Legal right to help for women and girls to recover from violence urged

Women and children should be given a legal guarantee of assistance from their council when they have been subjected to violent behaviour, a report has recommended.

A group set up by the Scottish Government examined the work of existing services to help women and children recover from violence across Scotland, and it suggested a “minimum” of core services needs to be established in each local authority area.

In addition, the body said these services must comply with international human rights standards after finding Scotland is not compliant with a number of important conventions, including the Istanbul Convention which recognises violence against women as a violation of human rights.

The Independent Strategic Review Group of Funding and Commissioning of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Services in Scotland has now published a paper setting out 53 recommendations that members say will position Scotland “as an exemplar of best practice”.

It includes providing women the legal right to – and guaranteed funding for – minimum VAWG services such as legal and psychological counselling, financial assistance, housing, education, training and assistance in finding employment.

The review included more than 100 engagement events with women, children and young people across Scotland, and heard evidence that current services do not work for large numbers of women and children, particularly those from minority ethnic communities, as well as older, younger and disabled women.

It recommends moving the country to a model of collaborative commissioning, with decisions about funding made in the areas closest to where services are provided rather than centrally as it is at the moment.

The review also recommends establishing a new body called the Istanbul Convention Implementation Observatory (ICIO) to put Scotland in line with best practice developments, and appointing a VAWG commissioner to ensure progress in achieving the 53 recommendations is maintained.

The chairwoman of the review, Lesley Irving, said: “I am confident that our recommendations, which are grounded in the evidence we have gathered over the course of the review, will allow us to take a very significant step forward in how we respond to VAWG in Scotland. It’s time to make that commitment.”

Local government body Cosla’s community wellbeing spokeswoman Maureen Chalmers said: “Cosla appreciates the commitment shown to ensuring local government involvement and the review’s cross-governmental approach.

“I look forward to forthcoming discussions with Cosla leaders and the Scottish Government on its ambitious recommendations.”

It is likely the report’s recommendations will take several years to be fully implemented and the Scottish Government and Cosla have been asked to provide a timeline for implementation by December.