Meeting of the Parliament 04 December 2014
I, too, welcome the cabinet secretary to his new post.
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on violence against women, particularly as North Ayrshire, which I represent, has one of the highest numbers of recorded incidents of domestic abuse in Scotland. Violence against women is wide ranging and covers sexual offences, forced marriages, trafficking, prostitution and honour crimes, as well as domestic abuse. I am sure that all members are concerned that many of those crimes are increasing. I welcome the fact that Ayrshire was selected as a pilot area for Clare’s law, which I hope will prove to be a positive development in the protection of potential victims of violence by men.
Between 2003-04 and 2011-12, the number of domestic abuse incidents that were attended by the police in North Ayrshire increased by 90.5 per cent, from 996 to 1,897. That truly shocking figure resulted in the creation of the multi-agency domestic abuse response team—MADART—which is comprised of the council, the police, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, North Ayrshire Women’s Aid and members of the North Ayrshire violence against women partnership. MADART has since reduced the number of incidents in North Ayrshire by more than 4 per cent in 2012-13. There have been key improvements in other areas, such as a 33 per cent increase in direct support to victims with children and a reduction in the time taken to respond to incidents that involve victims with children, from an average of around 10 days to three days.
MADART shows the benefit of organisations pooling and sharing resources to address victims’ needs. That results in improved communication and information sharing and, most important of all, it provides effective support and better targeting of resources and services for victims. My understanding is that the approach is currently unique to Ayrshire, so perhaps other local authorities should adopt it. Although I welcome the reduction in the number of incidents since MADART was established, we need to keep the momentum going and build on that work, which is the foundation for a long-term programme that needs to be supported. With all that in mind, I was appalled to learn that SNP-held North Ayrshire Council proposes to replace the holistic service that North Ayrshire Women’s Aid provides with a watered-down version minus services for children and for women with addictions, and also to cut the funding to that reduced service by 20 per cent.
I will be keeping a watchful eye on the outcome of Clare’s law. I expect that the assessment of the pilot will show that some women have been prevented from becoming involved with known violent men and that the measure will then be rolled out across Scotland, as the cabinet secretary said.
I commend the MADART initiative for its role in driving down domestic abuse in the Ayrshire area and I hope that it continues to be supported. The scheme should be replicated across Scotland. Most important of all, on behalf of the women in North Ayrshire, I ask the cabinet secretary to intervene in the proposals of SNP-held North Ayrshire Council to cut the holistic services and funding of North Ayrshire Women’s Aid in an area that desperately needs to protect women from abuse in their homes.
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