Domestic Abuse
5.
(Aberdeenshire East) (SNP):
To ask the First Minister what the
Scottish Government is doing to support victims of domestic
abuse in light of reports of increased incidents during the
Covid-19 pandemic. (S5F-04373)
The First Minister ():
As many others have done, I have
previously expressed my deep concern about the greater risks
to women and children of domestic abuse during the pandemic.
I again make a plea to anyone who is suffering such abuse to
seek the help that exists.
Police Scotland continues to
prioritise domestic abuse cases, and the Scottish Government
is focused on ensuring that front-line services continue to
provide support. We have allocated an additional £1.5 million
to Scottish Women’s Aid and other such services and have
recently published a new online resource for those working in
housing, social work, health, education and other sectors to
enable them to know where to direct people for further
assistance. We remain committed to implementing the equally
safe strategy and will introduce legislation on domestic
abuse protection orders within this parliamentary
session.
:
Women who are experiencing domestic abuse often have to make a
devastating choice between staying in the home of the perpetrator
or making themselves and their children homeless to get away from
the abuse. One way of giving women much-needed
breathing space in such situations is
through emergency protective orders. How will the new domestic
abuse bill give police and courts powers to ban domestic abusers
from victims’ homes?
The First Minister: The bill will provide new
powers to impose restrictions on a suspected perpetrator of
domestic abuse, including removing them from a home that they
share with the person at risk and prohibiting them from
contacting or otherwise abusing the person at risk while the
order is in effect. The bill will also facilitate processes for
changes to be made to social housing tenancy agreements to help
victims stay in their own homes by giving powers to remove
perpetrators from tenancy agreements. Too often, in the past and
currently, it is the victim of abuse rather than the perpetrator
who is faced with losing their home; we need to change that.
