Statistical information relating to non-harassments orders: FOI release

Information requested

Statistical information relating to non-harassments orders (NHOs):

• Can you provide the number of non-harassment orders applied for each year for the past ten years?
• Can you provide the number that have been granted and the number that have been rejected each year for the past ten years?
• How many breaches of non-harassment orders have been raised in the Scottish courts each year for the past ten years?
• The average time, each year over the past five years, between a non-harassment order being requested in the Scottish courts and a hearing to determine whether it is granted or rejected?

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in an excel workbook.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

NHOs can be issued in civil and criminal courts, however, we can only provide data on applications made to civil courts.

Most NHOs are issued by the criminal courts and NHOs in civil courts are relatively rare but there are other civil interdicts which are more commonly used and may be of interest. Please see table 7 in the Civil Justice Statistics bulletin and the ancillary crave count in tables A5, A6, and A7. https://www.gov.scot/publications/civil-justice-statistics-scotland-2020-21/documents/

In criminal cases, the prosecutor can apply to the court for an NHO where an offender is convicted of an offence involving misconduct towards another person and the court considers, on the balance of probabilities, that it is appropriate to do so to protect the victim from harassment (or further harassment). In domestic abuse cases, there is no requirement for the prosecutor to make an application and the court must make an NHO to protect the victim from harassment by the offender unless, in the particular circumstances, they conclude there is no need to make an NHO to protect the victim from further harassment by the offender.

We do not have data on the average time between an NHO being requested in the Scottish courts and a hearing to determine whether it is granted or rejected. This is SCTS Management Information that we do not hold.

However, you may wish to contact Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service at enquiries@scotcourts.gov.uk who may be able to help you.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202300349087 - Information Released - Data

File type

Excel document

File size

20.2 kB