Chamber and committees

The breadth of primary and secondary Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes does not permit detailed consideration of any one topic. The 1998 Guidelines, with which all courses of initial teacher education must comply, contain a set of competences which teachers are expected to have acquired by the end of their initial training course. Competences relating to personal and social development and health education offer the scope to address the issue of violence against women. These competences will be replaced, in autumn 2002, by the Benchmark Standard on ITE, which builds upon, and updates, the competencies on personal and social development, placing particular emphasis on teachers being able to impart a high regard for equality and social justice to their pupils. Courses are not prescriptive, however, and each training institution will develop its own programme within the context of the Guidelines.Earlier this year, the Executive funded a pilot of the "Respect" education package developed by the Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust. Training for teachers and youth workers is included in the "Respect" package and was provided to all those involved in delivering the materials. It is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that a wide range of continuing professional development opportunities is available for qualified teachers. I would expect training aimed at equipping teachers to deal with issues relating to violence against women, such as that provided through the "Respect" package, to be recognised as one such appropriate opportunity.

The Scottish Executive is working with the Zero Tolerance Trust to make its "Respect" package available to schools. As stated in my reply to question S1W-18518 on 9 October 2001, the Scottish Executive is currently awaiting the final evaluation of the pilot project.

There are a wide range of services run by local authorities, health trusts and the voluntary sector which include provision for tackling sexually aggressive and abusing behaviour by children. There are also services dealing with non-sexual abuse by children. An example of this is the funding that the Executive provides to the Anti-Bullying Network, which aims to help schools combat all forms of bullying.

The National Group to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland will consider these matters in due course.

A Chance to Change: An Intervention With Young People Who Have Sexually Abused Others, was published in 1997 and summarised research into a project for children who had sexually abused other children. The research was jointly funded by the Scottish Office and Barnardos. There have also been a number of research studies on bullying.

As stated in my answer to question S1W-19069, a working group to review legislation is currently being established. It is expected to take about three months to complete its review. Further action will then be considered.

Three working groups are currently being established, each chaired by a member of the National Group to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland.

Keir Bloomer will chair a group to produce a Prevention Strategy. Sheriff Pamela Bowman will chair a group reviewing relevant current legislation and Jannette Forman will chair a group to review the 1991 CoSLA recommendations for refuge places. The membership and remits will be finalised shortly.

The National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland will be reviewed in 2003 in accordance with the quantitative and qualitative measures described in the strategy.

This information is not held centrally. Scottish Women's Aid Annual Reports provide a breakdown of requests for and provision of, information, support and refuge for each affiliated local group.

A draft evaluation report on the "Respect" educational pilot has been received by the department and is being considered prior to its completion. Subject to this it would then be intended to publish it as well as using it to inform future policy and practice.