Hansard

I am pleased to open for the Scottish Conservatives in the debate on the Scottish Government’s proposal to introduce a criminal offence of domestic abuse. Since the announcement in the First Minister’s programme for government, members on the Conservative benches—indeed, on all benches—have made positive remarks about the proposed legislation. I hope that people have noted the strong cross-party support for it, including perhaps people sitting at home today who are victims of domestic abuse. They should know that their Parliament is standing up for them on an offence that often takes place behind closed doors, and they can take some strength from the fact that they have backers in this Parliament and indeed across the country. That may help them to overcome many of the fears that they have experienced at the hands of a domestic abuser.

Domestic abuse is a monstrous and—as the cabinet secretary explained in his opening remarks—multifaceted crime. It is the ultimate betrayal of trust between two people who are intimately involved, one of whom is more vulnerable than the other, and its destructive effects can continue to reverberate long after the abuse has come to an end.

On that point, I welcome the cabinet secretary’s comments about the impact on children. They are never forgotten by people in these relationships, but the law looks at the person who has been abused and not necessarily at the impact on others, even though they are often in the room at the time and, as we have read in some of the briefings for this debate, they are often used as a tool in the domestic abuse. The removal of a child may be put forward as a threat as part of the domestic abuse. That is a terrible scenario for people to go through. I look forward to discussing the issues in this debate and indeed in committee once the bill has been introduced to ensure that we protect children in the best way that we can.

Scottish Government figures show just how many victims are suffering at the hands of their abusers across the country. In Scotland, there were 59,882 such victims in 2015, which represents a rise of almost a third since 2005-06. In my area of Moray, the number of victims almost doubled in a year, from 377 in 2013-14 to 749 in 2014-15. In the Highland Council area, the number of recorded incidents of domestic abuse has risen by 55 per cent since 2005-06.

Against that backdrop, I applaud the excellent work that is done by Moray Women’s Aid. The cabinet secretary mentioned that he had visited Edinburgh Women’s Aid. In Moray, the service offers excellent support at its facility in Elgin to women and children who are experiencing domestic abuse. However, there are concerns—I know that Rhoda Grant has raised them—about the future funding of that facility. We must ensure that Moray Women’s Aid and similar organisations the length and breadth of the country continue to receive our support so that they continue to give their support to those who need it the most. I met members of Moray Women’s Aid at Keith show recently when they were doing some fundraising there, and I look forward to visiting them in the community quite soon. We must do as much as we can to allow them to continue the great work that they do.

As the cabinet secretary said, the crime of domestic abuse is far too prevalent in our society. Although the statistics that I mentioned underscore the willingness of more victims to come forward, they are also a stark reminder that, potentially, many more people across the country are suffering behind closed doors. The message must therefore ring out loud and unequivocally clear from today’s debate that, in our modern society, physical and psychological abuse will not be tolerated, and it is absolutely right that we explore ways to ensure that our criminal justice system is equipped to handle and prosecute such complex cases.

To that end, I note the publication by the Scottish Government of “Equally Safe—Reforming the criminal law to address domestic abuse and sexual offences”, which ultimately led to the introduction of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Bill, which was the final bill that the Parliament passed in session 4. Although Scottish Conservatives did not agree with every provision in that legislation, we very much welcome the help and the hope that it will provide to domestic abuse victims.

As members will be aware, the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 introduced a statutory aggravation for domestic abuse as part of a multipronged approach to tackling the issue. During the bill’s stage 1 scrutiny, the Crown Agent confirmed that, as a result of the aggravator, abusers will likely get a tougher sentence, but it also means that serious individual offences including physical or sexual assault and stalking will be prosecuted with the addition of a domestic abuse aggravator where appropriate. That represents an important recognition of the fact that domestic abuse manifests itself in many different ways.

However, as a broad cross-section of stakeholders have recognised, there is a gap in the law that means that coercive control—a term adopted by Professor Evan Stark—is not criminalised under Scots law despite how damaging such behaviour can be for its victims. In England and Wales, section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 creates a new offence of “controlling or coercive behaviour” in relationships, and I am glad that the Scottish Government will make similar strides with the forthcoming bill.

The proposed law that we are debating today could provide a clear message to perpetrators of psychological abuse that society will not tolerate this kind of behaviour, but we need to ensure that we get our approach absolutely right. I therefore note with some concern that Catherine Dyer, the former Crown Agent, told the Justice Committee that a statutory aggravator of domestic abuse, rather than a specific offence, is the correct approach. She said:

“The issue is that domestic abuse surrounds particular actions and is not an offence in itself, which makes it difficult to establish. It is appropriate that it is an aggravator ... The approach of attaching a statutory aggravation rather than trying to define domestic abuse is probably the way to go.”—[Official Report, Justice Committee, 17 November 2015; c 26.]

Although I understand that 96 per cent of respondents to the Scottish Government’s “Equally Safe” consultation supported the possible introduction of an offence of domestic abuse, it is somewhat troubling that the Crown Office, which would be responsible for prosecuting under the proposed law, is on record as not being fully convinced of its utility. I would be grateful if we could get an update, perhaps from the minister when she closes, regarding the new Crown Agent’s position on the Scottish Government’s proposal.