The Scottish Government

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6. THE APPROACH IN PRACTICE

6.1 Where to direct attention

There is a need to:

• recognise the spectrum of violence against women of which domestic abuse is a part;
• provide appropriate support for those affected;
• provide protection and ensure safety;
• ensure the legal remedies and agency responses can deal adequately with perpetrator and victim;
• encourage reporting;
• improve data collection particularly with regard to the experiences of marginalised women and children;
• provide better measurement of outcomes and progress and most importantly;
• find effective means to prevent violence occurring.

6.2 What has been done already

Scotland has developed an international reputation for its work on violence against women and on domestic abuse in particular. It is looked to for its work on public awareness campaigns, its engagement of and work with children and young people, its strategic approach to all aspects of the agenda and particularly for its partnership working. Since the inception of the Scottish Parliament, significant investment and attention has been given to working towards a Scotland where women and children are safe in their homes, workplaces and communities.

Domestic abuse remains one of the key issues to be addressed as part of the work to tackle violence against women. The broadening of the agenda in no way diminishes the activity being undertaken or importance attached to tackling domestic abuse. The National Strategy adopted in 2000 provides a continuing framework for our activity on domestic abuse. It links directly to this broader approach on violence against women and is one of the policy pillars for the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children and Young people.

Building on these firm foundations, this Government and its partners are driving forward activity on violence against women across a range of areas:

6.3 Current Activities

Actions by Scottish Government:

We are

• Investing over £44 million to drive forward work to tackle violence against women in 2008-11;
• Enabling women and children to access frontline support through funding 73 projects across Scotland tackling violence against women;
• Supporting the national infrastructure for work on violence against women through funding for Scottish Women's Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland;
• Increasing access to support for rape victims across Scotland through supporting the network of rape crisis centres;
• Helping those affected by domestic abuse and rape to obtain information and support by funding the Scottish domestic abuse and rape crisis helplines;
• Improving the process for dealing with perpetrators and supporting victims of domestic abuse through the domestic abuse court in Glasgow and providing dedicated support for victims;
• Increasing the support for courts across Scotland by the provision of a toolkit on domestic abuse which draws on the learning from the domestic abuse court in Glasgow;
• Improving the provision of perpetrator programmes and associated partner work through the development of the Caledonian Programme;
• Raising public awareness and highlighting the help available for victims through the media campaign Domestic Abuse: There's No Excuse;
• Reforming the law on sexual offences through the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill;
• Improving the capacity of agencies to deal with issues of violence against women by supporting 15 training consortia and the provision of national training co-ordinators;
• Supporting the development of the first Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Scotland;
• Continuing to explore the options for women with no recourse to public funds;
• Implementing a substantial programme of activity to address the needs of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse with young people participating in the process;
• Improving the identification of violence against women as part of the routine inquiry system with the NHS system in Scotland;
• Ensuring that children and young people across Scotland affected by domestic abuse have support through a network of children's workers;
• Building the links between work with children experiencing domestic abuse and Getting it right for every child through four pathfinders across Scotland;
• Tackling human trafficking in Scotland. We are legislating to provide police with specific powers to close premises associated with human trafficking or child sexual exploitation. These measures are contained in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced into the Scottish Parliament in March 2009;
• Making it easier for courts to consider the application of a criminal non-harassment order by removing the precondition for a course of conduct amounting to harassment. This measure is also contained in the Criminal Justice & Licensing (Scotland) Bill.
• Addressing the issue of forced marriage by first consulting stakeholders and interest groups about what needs to be done.
• Working with the Violence Reduction Unit to embed violence against women into their work programme eg their campaign during late 2009 to improve police response to domestic abuse.

Examples of actions by our key partners

Local authorities

Local government has always been a key partner in delivering services for women and children affected by men's violence. In West Dunbartonshire, for example, in addition to funding the Multi-Agency Partnership on Violence Against Women, the local authority has also mainstreamed VAW posts within their core staff, providing a high level of continuity and longevity for the work. The Reduce Abuse Project based in Clydebank High School is co-ordinating and delivering domestic abuse prevention programmes to young people in secondary schools and other youth settings in West Dunbartonshire and identifying children's needs in relation to this issue. A teaching and resource pack for teaching staff has been developed as well as a training programme to support teachers using the pack.

