuse takes many forms and is never acceptable.
As Margaret Mitchell said, the social and economic cost of violence against women is enormous. Women suffer isolation, inability to work and the loss of wages. They might quite simply become scared stiff and utterly disempowered.
If a woman finds the inner resolve—perhaps after being encouraged by a poster or another woman’s testimony—to contact one of the organisations that do incredible work with women and children who have suffered violence in any or many of its forms, the least that we must do as a society is ensure that such organisations have the funding and resources that they need if they are to offer the support that their expertise and experience enables them to provide to those who need it.
You must start winding up.
I ask the minister to say whether she will meet local government colleagues and insist that they look at extending funding agreements with agencies, so that agencies can use their expertise to best effect.
17:09
We have had a thought-provoking and timely debate, and all parties can agree that violence against women is a blight on Scottish society, which we must seek to eradicate. Sadly, debates on violence against women are a recurring feature in the Parliament. That is a matter for sorrow but it is also a matter of necessity, because the statistics on domestic abuse and rape make for depressing reading. Worldwide, violence against women is one of the most common but least punished crimes.
It is, of course, possible that those statistics show that victims are becoming increasingly confident about reporting incidents of violence because they believe that action will be taken. If that is the case, we can draw some encouragement from it. However, the fact remains that, in Scotland, violence against women is a pervasive social problem that affects every neighbourhood. It can be found in every social background, as Jackie Baillie powerfully illustrated.
We must continue to reassure victims that abusive behaviour is not normal. It is repugnant, disgusting and unacceptable, and victims must be supported in understanding that they are not to blame. The people who are to blame are the perpetrators, and the greatest protection that is available to them is silence. That silence is potent. It spawns in the mind of the perpetrator an illusion of power and control. Women must therefore be encouraged to report incidents and, when they do so, support must be provided and any convicted perpetrator dealt with appropriately.
My colleague Margaret Mitchell articulated her concerns that the warm words of the motion are not reflected in practice, and she cited various instances of her concerns. In particular, her comments about sentencing for domestic abuse offenders are entirely valid. Perpetrators in a third of domestic abuse cases received only a warning, which sends out totally the wrong message to victims and to the criminals. I repeat our concern about automatic early release. The Scottish Government’s promise to end that discredited practice for only the most serious offenders and violent criminals is betraying victims.
We must never forget that young girls can be victims of violence, either as witnesses to incidents of abuse or, heartbreakingly, as victims themselves. Alison McInnes referred to that. In January, I suggested that, to raise awareness and to help any youngster who is under threat, a smartphone app might be a way forward. The cabinet secretary, Alex Neil, seemed to be receptive to that idea, so perhaps the minister could outline in closing whether any progress has been made on that.
On a positive note, I welcome the development of the strategy to tackle violence against women. I hope that it will have the effect of enhancing the good work that is already being done by voluntary organisations. A great deal of excellent support is being provided by charities, not least Zero Tolerance, Scottish Women’s Aid, and Rape Crisis Scotland, and I pay tribute to them all.
Victims need to be supported by a justice system that places victims first, and by adequate and long-term funding. In that connection, I am pleased to see that funding has been awarded until 2015, but I urge the Government to plan now for funding beyond that.
Violence against women includes modern-day slavery. I say to Rhoda Grant that I was encouraged to hear yesterday about the UK Government’s draft legislation, which will disrupt and imprison for longer the organised criminal gangs that are behind much of the modern slave trade. I welcome indications that the Scottish Government is willing to explore a legislative consent motion for the bill. I also note Jenny Marra’s efforts to introduce a member’s bill to tackle the issue. I do not consider that those two bills will be mutually exclusive, and I hope that the best bits from each can be adopted in Scotland to provide the practical help that many victims are crying out for.
17:13
I rise to indicate my support for the motion in the name of Shona Robison and the amendment in the name of Jackie Baillie. I note that Sandra White took some exception to Labour’s amendment and I like to think that she has misunderstood its nature. The amendment seeks to indicate an absence of complacency on our part about the current situation rather than imply criticism of on-going commitments.
Will the member take an intervention?
I do not have enough time. I apologise to the member, but I have a lot to get through.
