Chamber and committees

I note that Marsha Scott mentioned the Istanbul convention. I just wanted to ask about there being no recourse to public funds, which is an issue that I know Women’s Aid has been doing a lot of work on. The fact is that asylum seekers or immigrant women who come to live in Scotland and are fleeing domestic abuse have no recourse to benefits. I appreciate that that matter is reserved to Westminster, but is there more that we could be doing about that in Scotland?

I completely agree. I do not know how many people have watched the excellent BBC series “The Women Who Changed Modern Scotland”. I think that it was in the 1990s when Zero Tolerance did a fantastic awareness campaign. I had forgotten about that, but I now remember it being everywhere at the time. We talk about the onus that is put on women to come up with the evidence. An awareness campaign could tell people to keep a record of everything, so that they are not caught thinking, “I don’t know how to explain this.” Public and victim awareness is an absolutely huge issue.

Claire Houghton, do you want to come in on victim impact statements?

Amanda Masson, I want to ask you about victim impact statements. I understand that domestic abuse is not on the list of crimes that are eligible for victims to give statements about before sentencing in a court. Claire Houghton might want to come in, too. That is a huge omission, and I would like your views on that.

My first question is for Michele Burman. I was interested in what you said about abuse not ending when NHOs were issued. You will be aware that, during the previous session of Parliament, we passed legislation on domestic abuse protection notices. Those are not yet in use, and I would be interested in asking the police about that. Do you think that that is good legislation?

That links to a member’s bill that I am proposing but which has been put on ice. The bill would create stalking protection orders that would allow the police to go directly to court to ask for a protection order for the complainer.

I would like your opinion on the relevance of the legislation that we passed, which would remove an alleged perpetrator from the house.

I was interested in what you said about tier 1 responders and about how they are so caught up with calls that they probably do not have time to spend with victims. Do you think that there is an argument for having specialist domestic abuse police officers?

Good afternoon. I go to DCS Sam Faulds first, with the same line of questioning that I put to the previous panel about domestic abuse protection orders and the possibility of stalking protection orders.

I am not sure how much you can say about this. Have you had any discussions with the Government about the implementation of such orders? In your view, what difficulties might exist?

My next question, which is for Amanda Masson, is, I guess, about victim awareness, which we have talked about—

Yes, of course. I have a quick question for you, Moira. I am sorry—I may have missed this when Katy Clark was speaking. How do you differentiate between using DASA and using other legislation? What criteria would you use to say that one case clearly comes under DASA and another would not? Is there anything concrete in that regard?

The cost of living crisis is affecting everyone in some way or another, but for those with a loved one in prison, the crisis is disproportionately damaging. We know that when someone is sentenced to a prison term, the adverse ripple effect on families is immense. A cost of living crisis, coming on the back of a decade of austerity and the Covid pandemic, is really taking its toll.

The impact of that harsh reality is highlighted in a new report from Families Outside, an excellent third sector organisation that has been supporting families of prisoners in Scotland for many years. The report, “Paying the Price: The Cost to Families of Imprisonment and Release”, sets out starkly the situation in which families find themselves.

The consultant on the report, Dr Briege Nugent, and the superb team at Families Outside, led by Professor Nancy Loucks, highlighted that one in six United Kingdom households—approximately 4.4 million—is in serious financial difficulties. I am convener of the cross-party group on women, families and justice and I take this opportunity to thank all the stakeholders who attend the group regularly. We are fortunate in Scotland to have such a stellar third sector network of organisations and professionals who are concerned with the welfare of families and children affected by imprisonment.

The report reveals that 27 per cent of children are living in poverty. In areas such as Glasgow, the proportion rises to one in three. Single parents, predominantly women on low incomes, have been especially affected and the worries that parents face about putting food on the table and paying bills are described in the report as a “toxic brew” that has an adverse impact on mental health.

For the report, which was funded by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, Families Outside was able to hear directly from families affected by imprisonment, to understand the impact that that is having.

Currently, approximately 7,400 people are in prison, 96 per cent of whom are male. Of the 280 who are women, 102 are on remand and most have children. Remand is an especially uncertain, stressful and costly time for families—we should remember that people on remand have not been convicted of any crime.

Scotland has one of the highest remand populations in Europe: nearly 30 per cent of all people in prison are being held on remand. I hope that the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill, which is currently proceeding through Parliament, will alleviate the problem. There is no doubt that remand is an especially costly and stressful time for families, who spend, on average, £300 per month providing support. For some, the monthly cost rises to £1,000.

For families of people who have been sentenced, the costs are also stark. For families of people who served six years in prison, the median monthly spend on calls, travelling and visiting was £180—or £2,160 a year to support the person in prison.

Alison, a kinship carer in her 60s, is supporting her daughter, who is in prison on a short sentence. She said:

“I can’t keep doing this. All the stress around us all the time. I have all the responsibility. It is wearing me down … It has affected my mental and physical health.”

The first two months after a person gets out of prison are the most stressful and costly, as the person is often without any money until their benefit claims are set up and housing arrangements are made. Post prison, they do not have the money that they need simply to exist. As is almost always the case, women are left to cope when a family member is in prison or has been released, and they do that by careful management of their already pressured budgets—skipping meals and not buying clothes, and visiting food banks. They stop socialising or engaging in activities that cost money, which leads to a diminished lifestyle that, in turn, affects their mental health.

Of course, rising energy costs are of particular concern and add to the stress of eking out the family budget. Children miss out on activities. Many of the people who were interviewed for the report said that the concept of family time no longer existed as it had done before.

There is no doubt that the Scottish Government’s child payment of £25 per child, which is not available anywhere else in the UK, will be a lifeline to many families at such times. Many prisons have introduced excellent family units and early learning practitioners to help with family contact.

What more can be done? Families Outside, which offers amazing practical and emotional support to families, has made many commonsense recommendations. I have time to mention only a few of its asks: removal of charges for electronic payments into prison accounts; permission for families to hand in items rather than post them; free access to video calls; free allocation of minutes for phone calls; free basic hygiene products and packs in prison; and a reduction in the cost of the food that is available in visitor centres, which is often way too expensive.

Access to funds must be improved and financial support for families, such as benefit schemes and travel passes, should be available immediately on release from prison, to help the ex-prisoner back into society. People should always be placed in prisons close to their homes and an assessment of the potential impact on family contact should be required before a person is transferred to another prison.

Finally, we must reduce the societal stigma that is faced by families who are affected by imprisonment. There are a number of ways of doing that, including removal of the “HM Prison” stamp from post from prison establishments and implementation of measures to promote education and equalities through training on the impact of imprisonment, including as part of personal and social education classes in school.

We must provide alternatives to prison, particularly for women. Many women who are incarcerated are victims of domestic abuse and have addiction and mental health issues. We have the evidence: prison wrecks families. It creates, sustains and deepens poverty among children and families. Those children and families are guilty of no crime and we must do everything that we can to support them.

I was pleased to hear that Police Scotland reflects and represents the diversity of Scotland’s population. Does the cabinet secretary think that there is sufficient strategy in Police Scotland for that to continue and to improve?