Hansard

This is the 16th year of the United Nations campaign of activism to end violence against women, and I am proud that the Parliament is again discussing male violence against women. If this annual debate helps, even in small part, to reinforce the message that there is no excuse for men's violence towards women, however it manifests itself, it is right that we take that opportunity, and if our debate can demonstrate the support of the Parliament for the many women who have worked tirelessly over the years to keep male violence on the public agenda, and to support women and children who are affected, that is right too.

The theme of this year's UN campaign celebrates activists who have made the campaign a success and honours women human rights defenders who have suffered intimidation and violence. Earlier this year, I had the great privilege of meeting Thabitha Khumalo, from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. She has spoken at a number of events, including the Scottish Trades Union Congress conference, to appeal for the "Dignity. Period!" campaign, which has the simple aim of ensuring provision of sanitary products for Zimbabwean women. She has carried on her fight for human rights in spite of the consequences. She has been arrested frequently and has suffered torture, kidnap, gang rape and beatings. Sadly, she provides just one example of a woman being treated in such a way because she is not afraid to stand up for women's rights.

In Scotland, we have had our own struggles to pursue gender equality, whether fighting for an end to sex discrimination, proper maternity and other employment rights or an end to the gender pay gap. Those struggles have been taken forward within political parties, by trade unions and elsewhere, but it is women who have put them on the agenda and kept them there. It was the work of women activists and volunteers that led to the establishment of the first women's aid groups and rape crisis centres. In 1976, when Scottish Women's Aid was founded, there was a lack of public awareness and understanding of domestic abuse and an undoubted failure by statutory agencies to respond appropriately.

Much of the work done by Scottish Women's Aid was around awareness raising and getting domestic abuse on the political agenda. Over 30 years, the organisation's approach has been informed by the real experiences of the women who have been in contact with it. That has been vital in increasing understanding of what women need, whether that is information, refuge, rehousing, legal provision or other support. Women activists, often unpaid and survivors themselves, have developed hugely our understanding of domestic abuse; its relation to gender inequality, male abuse of power and control; the strength of women who survive such abuse; and our responsibility to protect.

Scottish Women's Aid listened to the many abused women who left for the sake of the children and to the families that stayed in its refuges in the early days. With that experience came a deeper understanding of how children, too, are affected by domestic abuse. It is a great tribute to Scottish Women's Aid activists that they now campaign for both women and children, emphasising the resilience and bravery of both and the fact that their protection and well-being are inextricably linked. I am pleased that we now fund Scottish Women's Aid to carry out its much-needed work and I congratulate it on its 30th anniversary.

It was also 30 years ago that the first rape crisis centre in Scotland opened in Glasgow. Today there is a network of centres across Scotland that work to provide much-needed support to those who experience rape and sexual assault and to raise awareness and challenge myths. Again, activists and volunteers have driven much of the agenda around sexual violence. All the local centres are now given a measure of funding stability through the Executive's rape crisis specific fund, and four years ago Rape Crisis Scotland was set up with Executive funding as the national office of the network to support the work of the affiliated centres and to help the rape crisis movement to develop. Later this month I will attend the 30th anniversary event at Glasgow rape crisis centre. I look forward to the opportunity to share in its celebration of a significant milestone.

I have a great deal of sympathy for Carolyn Leckie's amendment on rape, but it fails to mention some of the action that has been taken. For example, the Parliament passed the Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2002, which addressed some of the concerns about the impact on victims of rape when there was an unfair and irrelevant focus on their sexual background or character by the accused or the accused's legal representatives when they gave evidence in court. The impact of the act is currently being evaluated; the final report is due early in the new year.

Moreover, the Crown Office's review of the prosecution of rape is a thorough examination of the best prosecution practice in the area. It contains 50 recommendations, which are aimed at delivering an improved quality of investigation and prosecution and at ensuring that victims are treated with courtesy, respect and sensitivity.

Finally, we have asked the Scottish Law Commission to examine the law in this area and await its report, which will be the most comprehensive review ever undertaken in Scotland of the law related to rape and other sex offences.

There have also been civil law developments in relation to violence against women under legislation passed by this Parliament. For example, the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 created the domestic interdict—a remedy for cohabiting couples—and extends the available interdicts so that they can cover not only the home but the applicant's place of work and the school attended by any child in her care. Elsewhere in the 2006 act are provisions that explicitly require the court to consider abuse or the risk of abuse in family cases. For example, the section will apply when a father applies to the court for contact with his child.

The first act of the Scottish Parliament to begin life in a committee, the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001, allows the court to attach a power of arrest to any interdict granted to protect someone from abuse. We should remember Maureen Macmillan's key role in that.

Not all the progress has been about legal change. We are also keen to support new and innovative ways of working. The domestic abuse court pilot and the assist service came about because of real partnership focused on delivering tangible improvements to the way in which cases of domestic abuse are handled. After two years of the pilot in Glasgow, more perpetrators of domestic abuse are being brought to justice and are being dealt with swiftly and effectively within six weeks. Importantly, the initiative fully supports both victims and witnesses who come into contact with the domestic abuse court. I was pleased to announce continued support and funding for the court and the associated assist service when I spoke at its second-birthday conference in October.

The sexual assault referral centre is another project based on a partnership approach that considers improved, joined-up service delivery. Archway Glasgow will provide a co-ordinated multi-agency response to rape and sexual assault, which will provide women, men and adolescents with sensitive and responsive forensic health and support services every day for 24 hours a day in one central location. We have committed £1.6 million over three years to pilot the centre and I look forward to its launch in April.

Activists, not only the many paid and unpaid children's support workers in Women's Aid, have raised awareness of the effect of domestic abuse on children and young people. Through the powerful listen louder campaign, young activists raised their own issues with the Scottish Executive and Parliament. We have moved as a nation from ignoring children to recognising that they are affected by domestic abuse and need support in their own right. Young people have shown that they can eloquently state their needs.

The £6 million that we have invested ensures that every women's aid group has a minimum of three full-time workers supporting children when they are in and once they have left refuge, and that outreach support is offered to many thousands of children and young people in the wider community. We know that supporting those children is everyone's responsibility, which is why Johann Lamont and the Deputy Minister for Education and Young People jointly launched the new national domestic abuse delivery group for children and the getting it right for every child domestic abuse pathfinder pilot, ensuring a multi-agency, cross-Executive approach to secure better outcomes for children.

We have exciting plans for children to participate in a delivery plan for their future, and we make a commitment here for young people to have a voice. There are real changes in the law, and practical changes on the ground.

I would like to touch on a number of other areas of work. In her amendment, Christine Grahame refers to refuges. Since 2000, we have invested £12 million, through the domestic abuse refuge accommodation programme, to build new refuges or to adapt, extend and upgrade existing ones. That has resulted in more than 600 new, adapted, refurbished or upgraded spaces since 2000. We have also established a sub-group of the national group to address violence against women to implement a domestic abuse accommodation and support provision action plan. The sub-group is chaired by Scottish Women's Aid and has representation from the Executive's violence against women, homelessness and supporting people teams, as well as from Communities Scotland and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. I look forward to its work progressing.