Equally safe: delivery plan

Objectives

• Positive gender roles are promoted
• People enjoy healthy, positive relationships
• Children and young people develop an understanding of safe, healthy and positive relationships from an early age
• Individuals and communities recognise and challenge violent and abusive behaviour

Contributing workstreams: Primary Prevention, Capability and Capacity

Run a campaign to raise awareness of coercive control and domestic abuse, following the expected passage of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill currently before Parliament

2018/19

Scottish Government

Publish refreshed media guidelines for reporting on domestic abuse

December 2017

Zero Tolerance

Raise awareness of sexual violence at an individual, agency and societal level including through the delivery of a major campaign

Campaign planned for summer 2019

Rape Crisis Scotland

Run a major national campaign on sexual harassment and sexism, to raise awareness and encourage behaviour change

Development in 2018

Scottish Government, in partnership with third sector

Reimagine the Zero Tolerance campaign for a modern audience, with a focus on intersectionality and less well known forms of gendered violence

2017-18

Zero Tolerance

Continue to support work with our partners in the statutory, third sectors and affected communities to raise awareness of so-called honour based violence, including Female Genital Mutilation and Forced Marriage

2017-20

Scottish Government

Expand the delivery of the Rape Crisis Sexual Violence Prevention Programme in schools, to increase understanding of consent and healthy relationships

2018-20

Rape Crisis Scotland

Scottish Government

Deliver the Mentors in Violence Prevention Programme to ensure that young people better understand positive and healthy relationships and stand up to violence and toxic masculinity

2017-18

Violence Reduction Unit

Through a review of Personal and Social Education ( PSE), investigate how consent is taught within early years, primary and secondary schools

By end 2018

Scottish Government

Through the White Ribbon Campaign, increase the number of men and boys becoming actively involved in challenging the negative attitudes and behaviours which serve to condone gender based violence

2017-20

White Ribbon Scotland

Pilot the development of a ‘whole school’ approach to tackling gender based violence

2017-20

Zero Tolerance

Rape Crisis Scotland

Education Scotland

Explore further what good prevention work looks like at national and local levels, to better understand the impact of our interventions and shape future work in this area

2017-20

Scottish Government Zero Tolerance Scottish Women’s Aid

Rape Crisis Scotland

Convene organisations from a range of sectors to explore the role of the media in preventing violence against women and girls, and identify further steps that could be taken in this area

2018/19

Scottish Government

Women’s organisations

Media organisations

Deliver the Challenging Demand programme to raise awareness of commercial sexual exploitation and build capacity across organisations to address it

2017-20

Women’s Support Project

Through the Developing the Young Workforce programme, develop a holistic approach towards addressing gender stereotypes and norms in schools and education settings

Ongoing

Scottish Government

Develop a resource for early learning and childcare practitioners on promoting gender equality

March 2018

Care Inspectorate

Zero Tolerance

Work with early learning providers and schools to help them recognise and address unconscious bias and gender stereotyping, including steps to embed good practice from the successful Institute of Physics Improving Gender Balance project across all schools

June 2018 onwards

Scottish Government, with equalities and third sector organisations

Provide more support for teachers on equality issues, including through the development of an online resource on relationships, sexual health and parenthood information for teachers and youth workers

Resource produced by end 2019

Scottish Government and partners on LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group

Develop a set of key messages on healthy relationships and consent for anyone working with young people, in line with the actions set out in the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy

Early 2018

Scottish Government, with key partners

Following publication of the refreshed approach to addressing bullying in schools (including bullying based on sexism and gender), develop guidance for monitoring and recording incidents

Working group to be established in 2018

Scottish Government

Promote prevention programmes within the wider context of positive relationships and behaviour in schools, and encourage the harmonisation of prevention approaches across local authorities

2017-21

Education Scotland

Establish an Expert Group on Preventing Sexual Offending involving children and young people, to identify new ways to prevent sexual crime involving young people and mitigate the harm it causes

2017-19

Scottish Government

Work with universities and colleges to ensure the provision of a safe environment for students and staff through learning and on campus action, utilising learning from existing practice, relevant recommendations for improvement, and learning from the ‘Equally Safe in Higher Education’ project

2017-19

Scottish Government

Higher education institutions

Further education institutions

Refresh the Scottish Government’s corporate policy on violence against women, using the Zero Tolerance PACT Resource as a guide

2018/19

Scottish Government

Encourage employers to put in place robust processes to deal with instances of sexual harassment

2018-21

Scottish Government

Develop a pilot Equally Safe employer accreditation programme in order to lever better employment practice in tackling gender based violence experienced by the workforce