Police and Procurator Fiscal

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary has recently carried out a thematic inspection of Scottish Police forces' performance on domestic abuse. Following on from the groundbreaking Hitting Home report published in 1997, the new report (published in August 2008) makes a number of recommendations:

Establishing a national database of perpetrators; reviewing the role of the domestic abuse officer in line with good practice identified in the report; developing a common approach to training and support for officers; working towards implementing a single core model of risk assessment and management and reviewing and reinforcing quality assurance practices and processes for recording domestic abuse incidents.

The report notes that 'The quality of police intervention is critical to preventing further violence and abuse.'

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland) has taken a strong position on all forms of violence against women. On domestic abuse in particular, there is a joint protocol between ACPOS and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ( COPFS), which was renewed in December 2008 ³⁰. The protocol seeks to "identify best practice and obtain consistency of approach in the investigation, reporting and prosecution of these cases, with a view to improving the service … provided to the public, and in particular victims, in dealing with criminal conduct arising from domestic abuse incidents". All eight police forces across Scotland have taken significant steps to improve their response to violence against women over recent years.

Strathclyde Police has recently established a Domestic Abuse Task Force, the first of its kind in Scotland. The team of specialist officers will actively target the most persistent offenders, sending out a strong message to perpetrators whilst also providing protection and support for victims.

The pro-active team targets offenders who have been identified by divisions as presenting the most significant risk of harm to victims and their families.

Officers use a variety of skills and investigation methods such as intelligence gathering, surveillance capabilities and family liaison and crime scene management experience to target the most dangerous offenders.

The hand-picked, highly skilled officers who make up the 18-strong Domestic Abuse Task Force also work in conjunction with local police officers and partner agencies to ensure victims are fully supported and that they or their family or friends have the confidence to come forward to report abuse.

Tackling violence against women continues to be a priority for COPFS and COPFS has made substantial progress in 2 major areas: domestic abuse and sexual crimes.

Domestic Abuse is an important area for COPFS because incidents of alleged domestic abuse represent a substantial number of the police reports received by prosecutors across Scotland, In the vast majority of these cases, reports concern allegations of violence against women. COPFS recognises the importance of a joined up response from the police and prosecutors in tackling domestic abuse and seeking to protect victims. The Joint Protocol referred to above is an excellent example of such an approach.

Training for all legal staff, Victim Information and Advice staff and precognoscers includes contributions from outwith the prosecution service and covers the effects of domestic abuse on women and the particular issues facing minority ethnic victims, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender victims and male victims. There is also a dedicated specialist unit in Glasgow for the investigation and prosecution of domestic abuse cases.

COPFS is committed to tackling sexual crime. Following the publication of the COPFS Review of Sexual Offences in June 2006 which made 50 recommendations for change, COPFS embarked on a 3 year implementation plan. The aims of the Review were to make recommendations:

• To improve the standard of service provided by Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service to victims and witnesses of sexual offences;
• For the development of comprehensive guidance for prosecution staff on the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences; and
• For the delivery of appropriate training to prosecution staff in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences.

Through the implementation programme COPFS has introduced a specialist approach to the investigation of sexual crime; a programme of specialist training and systems to ensure early communication between police and prosecutors at the earliest stages of the investigation of sexual crime.

Health

In September 2008, the Scottish Government's Directorate of Healthcare Policy & Strategy issued a Chief Executive's Letter ( CEL) on Gender-Based Violence. The letter details a 3-year programme to address the health consequences of gender-based violence and outlines the responsibility of all health boards to produce and implement a plan to specify how they will achieve the following 4 key deliverables of the programme:

• Introduction of routine enquiry of abuse in mental health, maternity, addictions, sexual & reproductive health, A&E and primary care settings;
• Dissemination of guidance on gender-based violence to staff;
• Production of an employee policy for staff with experience of abuse, and staff who are perpetrators of abuse;
• Multi-agency responses to abuse, with a particular focus on homelessness and child protection.

A National Gender-Based Violence Team has been created to support health boards develop and deliver on their action plans.

Voluntary Sector

The sex industry is immensely profitable and rapidly expanding. In recent years the Scottish Government has addressed various aspects of sexual exploitation, such as street prostitution, adult entertainment/lap dancing and pornography. This public debate has increased awareness of commercial sexual exploitation as a form of gender-based violence and organisations are beginning to look at how they could/should address this within their work.

