Hansard

I start where John Finnie ended: I declare an interest as an ambassador for White Ribbon Scotland Orkney.

Recent events have provided a graphic reminder of the context in which we need to view the proposed legislation that we have been debating this afternoon. The bill was necessary when it was introduced to Parliament last year, it remains so today and Scottish Liberal Democrats look forward to passing it into law shortly.

Much of the debate around Sarah Everard’s brutal murder and its aftermath has focused—quite rightly—on what needs to be done to allow women and girls to feel safe on our streets and in our public spaces. That debate must, and will, continue. However, it should go alongside an emphasis on the right of women and girls to feel safe in their own homes, too. The grim reality is that home is often where they face the biggest risks and the greatest harm, never more so than during the pandemic, given the effects of the lockdown restrictions.

That is why the measures in the bill to improve protection for those who are at risk of domestic abuse are so important, in particular where survivors are living with the perpetrator of the abuse. As I said during the stage 1 debate, the principles of the bill broadly reflect the policy that was adopted by Scottish Liberal Democrats back in 2019. Despite that, the original bill was in need of quite a bit of remedial work. The Justice Committee heard concerns from various witnesses, not least the police themselves, about the practical implications, a lack of clarity, potential overlap and other similar concerns. Those concerns have now largely been addressed, and I put on record my thanks to the cabinet secretary and committee colleagues, in particular Rhoda Grant for the leading role that she has played. I also thank witnesses, clerks, SPICe and all those who assisted the committee in carrying out scrutiny in what, as the cabinet secretary acknowledged, has been a truncated timeframe.

In Scotland, current civil measures place the onus on the victim to apply for protective orders in cases of domestic abuse. Under the bill, police would be able to impose a protection notice and thereafter apply to the court for a protection order. That could place prohibitions on a suspected perpetrator of domestic abuse, which may include removing them from a home that is shared with a person who is at risk and prohibiting contact while the order is in effect.

Today, Parliament has agreed to provide further flexibility in the court’s powers in relation to orders, which is sensible. The step of creating a new ground for social landlords to apply to end the tenancy of a perpetrator of abusive behaviour, with a view to transferring the tenancy to the victim, is also welcome and, as John Finnie reminded us, not insignificant. It will help to address, at least in part, the well-established link between domestic abuse and homelessness.

The provisions in the bill are both welcome and timely. Of course, they are only a very small part of the measures that are needed in response to the concerns that we have heard voiced with such force in recent days. The lived experience of too many women and girls is not one that should be tolerated in 21st-century Scotland. I look forward to seeing the recommendations from Dame Helena Kennedy and her working group on misogyny. However, her work is, of necessity, likely to focus principally on the case for a stand-alone offence of misogynistic harassment, which is necessary but not enough. I therefore welcome the proposal from my Scottish Liberal Democrat colleague Caron Lindsay for a commission that is able not only to build on the working group’s findings, but to look at the wider issues that need to be addressed. I thank the cabinet secretary for responding positively to that idea when I raised it with him in the chamber yesterday. I hope that colleagues in other parties will also agree to look at how a commission might be established in the next session of Parliament after the election.

For now, I confirm once again that the Scottish Liberal Democrats will be happy to lend our support to the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Bill at decision time.