2018-20

Close the Gap

COSLA

Objectives

• Women and girls are safe, respected and equal in our communities
• Women and men have equal access to power and resources

Contributing workstreams: Primary Prevention

Improve strategic consideration of equality implications of spend for gender and other protected characteristics within the annual Equality Budgeting process

2018-21

Scottish Government, with support of Equality Budget Advisory Group

Develop a programme of engagement with key parts of Government to improve understanding of gender in policy making

2018-21

Scottish Government

Third sector organisations

Promote use of equality impact assessments at the national and local level to tackle inequality and discrimination across Scotland, as required of many public authorities by the Equality Act 2010

Ongoing

Scottish Government

working with public sector partners

Review the effectiveness of the public sector equality duty ^[27] with a view to implementing any necessary changes in 2019

2018

Scottish Government

Create a new Best Start Grant that provides effective support at key transitions in the early years and ensures qualifying parents or carers receive more joined up support from pregnancy through to children starting school

Projected Royal Assent for legislation is May 2018; first payments by summer 2019

Scottish Government

Take forward a transformative programme to expand free Early Learning and Childcare entitlement to 1,140 hours per year by 2020, including piloting a deposit guarantee scheme for childcare places

2017-21

Scottish Government

Increase the flexibility of how this funded entitlement is delivered in order to support more parents to work, train or study, especially those who need routes into sustainable employment and out of poverty

2017-21

Scottish Government

Deliver a Returner’s Programme to assist women to re-enter the workforce following a career break – funding projects which address the under-representation of women in STEM, increase business start-up rates for women and the number of women in senior positions and encourage men into childcare to help to change the perception of caring as ‘women’s work’

Until June 2018 (following evaluation, consider further funding)

Scottish Government

Ensure that the Developing the Young Workforce programme addresses issues of occupational segregation by gender, including addressing significant under representation in the take up of certain college courses and modern apprenticeships by women

Ongoing until 2021

Scottish Government

Recognising the systemic issues that drive segregation, we will work with gender expert organisations to consider what needs to change to address gender imbalance in the uptake of apprenticeship frameworks

2017 onwards

Scottish Government

Skills Development Scotland

Deliver a STEM Strategy for Education and Training, to encourage and support people to develop their STEM skills throughout their lives, and to grow STEM literacy in society and drive inclusive economic growth

The strategy was published in October 2017, with a 5-year lifespan; annual reports will be made to Parliament on progress

Scottish Government

Develop proposals for delivering split payments under Universal Credit, working with stakeholders to explore potential policy options

2017 onwards

Scottish Government

Continue to set out strong opposition to the UK Government’s policy of restricting benefits to 2 children and the subsequent requirement on women to disclose they have been raped to access further benefits

Ongoing

Scottish Government

COSLA

Third Sector orgs

Develop guidance for professionals who may be asked to act as third party assessors for the exemption where a child is conceived through rape, to ensure that women seeking such an assessment receive the right support

Spring 2018

Scottish Government

COSLA

Health Scotland

Undertake a scoping exercise to determine the feasibility of having a co-ordinated cross-Government action plan to ensure greater equality within the labour market

2017 onwards

Scottish Government

Under the Labour Market Strategy, work with key stakeholders to understand issues of occupational segregation and how to ensure greater equality within the labour market

Ministerial working group established and work ongoing

Scottish Government

Continue to take forward a range of actions to tackle pay inequality, change employment practices and workplace cultures to support gender equality and tackle the pay gap and support and promote the development of family friendly workplaces across Scotland

Ongoing

Scottish Government

Close the Gap

Family Friendly Working Scotland Partnership

Tackle pregnancy and maternity discrimination in partnership with the Equality and Human Rights Commission through the working group whose remit includes creating guidelines for employers to ensure best practice, as well as improving access to guidance for pregnancy women and new mothers

Group has agreed programme of activity to take forward commitments; review in December 2018

Scottish Government

Ensure the successful bidder(s) to deliver devolved employment services demonstrate clearly how they will deliver a service that is gendered in terms of understanding the needs of women seeking employment; and use levers at their disposal to encourage employers to consider flexible working approaches which enable more women to take up a broader range of opportunities

April 2018 onwards

Scottish Government

Identify and promote practice that works in reducing employment inequality for minority ethnic women, (including in career paths, recruitment, progression and retention) and reflect suitable actions in a Race Equality Action Plan

Plan to be published in December 2018

Scottish Government

Double the number of workers in Scotland receiving a pay increase to the real Living Wage (from 25,000 to 50,000 workers) and focus particular attention on low paid industries such as hospitality and tourism

2017-21

Scottish Government

Introduce the Workplace Equality Fund to address long standing barriers in the labour market so that everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential

2017-19

Scottish Government

Continue to work with stakeholders to ensure that the new employment tribunal system in Scotland provides access to justice and contributes to the Scottish Government’s vision for Fair Work being embedded in workplaces throughout Scotland

Ongoing

Scottish Government

Improve gender equality in sport and physical activity through our Sporting Equality Fund, Women and Girls in Sport Advisory Board and the inaugural Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week

Ongoing

Scottish Government

SportScotland

Progress the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill through Parliament, which sets a “gender representation objective” for public boards in Scotland that 50% of the board’s non-executive members are women; requires certain steps to be taken in the appointing of non-executive members to achieve the objective; and also requires steps to be taken to encourage women to apply to become a non-executive member of a public board

Earliest commencement will be in 2018

Scottish Government

Continue to deliver the Partnership for Change 50/50 by 2020 campaign, encouraging companies and organisations from across Scotland’s public, private and third sectors to sign up to a voluntary commitment to work towards gender balance on their boards by 2020

Ongoing; As of November 2017, 215 organisations have signed up to the campaign

Scottish Government

Monitor the impact of the Equal Representation in Politics self-assessment tool over 2018-2020, to inform a new set of actions to increase representation in elected office across all protected characteristics

2018-21

Scottish Government

Consider how the anonymous voter registration scheme can be made more accessible to those who have suffered from abuse

Ongoing

Scottish Government

Engage with community safety partnerships to explore how they can embed Equally Safe in their work

2018-21

Scottish Government

Convene a roundtable on what more can be done to tackle online abuse and misogyny

2018

Scottish Government with key partners

Explore the use of technology to improve the safety of women and girls

2018-21

Police Scotland

Scottish Government

Objectives

» Justice responses are robust, swift, consistent and coordinated

» Women, children and young people access relevant, effective and integrated services

» Service providers competently identify violence against women and girls, and respond effectively to women, children and young people affected

Contributing workstreams: Capability and Capacity, Justice

Fund a dedicated post in COSLA with a focus on implementing Equally Safe at a local level

2017-19

Scottish Government

Develop and publish draft violence against women quality standards for those responding to victims and survivors

2018

Scottish Government

Explore the potential value of using legislation outside of the Justice space to embed Equally Safe as a key driver in localities

2018-21

Scottish Government with key partners

Continue to support the delivery of a National Helpline for Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage and a National Rape Crisis Helpline

2018-20

Scottish Government

Scottish Women’s Aid

Rape Crisis Scotland

Develop an information resource about gender based violence for children and young people, to provide better access to information and support

2018-21

Scottish Government with children’s organisations

Review how violence against women partnerships are resourced locally and identify how they can ensure a focus on all forms of gender based violence

2017-21

Violence Against Women Partnerships Improvement Service

Support local violence against women partnerships in their improvement journey, and work to ensure that every local authority in Scotland has a high performing partnership linked to other local structures.

2017-21

Scottish Government

COSLA

Improvement Service

Coordinate and embed Equally Safe at a local level through the development of individual Delivery Plans and establishing effective links through Community Planning Partnerships

2017-21

Violence Against Women Partnerships

Scope the development of a sustainable model of capacity building around responding to gender based violence for public services

2017/18

Scottish Government

Deliver the Medics Against Violence Ask, Support, Care programme to raise awareness amongst healthcare students, NHS staff and non-health care professions to spot, document and respond to the signs of domestic abuse

Funding until March 2018

Scottish Government

Consult on how to embed consistent and effective operation of multi-agency structures to support high risk victims of domestic abuse, including consideration of national guidance and the creation of a statutory underpinning

2017-18

Scottish Government

Commission a mapping of existing specialist support for those experiencing commercial sexual exploitation, to better understand current coverage and good practice

2017-21

Scottish Government

Consider how support for service providers supporting harm reduction and exit for those engaged in prostitution could be enhanced

2018

Scottish Government

Develop and publish multi agency guidance setting out how agencies, individually and together, can protect girls and young women from FGM, and how to respond appropriately to survivors

By end 2017

Scottish Government in partnership with agencies

Develop a programme of work on service improvement and training around gender based violence with Learning Disability services and workforce in the third and public sectors

2017-20

NHS Health Scotland

Scottish Commission for Learning Disability

Deliver the ‘Voices Unheard’ programme in order to support LGBT young people experiencing violence and build capacity within violence against women services to ensure that they are LGBT inclusive

2017-20

LGBT Youth Scotland

Continue to press the UK Government to extend the scope of the Destitute Domestic Violence concession (for those with who are destitute and have no access to public funds) to include all women with insecure immigration status, including asylum seekers

