Chamber and committees

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 recognises domestic abuse is much more than physical abuse, and creates a specific offence covering not only physical abuse but other forms of psychological abuse and controlling behaviour that were previously difficult to prosecute.

The new offence means abusers who engage in a course of behaviour where they either intend to cause their partner to suffer physical or psychological harm, or else are reckless as to whether they are likely to cause such harm, can be prosecuted for the whole course of behaviour.

The Scottish Government provided £825,000 funding to Police Scotland to support the development of training for 14,000 police officers and staff. Police Scotland have also developed a self-completion e-learning package on the new legislation which was made available to all 22,000 staff.

I am encouraged by early indications of the use of the new offence, with over 400 crimes of domestic abuse recorded by Police Scotland in the first three months alone, and a number of convictions as the cases proceed through our courts.