Women’s groups voice ‘concerns’ about Bill to prevent domestic abuse

Women’s organisations share “concerns” over a proposed prevention of domestic abuse Bill due to a “bureaucratic burden” that may be placed on them, MSPs have heard.

The Criminal Justice Committee at Holyrood met on Wednesday to discuss the Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill and take evidence on it at stage one.

The MSPs heard from various women’s organisations that operate in Scotland and their opinions on the Bill’s proposals.

The groups unanimously agreed the Bill needs further work and there should be amendments surrounding resources, funding, and how it is going to work with existing structures.

The Bill introduces notification requirements for domestic abuse offenders, requiring them to give police details such as all names used by them, their date of birth, address and passport details, and enabling them to be assessed and managed under multi-agency public protection arrangements (Mappa).

Scottish Women’s Aid chief executive Marsha Scott told MSPs she is “concerned” the Bill will not have the results intended.

She said she would welcome any collection of equalities data the Bill may provide but voiced concern about the “bureaucratic burden” that could be placed on organisations.

Dr Scott told the committee: “I’m concerned that the measures proposed are not really going to make a big difference for women and children, and certainly not for a significant number of them, but they will lay a particularly heavy bureaucratic burden on the organisations that are being asked to engage, and especially in terms of the use of Mappa structures.”

The Bill would place a requirement on Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and charities to ask for specific information from victims of domestic abuse.

This information would be provided on a voluntary basis and the Scottish Government would need to publish an annual report on the data gathered.

Scottish Women’s Convention chairwoman Agnes Tolmie said the organisation “welcomes the intent of the Bill and its preventative intent”, but has “a number of concerns”.

She told MSPs: “The lived experience of the women that we speak to, they still report this fear of reporting due to inadequate protection, and a number of incidents… involve a repeat perpetrator. The same person, the same man, really committing that.”

Ms Tolmie said education in schools around violence towards women and girls would be beneficial but she echoed that the onus may fall on the organisations that already exist.

She continued: “In terms of the actual mechanisms of it, I think that it’s asking a lot of the agencies that currently exist. It’s asking a lot of individuals about how we make this happen. In terms of the Scottish Women’s Convention, we would be inclined to say that it needs a lot more work.”

Scottish Conservative MSP Pam Gosal brought the Bill to Parliament in May with the aim to reduce domestic abuse in Scotland.

Addressing Dr Scott, Ms Gosal said: “Marsha I’ve spoken to you now on three informal occasions, meetings. You have responded to two formal consultations to my recollection and also, according to the minutes I have from our one-to-one meeting in July… you had said that my Bill is moving on into the right direction with the addition of some amendments.”

She said she was “surprised” at the latest consultation response and asked what had changed.

Dr Scott responded: “The colleagues that I spoke to had strong concerns that the bureaucratic burden would be very significant, and the amount of safety that would be offered or even accountability for perpetrators would be minimal. I do believe sincerely that I do want to find ways to support all of the mechanisms in this Bill. I just couldn’t.”

The committee concluded with agreement that further amendments on resources, funding and how the Bill will work with existing structures are necessary.