2017 onwards

Scottish Government

Take forward the development of a strategy to prevent and support those who may experience destitution as a result of insecure immigration status or no access to public funds, including consideration of the establishment of an advocacy service and the provision of crisis support covering domestic abuse

2017 onwards

Scottish Government and key partners

Assess progress of NHS Scotland against the World Health Assembly Global Plan of Action on preventing and tackling violence against women

Report will be published in April 2018

NHS Health Scotland

Scottish Government

Develop an action plan to strengthen the health sector response to gender based violence

2018

Scottish Government

NHS Health Scotland

NHS Boards

Health and Social Care Partnerships

Continue roll out of routine enquiry in key settings of mental health, sexual health, health visiting, substance misuse and maternity, including RIC assessment where appropriate

Ongoing

NHS Boards

Health and Social Care Partnerships NHS Health Scotland

Review the potential for inclusion of gender based violence in the Public Protection responsibilities of Health and Social Care Partnerships and NHS Boards

2018

Health and Social Care Partnerships

NHS Boards

Strengthen governance arrangements for forensic medical services for victims of rape and sexual assault, to ensure a trauma informed, consistent health care response to those requiring a forensic examination as part of an overall health focussed assessment

Ongoing

Scottish Government

Police Scotland

NHS Health Scotland

(through established Taskforce)

Support Health Boards to ensure that they are ready for the implementation of National Standards in this area developed by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and work with HIS to develop Quality Indicators to underpin these standards

National Standards published by end 2017; rollout in 2018/19

Scottish Government

Police Scotland

NHS Health Scotland

(through established Taskforce)

Consider the best model for the design and delivery of services, including workforce planning issues to provide a sustainable service and choice regarding the gender of forensic physician, as well as the use of IT to drive continuous improvement in the planning, commissioning and monitoring of services

2017-21

Scottish Government

Police Scotland

NHS Scotland

(through established Taskforce)

Ensure appropriate SG funding so that court waiting times for criminal domestic abuse cases are in line with agreed targets without impacting disproportionately on waiting times for other cases

2017-21

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service

Crown Office

Scottish Government

Continue to keep under review opportunities for improvement in the management of how criminal justice domestic abuse cases are progressed within Scotland, including the consideration of Domestic Abuse courts where appropriate and case management solutions where a Domestic Abuse Court is not considered appropriate; and consider criteria to minimise transfer of High Court trials where cases involve sexual offences

2017-18

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service

Explore a pilot of recording of complainer’s initial statement to the police, to be used as evidence in chief in any subsequent trial

2017 onwards

Rape Crisis Scotland

COPFS

Police Scotland

Scottish Government

Improve the experience of vulnerable witnesses in criminal justice cases, initially focusing on child complainers and witnesses by bringing forward legislation to enable the greater use of pre-recording of their evidence

2017-19

Scottish Government

Consider the prohibition of the personal examination of a child or other vulnerable witness in court proceedings under the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 by where the subject matter of the proceedings relates to conduct by that party towards that witness, or to other conduct which concerns the welfare of that witness

2017-18

Scottish Government has sent a policy paper to the Family Law Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council

Work with justice and third sector partners to improve facilities for taking of evidence (including for pre-recording) from vulnerable witnesses in criminal justice cases

2017-2018

SCTS

Scottish Government

In relation to child witnesses, support implementation of the Joint Investigative Interviews workstream project report

2017 onwards

Scottish Government

Police Scotland

Consult on changes to the law to prevent direct cross-examination of victims of domestic abuse by their alleged abusers in child contact cases before the civil courts

Consultation early in 2018 on potential changes to the Children (Scotland) Act 1995

Scottish Government

Consider if further steps are required to protect domestic abuse victims in child welfare hearings in contact and residence cases

2017-18

Scottish Government has raised with the Family Law Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council

Consider recommendations from the Advocacy Scoping Report Working Group on the findings from the Scoping Exercise commissioned to help understand the provision of services in this area, with the aim to determine where the provision of services could be extended and improved

2017/18

Scottish Government

Scoping Report Working Group

Consider how learning from the National Trauma Training Framework can be incorporated to better inform the development of services, and identify leadership in the justice system to take this forward

Ongoing

Justice Board

NHS Education Scotland

Ensure that children’s interests are better reflected in the civil justice system and that their voice is heard, including through review of the process used to obtain the voice of the child in contact and residence cases

Ongoing; SG public consultation on part 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 due to be issued early in 2018

Scottish Government,

Justice agencies

Incorporate the views of children and young people with experience of domestic abuse through the Power Up Power Down project into the review of part 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995

