Chamber and committees

Thank you very much for making a number of really interesting and relevant points. I note the comments that have been made about the policing response, and I should say that we will be hearing from Police Scotland as part of the next panel of witnesses.

A few members want to ask questions. I will begin with Pauline McNeill, to be followed by Collette Stevenson.

Do you have timescales for that? I know that there are often unforeseen abstractions for divisional officers in particular, but can you comment further on timescales for training?

I ask members to keep questions focused on the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, which is what we are considering today.

I would like to pick up on that before I bring in Fulton MacGregor. Moira Price, we have heard that proving a DASA charge requires proof of on-going behaviour. The Crown Office may be waiting for proof of such sustained behaviour, while in the meantime a victim may still be living at quite high risk of harm. Would the Crown Office prioritise single charges over other offences in the interim?

Our next item is consideration of evidence on an affirmative instrument, and I welcome to the meeting Keith Brown, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans. I also welcome Vivienne McColl, policy manager, international justice co-operation unit and—joining us remotely—Ruth Swanson, legal directorate, Scottish Government.

I refer members to paper 1 and invite the cabinet secretary to make a statement.

We will have a brief suspension to allow the room to be set up for our next agenda item.

That concludes our public session. I thank everyone who has joined us.

Our next item of business is post-legislative scrutiny of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. I refer members to papers 3 and 4.

I intend to allow around an hour for each panel. I welcome our first panel of witnesses: Dr Marsha Scott, from Scottish Women’s Aid, who is joining us remotely; Dr Claire Houghton, from the University of Edinburgh; Professor Michele Burman, from the University of Glasgow; and Amanda Masson, partner at Harper Macleod. I warmly welcome them all.

We move straight to questions. As usual, I have a general opening question. The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 aims to improve the ability of the criminal justice system to tackle domestic abuse effectively and to increase the capacity of the courts to protect victims. The act created a new offence of domestic abuse against a partner or ex-partner. The aim was to enable effective prosecution of either physical or psychological abuse that took place over a period of time. The Scottish Government’s recent report on the act says that 420 people were prosecuted for that new offence in 2021-22, which may reflect what we might call a slow burn.

I would like each witness to give their individual perspective on the first year of the act being in force and to make a broad opening comment about the success or otherwise of the new legislation. I will begin with Dr Houghton and then bring in Michele Burman.

I have one final follow-up question on that topic. I know that it is probably difficult for you to speak on behalf of other organisations within the court environment, but are you aware of any other training that is being delivered to defence solicitors, VIA staff and so on?

I warmly welcome to the meeting our second panel of witnesses: Craig Naylor, chief inspector, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland; Detective Chief Superintendent Sam Faulds, head of public protection, specialist crime division, Police Scotland; and Moira Price, national procurator fiscal for domestic abuse and head of victims and witnesses policy team, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

We will move straight to questions, and I will begin with a question for Sam Faulds and Craig Naylor. We heard in the previous session fairly extensive commentary from witnesses on the key role of police officers in using the new legislation. I appreciate just how big a change it will have been for police officers to use such a different and quite novel piece of legislation.

We know from the written submissions that the training process for officers has been disrupted because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and we have heard about the potential impact of that on what has been described as the “confidence” of police officers in using the legislation. I therefore want to ask Sam Faulds what work is on-going to address that training requirement, particularly with regard to divisional or tier 1 officers, who are at the front end of the policing response.