Chamber and committees

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 provides for an offence of abuse of a partner or ex-partner which criminalises psychological, as well as physical, abuse. The Act defines abuse as behaviour which a reasonable person would consider likely to cause the victim to suffer physical or psychological harm where the accused either intends to cause such harm or else is reckless as to whether their behaviour would be likely to result in such harm.

The Act provides an illustrative definition of abusive behaviour which includes behaviour which is abusive and which has as its purpose, or which a reasonable person would think would be likely to have the effect of:

• isolating the victim from friends, relatives or other sources of support;
• frightening, humiliating, degrading or punishment the victim.

As such, depending on the facts and circumstances of the case, the offence can be used to prosecute someone who engages in smear campaigns or reputational abuse of their partner or ex-partner. In other cases, it may be possible to prosecute such behaviour using offences such as threatening or abusive behaviour with a domestic abuse aggravation where the offence is committed by the victim's partner or ex-partner.

Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) are operationally independent of the Scottish Ministers and are responsible for any guidance in place for police and prosecutors.

Victim support organisations have long-standing experience in dealing with victims who have suffered different forms of coercive and controlling behaviour and can tailor their approaches in offering support depending on the specific circumstances of any given case.

Funding allocations within Scottish Enterprise are operational matters for the agency. I am advised by Scottish Enterprise that, through its most recent Letter of Engagement, it has been directed to ensure that it supports social enterprises, co-operatives and employee-owned businesses. Businesses using these models can access wider Scottish Enterprise services, provided they meet the general business criteria for those services.

Services that provide specialist support to male survivors of domestic abuse, addiction services and mental health services are independent of Scottish Government and as such, responsibility for staff training rests with their boards. As such, the Scottish Government does not hold information on the specific training delivered by individual services.

The Scottish Government provides funding to Men’s Advice Line, SACRO’s FearFree Project, AMIS, The Scottish Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline, ASSIST, and the LGBT Domestic Abuse project. We encourage anyone experiencing domestic abuse to seek help.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01615 on 5 August 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government is aware of the growing sales and ownership of non-traditional and so-called exotic pets but that the full details of this are not easily gathered. We are also aware of campaigns by NGOs as well as SAWC’s historical reports, recommending the introduction of a permitted or positive list system for the keeping of pets in Scotland.

While we acknowledge reports of certain negative welfare outcomes associated with exotic pet ownership, we equally acknowledge that with the right owner education, such species can often be kept under good welfare conditions and in certain cases some species may be kept and bred for important conservation purposes.

At this time, we have no plans to introduce a permitted/positive list system, but we will continue to hold discussions with stakeholders and consider any and all relevant information in this area.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01615 on 5 August 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS) is the main source for Labour Market Indicators for detailed characteristics. The ONS state there are concerns with the quality of the APS estimates for smaller groups of the population. Therefore, it is not possible to produce robust estimates of the number of people aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training by age group from this source.

The Annual Participation Measure published by Skills Development Scotland provides estimates for 16 to 19 year olds not participating in education, employment or training by age.

In 2025, the SDS Annual Participation Measure estimates that:

• 2,152 people aged 16 to 17 in Scotland were not participating in education, employment, or training (1.8% of 16 to 17 year olds)
• 6,758 people aged 18 to 19 in Scotland were not participating in education, employment, or training (6.1% of 18 to 19 year olds)

These are operational matters for Scottish Enterprise. I am advised by Scottish Enterprise that, since 2021-22, Cooperative Development Scotland has provided direct support to a total of 199 employee-owned companies and 94 co-operatives.

The following table shows the number of employee-owned companies and co-operatives that received direct support in each financial year:

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01615 on 5 August 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

While the Scottish Government has not carried out its own assessment of the prevalence of the trade in exotic animals, we did fund the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) to undertake, under the direction of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, a comprehensive review of the evidence on the welfare of exotic pets in Scotland. The SRUC published its findings in November 2022. Additionally, in 2021 and 2022, the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission published interim and final reports on exotic pets in Scotland which included its findings on the trade and supply of exotic pets.

At this time, the Scottish Government has no plans to regulate this trade; however, we continue to consider the findings of the SRUC and SAWC reports and engage with relevant stakeholders to inform future policy, including the need for further regulation.