Public consultation due to be issued in early 2018

Scottish Government

Consider the application of lessons from various international examples of the ‘Barnahus’ concept for child victims in criminal justice cases and how these could potentially apply within the Scottish context

2017-18

Scottish Government

CHILDREN 1st

Continue to fund the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre as a model for legal services in criminal cases, consider the currently unmet need for victims of gender based violence and the appropriate model of support for women, children and young people experiencing violence with a view to expansion of service provision taking place in 2018 or 2019

Ongoing

Scottish Government

Work with justice and third sector partners to consider the development of a single point of contact model for victims of crime

2017 onwards

Scottish Government

Consider an extension of the list of prescribed offences in relation to Victim Impact Statements

2018

Scottish Government

COPFS

Consult on Emergency Barring Orders, including on issues around exclusion orders

Public consultation due to be issued early in 2018

Scottish Government

Consider the current provision of support for victims of stalking within the context of development of a one-stop shop for victim support

2018

Scottish Government

Support the development and roll-out of a smartphone incident recording app for survivors of stalking and its potential wider application to other other forms of gender based violence

2017-18

Scottish Women’s Rights Centre

Support Fife Council to address the key findings from the Scottish Women’s Aid report “Change, Justice, Fairness”, and deliver an action plan to improve their local housing officer response to domestic abuse

2017-20

Scottish Government

Consider lessons learned from the work with Fife Council, and share that with other local authorities with a view to them improving their own housing response

2019 onwards

Scottish Government

Ensure that commissioned training resources of local authority housing and homelessness hubs incorporate domestic abuse competence

2017-21

Scottish Government

Develop options for funding short term supported housing, including domestic abuse refuge providers, to ensure that they continue to receive appropriate resources for their work.

2017-20

Scottish Government

Explore the current effectiveness of the social work response, and consider steps to improve this

2017-21

Scottish Government

Social Work Scotland

Establish a Safe and Together Institute for Scotland, and support the development of a demonstration project on the ‘Safe and Together’ model of child protection in a domestic abuse setting – encouraging a common understanding that perpetrators of abuse should be assessed and held accountable on their parenting choices which includes the perpetration of domestic abuse

2017 onwards

Scottish Government

Safe and Together Institute

Review how national and local specialist services for women and children experiencing gender based violence are commissioned and funded, and how we can ensure quality and sustainability of service

2018 onwards

Scottish Government

COSLA

Support local third sector organisations receiving funding from the Equally Safe (Violence against Women and Girls) Fund to improve governance, financial management and sustainability

2017-20

Scottish Government

Voluntary Action Fund

Priority 4: Men desist from all forms of violence against women and girls and perpetrators of such violence receive a robust and effective response

Objectives

• Justice responses are robust, swift, consistent and coordinated
• Men who carry out violence against women and girls are identified early and held to account by the criminal and civil justice system.
• Relevant links are made between the experience of women, children and young people in the criminal and civil system

Contributing workstreams: Capability and Capacity, Justice

Progress the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill through Parliament to create a specific offence of domestic abuse that will cover not just physical abuse but also other forms of psychological abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour that cannot easily be prosecuted using the existing criminal law, with a statutory sentencing aggravation to reflect harm done to children through the abuse of their parent/carer

2017-18

Scottish Government

Consult on the terms of the child cruelty and neglect offence contained in the Children and Young Persons Act 1937, including whether the offence requires to be modernised to include emotional and psychological abuse and archaic language removed

Early 2018

Scottish Government

Streamline the process of applying for a Forced Marriage Protection Order, by legislating to bring Police Scotland in as a third party for the purposes of application

By end 2017

Scottish Government

Consider the recommendations of Lord Bracadale’s review of hate crime legislation, particularly as it relates to gender as a protected characteristic and online misogyny

Mid to late 2018

Scottish Government

Seek reassurance that justice agencies are ready for implementation of the Domestic Abuse Bill including that there is an appropriate level of understanding for those involved in such cases of the new offence of domestic abuse including trauma informed practice for all people who work with women and children

2018

Scottish Government

Develop multi agency domestic homicide reviews with Police Scotland and partners learning from practice in other jurisdictions which have allowed for improvements in practice.

2017/18

Scottish Government

ASSIST

Police Scotland

Work with the Scottish Civil Justice Council on case management in family actions, including in relation to child welfare hearings – recognising that these types of hearings and contact cases require careful consideration to ensure that victims of domestic abuse are protected from further abuse

2017

Family Law Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council

Expand the innovative Caledonian Programme so that more male perpetrators of domestic abuse can receive specific rehabilitation services designed to address the issues giving rise to their offending behaviour

2018

Scottish Government