The Women's Support Project works on a broad range of issues including: sexual violence, child sexual abuse and incest; support for women whose children have been sexually abused; domestic abuse; prostitution and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation. As a result of their application to the Scottish Government's Violence Against Women Funding Stream, the Women's Support Project received funding to develop a national post to challenge the demand for prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation. Much of this work will be delivered in conjunction with Multi-Agency Partnerships and Training Consortia.

6.4 Focus of Future Activities

A Phased Approach

'Safer Lives: Changed Lives' is a framework, not an action plan or a definitive blueprint of everything that will be undertaken.

We recognise that it is unrealistic to expect that all aspects of such a wide ranging agenda can be tackled at the same time. We therefore suggest that a phased approach is adopted which recognises the opportunities which are presented at any given time to tackle a particular issue. While individual agencies may decide to take forward work on different specific aspects of violence against women, such as domestic abuse or rape and sexual assault, according to their own priorities, the overall direction of travel should always be consistent with the definition and outcomes contained in this document.

This approach is intended to have a lifespan beyond the current spending review period and we acknowledge that some of the aspects of violence against women referenced are not current priorities for action. However it will be possible to make progress on increasing safety for women and children without immediately extending activities across the entire agenda, and at this point it is not possible to predict what future developments might encompass.

Key issues to address:

As we have seen from the evidence there are three key issues which need to be considered further in this coming period:

1. Developing an effective approach to prevention and reducing violence against women. It has been easier over time to determine what is required to provide resources and activity to support women and children experiencing violence and abuse. It has been harder to focus on and take forward measures to prevent violence and abuse. This needs to be addressed;

2. Providing improved support for marginalised women and women and children with diverse needs. Whilst some support is available, it is clear from the limited evidence available that women from different backgrounds and with diverse needs may not have access to the same support. There is a need to establish what is required and how to realise this in a climate with limited resources;

3. The collection and collation of data on violence Against Women is a vexed question which was highlighted clearly in the literature review prepared for the National Group to Address Violence against women in 2005. A group is currently looking at data collection and this will be continued in order to develop effective means of measuring the extent of, and progress in addressing, violence against women.

To support the approach, the focus for the Scottish Government till March 2011 will be to work along with key partners to:

a) Inform the work of the Violence Against Women Training Consortia so that support can be given to agencies and bodies in taking forward work on violence against women;

b) Develop work with COSLA and local government so that appropriate guidance and information can be provided;

c) Support the Violence Against Women Multi-Agency Partnerships to engage with local authorities and Community Planning Partnerships on local provision and strategies;

d) Revise the guidance to Violence Against Women Multi-Agency Partnerships particularly in the light of the Concordat;

e) Work with the EHRC, COSLA and other partners to articulate the linkages between work on violence against women and activity to tackle gender inequality;

f) Encourage providers and key third sector organisations to consider closer collaboration and opportunities for greater integration of responses to different forms of violence. This does not imply, however, that services should ultimately be condensed into 'One Stop Shops'. Specialist services have an important role to play;

g) Ensure greater cross-government collaboration across relevant policy interests which translates into integrated responses on the ground.

h) Ensure further development of joint work with Violence Reduction Unit to enable consistent messages about violence against women to be promoted.

6.5 How will we measure progress?

As stated, the above will be the focus of our activities up to March 2011. Success indicators in the short term may therefore include:

• Progress addressing public attitudes to violence against women through ongoing national education activities including the annual Scottish Government Domestic Abuse: There's No Excuse campaign and Rape Crisis Scotland's This is not an invitation to rape me campaign (measured by campaign evaluations);
• Increased public confidence in service providers' response to violence against women (measured by reporting trends to police and support agencies);
• Increased understanding of the specific needs of women from different equality groups;
• More comprehensive collection of national and local data on the range of violence against women;

The approach, however, will continue to inform how we tackle violence against women beyond March 2011. As part of ongoing work, our objectives and indicators to measure progress will be developed and refined. Medium-term priorities we will work towards are likely to include:

• Sustainability of effective local and national approaches to tackling violence against women;
• Skilled and confident workforce across the range of practitioners;
• Individuals, families and communities empowered to take action against violence against women as it affects themselves and others.

In the longer term, the outcomes of work to tackle violence against women are:

• The achievement of gender equality in Scotland; and as a result
• the elimination of all forms of violence against women.

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