Hansard

Like all other members who have spoken in the debate this afternoon, I congratulate Rhoda Grant on getting the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill through to stage 3. As I said last week in relation to the two members’ bills that were considered on the same day, any member’s bill requires a huge amount of work. Just getting it through the consultation stage, and then stages 1, 2 and finally 3, is a considerable achievement.

Scotland has developed an international reputation for its work on addressing violence against women, and domestic abuse in particular. The bill takes the work even further. My colleague Robert Brown has referred to the various things that have happened in the Parliament in this regard over the past few years. The Liberal Democrats welcome this debate on Rhoda Grant’s bill, and we will be supporting it at decision time tonight.

I congratulate the Justice Committee on all the hard work that it has done, in particular the huge amount of work on the bill that was done by the now ex-convener, Bill Aitken. I wish Bill well with whatever he does in the future. The Parliament will miss him sadly—I think that we all know that.

Congratulations must go, too, to the committee clerks for their work. They are the unsung heroes in the background, and they do a huge amount of work.

I reiterate the two main policy objectives of the bill. The first is to increase access to justice for victims of domestic abuse, and the second is to enable police and prosecutors to provide a more robust response to breaches of civil protection orders. I think that the bill will achieve those objectives.

From stage 2, the bill has been amended, resulting in the removal of section 2, which was on legal aid, and the removal of section 4, which covered the statutory definition of domestic abuse. Of course, there is currently no statutory or common-law definition of domestic abuse, although there are a number of commonly accepted and understood definitions and statements of what domestic abuse is, and those definitions will remain.

Section 2 would have amended the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 to make legal aid available without means testing in respect of all applications for an interdict with a power of arrest or a non-harassment order, where domestic abuse was involved. At stage 2, a Scottish Government amendment removed that section. Robert Brown, Stewart Maxwell and perhaps other members were extremely concerned about the amendments in relation to section 2. I am not a member of the Justice Committee, but I hope that they are satisfied with what the minister has said today and that they are happy with the way forward.

I agree with the minister that in this day and age we must all have a right to protection from violence, whoever we are, wherever we are and regardless of our situation and personal circumstances. I was particularly struck by what Stewart Maxwell said about new year’s day, and by the minister’s comments on the recent events in Glasgow, which I am sure that all members abhorred.

Domestic abuse is completely unacceptable in the 21st century. We must all continue to work together to tackle a continuing problem. The bill will do that. I congratulate Rhoda Grant on introducing the bill, which we will support at decision time at 5 o’clock—actually I think it is 5.25 pm.

16:06