Equally Safe: final report

What Comes Next?

The Equally Safe strategy was published in 2014 and updated in 2016. With the Delivery Plan due to run until 2021 and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, this report presents an opportune moment to take stock of what Equally Safe looks like in the future, both in terms of the strategic ambition and plans for delivery. We will commence discussions with stakeholders on future direction of travel at a scheduled meeting of the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board at the end of 2020, before taking forward further engagement throughout 2021.

In parallel with those discussions, we will take forward the following priorities over the course of 2020/21 to the conclusion point of the Delivery Plan:

• Progress legislation through the Scottish Parliament on domestic abuse protection orders and forensic medical services;
• Relaunch the new Scottish Government Delivering Equally Safe Fund, which will provide £13m per annum over 2021-24 for projects and services tackling violence against women and girls
• Consider the outputs of the National Taskforce for Human Rights as they relate to advancing gender equality and tackling violence against women and girls, and continue to work with the UK Government to secure ratification of the Istanbul Convention;
• Progress a review of the funding and commissioning of front line specialist services, with an initial twin focus on domestic abuse and sexual violence;
• Take forward stakeholder engagement on the outputs of the consultation on multi-agency intervention and risk assessment for victims of domestic abuse, to consider next steps in this area;
• Develop an age and stage appropriate resource on key messages on healthy relationships and consent aimed at professionals working with younger children.
• Continue to pursue our gender equality ambitions in education and learning via the mechanism of the Deputy First Minister's Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning
• Continue, through the CMO Rape and Sexual Assault Taskforce, to create a Scottish Sexual Assault Response Coordination (SSARC) service in each territorial Health Board supported by Scottish Government funding towards infrastructure and workforce
• Implement a co-produced programme of work to tackle commercial sexual exploitation, taking into account emerging findings from COSLA's short life working group;
• Consider future work to tackle Female Genital Mutilation, in conjunction with steps to prepare for the implementation of the 2020 Act;
• Consider future work to tackle Forced Marriage and reinvigorate the focus of our stakeholder network;
• Link in to work to develop an anti-destitution strategy, with a specific focus on women with no recourse to public funds who are at risk of domestic abuse
• Recommence work to develop standards on the Barnahus model; and
• Explore with stakeholders how to progress work to develop a Scottish approach to domestic abuse homicide reviews.

The Scottish Government and COSLA will also explore with professional bodies and other key decision makers within local authorities and community planning organisations how to support and strengthen local capacity to implement the next phase of Equally Safe. This will include working in collaboration with local and national stakeholders to identify what collective leadership and resources are needed to ensure a joined-up, multi-agency approach can be taken to improving outcomes for women and children in local communities across Scotland moving forward