Meeting of the Parliament 15 September 2016
I will come back to it if I have time, but I have quite a bit to get through. [Interruption.] I was asking about the Crown Agent, if that helps the minister.
I turn to the structure of the proposed law. I extend enormous thanks to the 59 stakeholders that, as the cabinet secretary mentioned, took the time to respond to the Scottish Government’s second consultation on the draft offence, to ensure that it is as robust as possible. There is much food for thought in the analysis of the consultation responses and I look forward to exploring the terrain in greater depth after the draft legislation has been introduced in Parliament.
In the time remaining to me I will focus my remarks on the definition in the proposed law of “abusive behaviour”. It is vital that any law that is introduced provides clarity and certainty, but some behaviours, such as coercive control, do not fall within fixed and neatly delineated parameters. In its response to the consultation, the Law Society of Scotland highlighted that
“any offence extending beyond physical abuse or offensive behaviour currently forbidden by the criminal law should be capable of definition and explanation”
and that it appears “essential” that
“the commission of such an offence will require appropriate mens rea”.
A workable definition will therefore be key to the law’s successful implementation. That is important because figures from the Scottish Government show that only 54 per cent—just over half—of the almost 60,000 incidents of domestic abuse that the police recorded last year resulted in conviction. As I argued during First Minister’s question time today, we must ensure that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is sufficiently resourced to cope with the increasing domestic abuse case load. Domestic abuse is a crime that the Scottish Government, along with Police Scotland and the COPFS, has made a priority, and it is inherently complex.
I would like to say many more things. Some of my colleagues will mention Clare’s law and the other things in our amendment, which I hope will gain enough support from members.
We must get this right. It is an important piece of legislation that people will be looking at for many years to come. I welcome the fact that the cabinet secretary has launched the debate in a consensual way and that he wishes to hear the views of members across the chamber. I look forward to the rest of the debates and discussions that we will have on the legislation as it progresses through the Parliament; I anticipate that they will be broadly consensual and I look forward to hearing contributions from across the parties.
I move amendment S4M-01434.1, to leave out “victims” and insert:
“both male and female victims who have been in a heterosexual or same-sex relationship; urges the Scottish Government to continue to raise awareness of Clare’s Law”.