Skip to main content
Loading…

Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

Filter your results Hide all filters

Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 15 July 2025
Select which types of business to include


Select level of detail in results

Displaying 1264 contributions

|

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

The offenders who would be on the register would be those who were convicted on indictment and those who served—

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

I will finish on this. Ms Gosal, I hope that you would agree—feel free to disagree—that, rather than being prescriptive and specific about what is required in schools, as you have done in the bill, we perhaps need to have a wider discussion about what would be the right type of educational programme to provide to boys to tackle the issue as they grow up.

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

You mentioned a separate cohort that would be covered by MAPPA. They would be the most serious offenders. How would you define them?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

That is fine. I am trying to understand why the bill has been introduced. If it has been modelled on something, we must presume that you think that the model has been effective.

I do not need to put to you the utterly shocking figures on sexual crime in Scotland. They are going up the way, so something is not right. To that extent, we are all on the same page. The question is, what will stop that figure rising? The rise in sexual crime is why the committee is wrestling with issues such as reform of the High Court, tackling delays and so on.

That leads me to the question of how we tackle sexual crime, and the other parts of the bill that Rona Mackay asked you about. How can you be sure that the provisions in the bill on education are the right way to do that? From the discussions that we have had in the Scottish Parliament, it is clear that the broader narrative is about men’s violence against women and girls. Something is not right, and I agree that that has to be tackled in schools.

However, I am interested in why you have gone down the path of educating boys about domestic abuse. Let us take the Gareth Southgate lecture as an example. I thought that it was a very good attempt to explain why we have a problem with boys in society with regard to their role models and so on.

First, would you agree that how we tackle the issue of boys and young men is a complex question?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

I have a question about which offenders would be caught by the scheme.

Charlie Pound, you explained to Rona Mackay that offenders who had been given a 12-month sentence would be covered. However, is it the case that all those offenders who go through solemn proceedings on indictment would also be covered?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

So, there is an “and”. I just wanted to be clear on that; that was all.

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

The crimes that we are talking about would be charged under the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 or the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. Is that correct?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

So we are talking about three acts of Parliament.

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

Can I stop you there? I agree with what you are saying; everyone has a responsibility in this regard. However, I am asking you a specific question. A lot of us have done some work on what we think needs to be done in school, but it is a complex question. If the Government is to support a programme of domestic abuse education in school, it must know what the right programme will be. Do you agree that that is complex?

Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Pauline McNeill

So they would all be subject to the MAPPA requirements.

Pam, I think that you said that the provision is modelled on the sex offenders register. If you are not able to answer any of these questions, that is fine, but these are the ones that interest me. Have you done any assessment of how effective the sex offenders register has been in improving safety or reducing reoffending?