Committee
Education, Children and Young People Committee 26 January 2022
26 Jan 2022 · S6 · Education, Children and Young People Committee
Item of business
Drink and Needle Spiking
Kate Wallace (Victim Support Scotland)
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Thank you for bringing me in, convener. The underreporting of crime is generally an issue, with fewer than half of those who say that they have been a victim of crime actually reporting the crime to the police. Martha Williams’s figures are therefore not too far away from that. We know that underreporting of spiking incidents is an issue in general. As for your question about why that is, I would say that it is the fear of not being believed and, as the previous speaker highlighted, a fear of, and a lack of understanding about, the process. People are sometimes not 100 per cent sure whether the incident has happened, and the fear of being retraumatised as a result of the criminal justice process is a concern for many people who might find themselves in that situation. We and Rape Crisis Scotland have been asking about pathways for people who suspect that they have been spiked to access health screening and testing to find out whether it has happened without their having to go to the police. We have raised the matter in other round-table meetings but, as far as I know, we have not had any answers. Access to testing to find out whether you have been spiked certainly would help. There is certainly a culture of underreporting around spiking. I have to agree with Sally Mapstone that it is not just a student issue; indeed, we and Rape Crisis Scotland have seen as much in the calls to our helplines. We also need to move away from the culture of victim blaming and putting it on victims to prevent such situations from happening and to keep themselves safe. As Hilary Sloan has said, there needs to be a shift in that respect. A pretty unusual situation cropped up at the back end of October with regard to spiking by injection, but it is important to remember that by far the most prevalent method of spiking is additional unwanted alcohol. Moreover, as we start to move out of the pandemic and the unusual situation with lockdowns and so on, house parties will become an issue again. The picture over the past couple of years has been different, but we would ordinarily see spiking by additional alcohol as the most prevalent method and house parties as an area of concern. We feel that the way forward is to provide as many referral pathways as possible to ensure that people get the support and help that they need and to give victims who suspect that they have been spiked access to testing to find out whether that is the case without their having to report to the police.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Con
Agenda item 4 is an evidence session on drink and needle spiking. Joining us today for a round-table discussion are Jill Stevenson, dean of diversity and inc...
Superintendent Hilary Sloan (Police Scotland)
As you said, convener, there was a significant increase in the reporting of spiking incidents in mid-October, which coincided with public concern in relation...
The Convener
Con
What is your assessment of what caused the uptick over the Halloween period? Was that in a specific geographical area or was it at a set of events?
Superintendent Sloan
The three primary areas where the incidents have been most prevalent are the student cities—Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh—and they usually coincide with th...
Professor Sally Mapstone (Universities Scotland)
I agree with Hilary Sloan. There is still a lot of work to do to gauge the extent and prevalence of spiking in Scotland. We might discuss that today and look...
The Convener
Con
We can hear the voice of students from Ellen MacRae.
Ellen MacRae (Edinburgh University Students Association)
I agree with Sally Mapstone’s point that it is not only students who are impacted. I think that every student knows at least one person who has been spiked d...
Martha Williams (Girls Night In)
I can give another student perspective on the question of why spiking has escalated. One explanation that I have come to is that we have all been kept indoor...
The Convener
Con
What is the reason for that?
Martha Williams
As Ellen MacRae has said, there is a culture of victim blaming. People are afraid that, if they come forward, their stories will not be taken seriously. Unfo...
The Convener
Con
I see that Stephanie Callaghan has put a comment in the chat function, asking for more information about the survey that you mentioned. Can you run through s...
Martha Williams
The data were gathered from a social media account that has turned itself into an outlet for people to come forward and report incidents of spiking that they...
The Convener
Con
I wonder whether Kate Wallace can shed further light on that.
Kate Wallace (Victim Support Scotland)
Thank you for bringing me in, convener. The underreporting of crime is generally an issue, with fewer than half of those who say that they have been a victim...
The Convener
Con
You—
Kate Wallace
We should also remember that there is no specific crime of spiking, which does not help in gauging prevalence. I am sorry if I interrupted you, convener.
The Convener
Con
No—you made a very important point. You mentioned the settings where there is what you have described as additional unwelcome alcohol, which I presume is put...
Kate Wallace
Or you are given, say, triples that you do not want or have not asked for.
The Convener
Con
What is the most likely setting for that? Are you suggesting that that is more likely to happen in a private setting?
Kate Wallace
We are talking about multiple settings—it is not just one or the other. I just wanted to remind people that spiking can occur outwith nightclubs, pubs and th...
Superintendent Sloan
I want to reiterate some of the points that have been made. We in Police Scotland have focused our communications on perpetrator behaviour, because it is the...
The Convener
Con
There was a comment earlier from Ellen MacRae, I think, about reporting. How would a victim—someone who has had such a thing perpetrated on them—normally rep...
Superintendent Sloan
It depends on the individual and on what they wish to do. We have bystander awareness training, which we have shared with the staff of licensed premises and ...
Martha Williams
I will make a quick point. One of the key issues in the conversation is the fact that there is such a lack of clarity on the procedure for reporting spikings...
The Convener
Con
It is apt that we turn to Jill Stevenson, from the University of Stirling, who is also director of the Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher ...
Jill Stevenson (Association of Managers of Student Services In Higher Education)
I hope that I can pick up on some of those points. Notwithstanding the valid points that have been made about the issue being not just for students but for w...
The Convener
Con
Martha Williams mentioned that young people have been locked in and locked down, and she gave that as one of the reasons for the uptick, which is very plausi...
Jill Stevenson
It is a complex question, because there are many types of gender-based violence. I would probably defer to the police on prevalence. We know that all types o...
The Convener
Con
Would Hilary Sloan like to make a quick comment on that? Then I will bring in Kaukab Stewart, who has a point to address to Mike Grieve and Andrew Green.
Superintendent Sloan
People having the confidence to report incidents to us, whether it is gender-based violence or any other crime, is key for us. We want people to come forward...