Hansard

On behalf of my party, I very much welcome the consensual tone in the chamber. I acknowledge the work that the Government is doing. Whether it is doing it fast enough is another story, but I very much welcome the progress that is being and will be made.

There have been too many good speeches to mention. Elaine Murray, Christine Grahame and Malcolm Chisholm made excellent contributions, but I make a special mention of Alison McInnes, who deservedly won an award at the Scottish politician of the year awards last week. Well done, Alison. [Applause.] We are all very proud of her.

Members of all parties clearly recognise that, although significant progress has been made in overcoming the scourge of violence against women, we still have a way to go. I think that we can all agree on that.

As others have said, violence against women manifests itself in many different ways. It manifests itself in physical, sexual and psychological ways. As Christine Grahame mentioned, cyber abuse is becoming more common. There is stalking, sexual harassment and intimidation, as well as forced marriages and honour-based violence.

The impact of domestic abuse and domestic violence reaches far beyond the confines of the home. The 16 days of activism campaign, which begins this week, has given some startling statistics about how domestic violence affects women in the workplace. Some 58 per cent of abused women miss at least three days of work a month; 56 per cent of abused women arrive late for work five times a month; and 96 per cent of domestic abuse survivors say that their abuse has affected their ability to work. I know that money does not come into it, but the campaign has given figures that show that domestic violence costs UK businesses around £2 billion a year in absenteeism, lost productivity and turnover.

Something that is so complex requires a multifaceted and co-ordinated response from law makers, those on the front line, the third sector and other individuals and agencies. Their combined efforts have helped victims to deal with the fallout of the violence that they have been subjected to and ensured that those women are not defined by their ordeals and that the perpetrators have felt the full force of the law. We can all try to be vigilant in the workplace and elsewhere, to recognise the signs of abuse, and to offer much-needed support, whether the victim is male or female.

I am pleased that, as we improve ways of detecting and dealing with domestic abuse, the focus is increasingly shifting to prevention. Several members have mentioned Clare’s law, which gives members of the public the right to ask the police when they suspect that their partner could pose a risk to their safety and often that of their children. Nanette Milne mentioned the pilots in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire.

We need to be mindful that, although 79 per cent of incidents of domestic abuse had a female victim and a male perpetrator last year, 18 per cent of victims were male. That is an increase of 11 per cent in the past decade. According to the 16 days of activism campaign, 25 per cent of women and 16 per cent of men will experience domestic abuse during their adult lifetime. I found that statistic quite startling.

Domestic violence against women and men in same-sex couples should also be acknowledged. In the past year alone, 7 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men have experienced domestic violence. Those are deeply worrying statistics. As Graeme Pearson said, many people are reluctant to come forward, although I think that that is changing. I remember the days when the police would be called and would say, “It’s just a domestic. Sort it out yourselves.” Unfortunately, that led to the behaviour continuing. There are many more people out there who are suffering in silence and are perhaps almost too loyal for their own good.

I have mentioned some figures. As I came into the chamber, I picked up a booklet with Scottish Government statistics. I was shocked—I raised this matter when the minister was speaking—that for incidents of domestic abuse per 100,000 population recorded by the police, the Scottish average was 1,120, but there are areas such as Dundee, which had 1,703 such incidents, or 700 above the Scottish average, and other areas such as Stirling, which had about half that number, at 857 incidents. Where there is a particular problem, I hope that the Government will ensure that it understands why, work with the agencies concerned and ensure that resources are allocated accordingly. The worrying statistics on domestic abuse that were published last month by Police Scotland showed that, while the number of people reporting incidents is on the rise, only 54 per cent of the incidents recorded by the police resulted in a prosecution last year.

Finally, I want to pick up on what Stewart Stevenson was saying and to thank him for that. We rightly focus on the victims, but unless we get the perpetrators to address their unacceptable, heinous behaviour, there will simply be a repetition of the crime. I welcome the fact that Stewart Stevenson raised that issue—the victims need help, but the perpetrators need help also. As Stewart Stevenson said, the alternative to not helping them is to accept that they will go on repeating their violence.