Hansard

The Convener: Lab

I invite the first set of witnesses, who are from the Scottish rape crisis network, to take their seats. We will hear evidence from Cara Gillespie and Sandy ...

Cara Gillespie (Scottish Rape Crisis Network):

Good morning. Thank you for inviting us to give evidence. My name is Cara Gillespie. I am a worker at Edinburgh rape crisis centre. On my right is my colleag...

The Convener: Lab

Thank you.

Sandy Brindley (Rape Crisis Network):

My name is Sandy Brindley. I have been a worker with Strathclyde rape crisis centre for around six years. During that time, I have spoken to a significant nu...

The Convener: Lab

Thank you, Sandy. I open out the discussion to members for questions or comments.

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): Lab

We had a big rape case in Inverness recently, which was well handled because we have a woman procurator fiscal who is extremely supportive of rape victims. H...

Sandy Brindley:

That depends on the good will and interest of the head teacher and the guidance to staff in individual schools—there is no strategic programme of education o...

Cara Gillespie:

Maureen Macmillan was absolutely correct when she talked about the legal definition of rape and said that it was about power. We think that it is important t...

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): Lab

You will know that part of the context in which you are giving evidence is our examination of the way in which women are treated by the legal system as vulne...

Sandy Brindley:

A piece of research carried out in England and Wales last year addressed the specific issue of whether so-called date rape is less likely to lead to criminal...

Johann Lamont: Lab

Do you agree with the idea of establishing special courts, so that the whole system is geared to recognising the vulnerability of certain witnesses? Those co...

Sandy Brindley:

Many different attempts, some of which have been more successful than others, have been made in different countries and states to deal with the problems that...

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): Lab

Johann Lamont raised a topical point. Partly because of her work and partly because of the work of the SNP's Gil Paterson, the Executive has pledged to repor...

Cara Gillespie:

That is not my area of expertise, as I focus much more on service provision.

Sandy Brindley:

However, we agree that it was a disappointing document, because it made assertions that we found startling. For example, it said that there were no problems ...

Malcolm Chisholm: Lab

Cara, you referred to a leaflet that is being published today—you have knowledge that we do not have. What exactly is that leaflet? Was your point that the l...

Cara Gillespie:

That is correct. Around the time that a lot of work was being done on domestic abuse, the Scottish Executive published a leaflet raising awareness of the dom...

Malcolm Chisholm: Lab

The leaflet will refer to Edinburgh rape crisis centre and all the other rape crisis centres. Might we expect that those will become better known and be used...

Cara Gillespie:

We certainly hope so, particularly if we can use the distribution networks that have been made available to get leaflets right across Scotland to police forc...

Malcolm Chisholm: Lab

What combinations of funding do different rape crisis centres have? Are they different in different places?

Cara Gillespie:

Our funding is outlined in more detail in our written evidence. Some centres receive local authority funding, mainly through the section 10 funding strand, w...

Malcolm Chisholm: Lab

Would you like to see a central fund, similar to the domestic abuse fund?

Cara Gillespie:

Absolutely. We need to consider how much of this work should be a statutory responsibility—how much of the work we want to be done as part of creating a civi...

Malcolm Chisholm: Lab

Maureen Macmillan reminded us that rape is really about power. Would you like to comment on the dreadful book that came out recently and took a different view?

Cara Gillespie:

I cannot remember which American feminist responded to it, but she made a very important point. Obviously, we dismiss the views that were expressed in the bo...

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): SSP

Cara, do you share my concern that you will experience a difficulty similar to the one that the zero tolerance campaign has had over the past few years, in t...

Cara Gillespie:

That is certainly one of the things that we will be pursuing. Like many other organisations, we have been battering against a door for many years, so that no...

Tommy Sheridan: SSP

I hope that we can assist you to make the case for statutory funding for the service.When the COSLA guidance on tackling violence against women was launched,...

Sandy Brindley:

That is a very good question, which we have raised in the different agency forums in which we are involved. There is no point in inventing new guidelines, as...

Tommy Sheridan: SSP

Convener, I hope that the committee will agree to make representations to the Executive about implementation of the COSLA guidelines, as that would maintain ...