Meeting of the Parliament 08 January 2026 [Draft]
I am aware of that evidence. Claire Baker, in her opening remarks, spoke about the importance of us all engaging with the evidence.
Later in my remarks, I will reflect on the current position in Scots law and address some of the concerns that members have obliquely referenced, and outline the action that the Scottish Government is taking forward. We do not have closed minds on the issue and I think that, given some of the evidence that the Criminal Justice Committee took, there are aspects that need to be considered further.
First, with regard to what needs done, I acknowledge that it is clearly very important that we have the means by which to identify cases of non-fatal strangulation in order to address that aspect of abuse of women and girls. I know that every member in the chamber is committed to taking whatever action is needed to address such abuse. That includes enabling societal and cultural change to address the factors that risk normalising such behaviour. For example, we have agreed that the new offences in the UK Crime and Policing Bill that criminalise pornography featuring “strangulation or suffocation” will extend to Scotland if the bill is passed.
I also welcome the updated NHS Inform web pages that provide information on fatal and non-fatal strangulation, and highlight that
“there is no safe way to be strangled”
and that
“It’s a criminal offence to cause harm through strangulation.”
I now turn to the proposal for a stand-alone offence—