As I listened to the debate, I became aware again of the zero tolerance campaign from the 1970s. I was reminded of the shock and controversy that that campaign created as people struggled to understand who was being accused and what they were being accused of. That was probably the beginning of the realisation that men are the problem in this context and that, as was indicated by Alison McInnes, it is the habit of men to seek the abuse of power.
Nearly 40 years ago, I attended a course in the Federal Bureau of Investigation academy, where it was indicated to me that sex crime was nothing to do with sexual relationships but was an abuse of power and control by men, largely over women. In that regard, we have come a long way and many people now understand the nature of that abuse.
Today’s debate has indicated that this is not only a crime issue. It is an issue of health in our communities; of our work life and our relationships in work; of the media and the way in which it reports on what we do in our communities; of the still continuous use of page 3; of the music business and the way in which it uses women as a commodity for selling music and fashion; of the way in which schools operate and the value that is placed on the part that women play in education; of the value that we place on women’s involvement in sport; and of how we value work in a financial sense and the way in which we pay people who are engaged in work.
There was some controversy about the story that Rhoda Grant told. I like to think that that is frustration and anger here in the chamber about the reality of what is happening out there in the street. I have never met a woman engaged in what we describe as an industry—the sex industry—who wilfully, wantonly and willingly sold her body to a man in some cold, bleak place, in some loveless relationship. We need to face that fact and begin to come to terms with it. I would not want any woman in my family to engage in that kind of industry—if it is to be called that.
Where does that take us? It takes us to more than 60,000 reported incidents of domestic violence throughout Scotland. In 10 years, that number has doubled. We could ask whether that is because there are greater levels of confidence in the system to deal with it. However, the numbers continue to rise, which should give us concern.
Each year, nearly 50 per cent of murders take place in a domestic relationship and one in four women experiences domestic abuse. Those numbers are frightening from any perspective—frightening that we now know about it and frightening that we need to be seen to do something about it for the future. If we do not, a modern Scotland is meaningless in real terms.
On the issue of taking cases to court and of prosecution, does the member support getting rid of corroboration?
As the member knows, the Justice Committee is still taking evidence on that. From the outset, I have indicated that I want to hear all the evidence first. It has been fairly well rehearsed in this debate that this is not solely about what happens in a court. Changing cultures and attitudes in the street, in our schools, in our homes and in our families is what will make the difference, rather than how many people we do or do not prosecute.
As members throughout the chamber have indicated, support services need to be properly resourced and co-ordinated. Members have mentioned the role of COSLA in bringing together that co-ordination and playing a part in that national strategy. As has been indicated, the courts have a lot to do. Our domestic violence courts were supposed to deliver within six weeks. It is now 40 weeks or more before they can deliver. Families in that situation cannot wait for 40 weeks for some kind of respite and solution.
Corporate responses are important. Nothing has been said about our prisons and the part that they can play in educating those in their custody about gender issues, equality, attitudes and criminality. Equally, one would hope that, in the feedback to the consultation process, we get some profitable views on what we should do about the media and the way in which women are being marketed in our communities.
17:20
I thank all the members who have participated in the debate for their many positive and constructive contributions. In that spirit, I should say that we will support the Labour amendment.
In my opening remarks, I said that I would return to the issue of female genital mutilation. I do so now, before I turn to some points that have been made in the debate. We absolutely need data that will help us to estimate more accurately the prevalence of female genital mutilation in Scotland. Data from the 2011 census that will allow a more up-to-date prevalence estimate to be calculated is due to be released in early 2014. We will, of course, make that information available to members as soon as we can.
Let no one be under any illusion: female genital mutilation will not be tolerated in a modern and multicultural Scotland. In Scotland, female genital mutilation is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment. We acknowledge that there have been no prosecutions for female genital mutilation in Scotland, but that is also the case in England and Wales, where there are many more women and girls from countries where female genital mutilation is prevalent. It is wrong to suggest that somehow Scotland is a soft touch on the issue.
We know that female genital mutilation is a difficult and sensitive issue and that there are a number of possible reasons why victims might feel unable or unwilling to report it to the police or other authorities. That makes work to raise awareness and to encourage reporting all the more important, which is why I am pleased to announce that the Scottish Government is providing additional funding of £15,000 to the Scottish Refugee Council and the Women’s Support Project to carry out a project that will produce a baseline of information to help inform work to tackle female genital mutilation.
