Meeting of the Parliament 02 March 2017
Last month, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and I met groups representing children and victims of domestic abuse to discuss how the law can be reformed to reflect the impact of domestic abuse on children. At that meeting, we agreed to continue to work with those groups on the issue. As Christina McKelvie will be aware, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice is going to introduce a bill during this parliamentary year that will provide for a specific criminal offence of domestic abuse between partners and ex-partners. The Scottish Government has been working with stakeholders to consider what can be done in that bill to reflect the harm that is done to children through domestic abuse.
Separately, the consultation on reform of the offence of child cruelty or neglect, which is in section 12 of the 1937 act, will enable us to reflect our understanding of the long-term effects of the experience of emotional and non-physical neglect along with how the damage that is wrought by that experience can be just as devastating to the victim as other, physical forms of neglect and abuse. It will also provide a clear opportunity to consider what further law reforms are required to recognise children as victims of domestic abuse, whether through a reformed and modernised version of that offence or through the creation of a separate provision to deal specifically with domestic abuse of a child. We will work closely with stakeholders in the children’s sector in the development of that consultation and will keep the Parliament informed as part of the process.