Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 28 January 2021
I have some sympathy for that. We would need to explore the suggestion further to consider which organisations might be included. It would not be without its difficulties, but it is something that the committee should explore.
The bill also provides a power for the police to impose, where necessary, a very short-term domestic abuse protection notice ahead of applying to the court for a DAPO. Barnardo’s Scotland welcomed the measure and said that the new legislation would protect and safeguard victims and their families. It stated:
“Often abuse victims don’t want to move out of the home because they don’t want their children to experience upheaval. It is imperative that where possible the perpetrator is held to account and removed from the family home.”
The bill will also allow social landlords to end or transfer the tenancy of a perpetrator of domestic abuse in order to prevent a victim becoming homeless by enabling them to remain in the family home. Part 2 of the bill proposes a new power for social landlords to do just that.
The bill is intended to improve the immediate and longer-term housing outcomes for domestic abuse victims who live in social housing—that will be extremely valuable—by creating a new ground on which a social landlord can apply to the court to end the tenancy. Alternatively, where the perpetrator and victim are joint tenants, an application can be made to end the perpetrator’s interest in the tenancy and enable the victim to remain in the family home. Those are important measures.
I am pleased that the Justice Committee has backed the general principles of the proposed legislation, while highlighting some of the issues that need to be considered further and making recommendations on how the enhanced protective orders could operate effectively.
I welcome the commitment from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice to establish an implementation board to ensure that there is clear guidance on use of the legislation. As the cabinet secretary and other members mentioned, there are issues that require further consideration, including concerns about the suggested level for the evidential threshold that would enable a DAPO or a DAPN to be issued.
As other members have mentioned, there are also concerns around operational matters, which have been raised in particular by Police Scotland. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s commitment to continue to discuss with stakeholders their concerns about those and other matters that are raised in the stage 1 report, as the bill progresses to the next stage.
16:51