The project will involve identifying and analysing existing data; reviewing work that has been undertaken to tackle, prevent and raise awareness of female genital mutilation; and identifying and drawing lessons from successful projects and best practice in other parts of the UK and Europe, to help inform us on what works in terms of service provision, prevention and prosecutions. We are also in discussion with the Women’s Support Project to develop a range of new information materials on female genital mutilation. I am happy to share more information with members about that at a later date.
We recognise that health professionals such as midwives, doctors and nurses play a crucial role in identifying girls who are at risk, recording incidents and offering support and onward referral to women. That is why we have initiated discussions with Gillian Smith, the director of the Royal College of Midwives in Scotland, to discuss the recommendations that were made in the report “Tackling FGM in the UK—Intercollegiate recommendations for identifying, recording and reporting”, which was published by the Royal College of Midwives on 1 November 2013. I will update members on those discussions once they are a little further developed.
I turn to some of the points that were made in the debate. Jackie Baillie made a number of important points. Like many members, she said that the issue of violence against women is rooted in gender inequality and the abuse of power and that we need to tackle that to really tackle the issue. She asked whether we would meet Maureen Gordon and her union representatives. I will ensure that the meeting request is progressed.
Like many other members, Jackie Baillie mentioned that the domestic abuse courts are extremely busy. The Scottish Government is of course aware of the problems that are associated with the volume of cases that come before the domestic abuse courts in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The criminal justice board in Glasgow is currently considering ways in which to address the issue, and additional trial diets have been set aside for domestic abuse cases to help handle the increased volume of cases that are coming before the court. Yesterday, Scottish Government officials met Sheriff Katherine Mackie and Police Scotland to discuss the difficulties that are currently being experienced by the Edinburgh domestic abuse court and potential actions that can be taken to deal with the issue. A further meeting will take place in the new year.
I was struck by Margaret Mitchell’s rather negative tone. Two things are important to bear in mind. First, the funding that the Scottish Government provides, to which many speakers referred—the £34.5 million over the 2012 to 2015 period—contrasts starkly with the £40 million that the UK Government provides for the whole of the rest of the UK. Also, Margaret Mitchell should bear in mind the impact that the welfare reforms by her Government at a UK level have had on victims of domestic abuse. I do not want to strike a negative tone but, in response to her speech, I say to Margaret Mitchell that she should remember those two points.
Graeme Pearson said that people get angry and that Rhoda Grant had shown anger about her case. I do not mind people coming to the chamber and being angry about cases. However, I mind accusations being bandied about, such as—to quote Rhoda Grant—that the Scottish Government is complicit in the trade of prostitution and trafficking. I am sorry, but I find that deeply offensive personally and on behalf of the Scottish Government.
We have stood together on the issue since 1999. That is the strength of tackling violence against women. No one in the chamber has a monopoly of wisdom on the issue, and it does not benefit any of us—certainly not women who suffer violence—to break the cross-party consensus that exists on the issue.
I would be interested to know what the Scottish Government will do about prostitution rather than hearing the minister’s defence of the Government’s stance.
My point is that we stand together to tackle the issue and that Rhoda Grant did herself a great disservice in the tone that she struck.
Alison McInnes made a very good speech. She talked about the priorities within the new strategy and including young people in that work. I am happy to take that forward.
Christina McKelvie reminded us of the powerful argument for doing away with the corroboration rules with the 2,800 cases of domestic abuse that could not proceed to court. We should bear that in mind.
Malcolm Chisholm, as always, reminded us of the challenges that some of our front-line organisations have. We absolutely acknowledge that point.
Maureen Watt reminded us about cases not proceeding to court.
I say to Alison Johnstone that COSLA is, of course, part of the violence against women strategy discussions. It is a key member of the group and, as we always do, we will discuss budgetary issues.
We will get back to Annabel Goldie about the smartphone app. I am not sure about it, but we will look into it and get back to her.
By and large, the debate has been positive. Women who suffer violence in Scotland deserve to have the Parliament standing together on the issue to send out a message to Scotland that violence against women will not be tolerated and that we will strain every muscle to do everything that we can to address it and, finally, we hope, eradicate that scourge from Scotland.