Chamber and committees

The following tableshows the Scottish Government’s funding for the Equality Unit and Educationbudgets, to provide support services for women and children affected by domesticabuse and those affected by the broader issues of violence against women(million):

Spending Review 2004		Spending Review 2007
Equality Budget	2007-08   14.4 baseline   16.9 actual allocation	2008-09 18.8	2009-10 20.8	2010-11 21.4	Total 61.0	Increase over 3 years on actual 2007-08 allocation 10.3
Violence Against Women (included in Equality Budget)	7.2 baseline   8.7 actual allocation	9.9 (14%)	11.9 (37%)	12.58 (45%)	34.38	8.28
Education Spending on Violence Against Women (not in Equality Budget)	None	5	3	2	10	10

 

Yes. The campaignwill run again this year from 26 December 2007 until the endof January 2008.

It is widelyacknowledged that many incidents of domestic abuse go unreported to the police.There are a number of reasons for this, for example, victims experience fearand shame as common effects of domestic abuse. In addition, under reporting mayalso be caused by a perpetrator physically preventing a victim reporting thedomestic abuse. A priority for the Scottish Government is to ensure the interests and needs of victims are central to the way thecriminal justice system responds to crime.

There has been a rise in the number of incidentsbeing reported to the police, and this may be attributed to the highlysuccessful publicity campaign, which runs annually from 26 December until theend of January, evaluation of which has shown that over 78% of the populationhave seen or heard of the campaign. The campaign will run again this year.

The Scottish Government’s strategic approach todomestic abuse focuses around the themes of protection, prevention andprovision. All three themes contribute not only to stopping abuse occurring butalso to tackling repeat incidents. We will continue with this approach in thecoming period.

More than £40million has been committed over the next three years to support organisationsworking with women and children and young people who have experienced domesticabuse or other aspects of violence against women.

The Scottish Governmentis continually looking to see how it can improve what is done to addressdomestic abuse in Scotland. We recognise that there is under-reportingof incidents of domestic abuse. The increase in reported incidents of domesticabuse may be attributed to more people recognising that all forms of domesticabuse are wrong and reporting such incidents to the police.

The rise in the number of reported incidents may alsobe attributed to the highly successful publicity campaign, which runs annuallyfrom 26 December until the end of January, evaluation of which has shown thatover 78% of the population have seen or heard of the campaign. The campaignwill run again this year.

The Scottish Government’s strategic approach todomestic abuse focuses around the themes of protection, prevention andprovision. All three themes contribute not only to stopping abuse occurring butalso to tackling repeat incidents. We will continue with this approach in thecoming period.

More than £40million has been committed over the next three years to support organisationsworking with women and children and young people who have experienced domesticabuse or other aspects of violence against women.

The SNP manifestomade no commitment to build 30,000 affordable homes over the next three years. In total, the spending plans for affordablehousing over the period 2008-11 are 19% higher than the spending plans for the period2005-08. With the additional funding provided as a result of the Spending Review,we expect to approve over the period 2008-11 more new affordable houses than willbe approved over the period 2005-08. Precisely how many more will depend on howthe social housing sector responds to the proposals in our discussion document,Firm Foundations: the future of housing in Scotland, for achieving better value from available public expenditure.

It is incorrectto say that funding for affordable housing is no longer ring-fenced. Table21.03 of the Scottish Budget document published on 14 November 2007 shows the affordable housing budget for the years2008-11. In addition, there is a further £119.1 million a year for affordablehousing which is ring-fenced in the local government budget.

In total, thespending plans for affordable housing over the period 2008-11 are 19% higherthan the spending plans for the period 2005-08. With the additional fundingprovided as a result of the Spending Review, we expect to approve over theperiod 2008-11 more new affordable houses than will be approved over the period2005-08. Precisely how many more will depend on how the social housing sectorresponds to the proposals in our discussion document, Firm Foundations: thefuture of housing in Scotland, for achieving better value from availablepublic expenditure.

The Scottish Governmentis committed to tackling domestic abuse and ensuring that those affected by itare given the support they need and those perpetrating it are dealt witheffectively. It will continue to look at how it can improve what it does toaddress domestic abuse.

The increase in the number of domestic abuseincidents involving anex-spouse or ex-partner mirror the overall increase in reporting. This increase may be attributed to morepeople recognising that all forms of domestic abuse are wrong and reportingsuch incidents to the police.

The rise in the number of reported incidents may alsobe attributed to the highly successful publicity campaign, which runs annuallyfrom 26 December until the end of January, evaluation of which has shown thatover 78% of the population have seen or heard of the campaign. The campaignwill run again this year.

When an initialevaluation of the Protectionfrom Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 wascarried out in 2003, it was found that the act hadbeen successful in increasing access to powers of arrest. In 2005 thethen Executive wrote to over 180 organisations to remind them of the variouslegal provisions in Scotland designed to protect against abuse. Inaddition to this, during the engagement with key stakeholders during thepassage of the Family Law (Scotland) Bill it was identified that solicitorswere familiar with the 2001 Act. The Law Society of Scotland said in itswritten evidence to the Justice 1 Committee that the 2001 Act “is the principalpiece of legislation containing powers of arrest and is most widely used”.

The AmbulanceService will use the services of the Ministry of Defence or HM Coastguard forincidents where the weather is below the minimum safe operating limits, asgoverned by the Civil Aviation Authority, and the patient’s condition has thepotential to be life or limb threatening.

NHS boards andtheir local planning partners are expected to provide facilities such as thesefrom the budgets available to them, based on their assessment of local needs.

This informationis not collected. However, where there is likely to be a delay due to weatherconditions, the Scottish Ambulance Service will discuss this with the clinicianwho is requesting transport. In circumstances where the clinician decides thatthe patient’s condition is life or limb threatening then the Ambulance Servicewill follow its contingency which is to task the Ministry of Defence (MOD) orHM Coastguard to carry out the mission. In 2005-06, MOD/Coastguard were used on115 occasions, in 2006-07, they were used 118 times and in the seven months tothe end of October 2007 this has occurred on 51 occasions.