Scotland's national action plan to prevent and eradicate FGM
The national action plan to prevent and eradicate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) sets out the objectives, actions and responsibilities required to drive and deliver change.
Section 4 Recommended Actions
The National Action Plan initially addresses the twin aims of ' To Prevent/Protect' and ' To Provide Services/Support', with the ultimate aim of achieving the cessation of the practice of FGM in Scotland. The National Action Plan is not intended to be a stand-alone, separate plan, but sits alongside Equally Safe - Scotland's Strategy to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women and Girls. The actions and activities are intended to deliver the objectives of that strategy, in recognition that this practice is an abuse of the human rights of women and girls and is a form of gender-based violence. The timescale for the actions below are indicated as short, medium and long term for agencies to take forward collaboratively and working in partnership with the affected communities.
FGM will continue to be an issue in Scotland until communities themselves choose to abandon the practice and we recognise that in order to find a solution to eradicate FGM, working with communities is vital to breaking the cycle of violence. The views of communities affected by FGM must shape and inform future policy and service provision. This National Action Plan covers all forms of FGM including type 4 definitions which may not involve removal of tissues from the genitals (such as elongation), and across all related potentially affected communities.
The National Action Plan seeks to help partner organisations and communities work together towards finding solutions to eradicate FGM so does not contain an exhaustive list of activities required of each of the different partners involved.
Where Community Planning Partnerships ( CPPs) are identified as action owners, it includes, local authorities (and within that education, housing, social work), police, NHS, third sector, and others (this list is not exhaustive). It is anticipated that each organisation within a CPP will be responsible for the actions allocated to them. All statutory agencies include NHS, police, local authorities, education, social work, (both Child Protection and Adult Protection) and others.
The timescales referred to in this plan indicate:
Short Term any period of time up to one year
Medium Term any period of time from one year to no more than three years
Long Term any period of time of three years or more
Overarching Objectives
| Objectives |
Action |
Activities |
Action Owner |
Timescale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive gender roles are promoted to ensure that women and girls affected by FGM are empowered to achieve their full potential |
FGM is identified within overarching prevention work on Violence Against Women and Girls |
Review Violence Against Women and Girls strategies and action plans to explicitly include actions to prevent the practice of FGM and provide services to those affected by FGM |
Individual and multi-agency response by CPPs (Community Planning Partnerships), Integrated Joint Boards ( IJBs), Police Scotland, Violence Against Women Partnerships, Child Protection Committee ( CPC) Scotland, Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Committees ( MARACs) and Multi Agency Partnerships ( MAPs) |
Medium |
| Gender Based violence including FGM is recognised as a public health issue |
Public health strategies and services involve partner agencies and community organisations to raise awareness of the right of all women and children to be free from FGM |
All statutory and third sector organisations |
Short/Medium |
|
| Women and men have equality of opportunity particularly with regard to access to resources |
Public sector agencies understand and fulfil their general and specific duties as set out in the Equality Act 2010, and include FGM within the gender-based violence strategies |
Review gender-based violence strategies and action plans to explicitly include access to resources to enable public sector organisations to understand their duties to prevent FGM and provide services to those affected by FGM |
All statutory organisations |
Medium/Long |
Prevention
| Objectives |
Action |
Activities |
Action Owner |
Timescale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women and girls potentially affected by FGM feel safe, respected and equal in our communities |
Provide clarity of legislation and policy position on FGM in Scotland |
Provide FGM Statement and raise awareness around holiday times to prevent FGM and to be included in Police Scotland initiatives at airports and ports |
Scottish Government, statutory and non-statutory organisations including Education, Scottish Airports and Ports, Police Scotland |
Short |
| Implement an FGM prevention plan to prevent harm and support women and girls at risk of harm |
All partners to engage with multi-agency working groups and committees, nationally and at a local authority level |
Individual and multi-agency response by CPPs (Community Planning Partnerships), Integrated Joint Boards ( IJBs), Police Scotland, Violence Against Women Partnerships, Child Protection Committee Scotland, Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Committees ( MARACs) and Multi-Agency Partnerships ( MAPs) |
Medium |
|
| Police Scotland, with partner agencies will coordinate local and national media campaigns to raise awareness of emerging forms of abuse |
Police Scotland |
Medium |
||
| Police Scotland, with partner agencies, will implement prevention strategies to influence social attitudes and reduce vulnerability |
Police Scotland |
Medium |
||
| Police Scotland will review national FGM training to ensure it provides its frontline staff with the skills they need, and enabling multi-agency training |
Police Scotland, other statutory agencies, third sector agencies |
Medium |
||
| People enjoy healthy, positive relationships and understand the damaging effects that FGM has on those relationships |
Provide information about FGM and gender equality and children's rights |
Raise awareness of FGM and the services available, and development of all communities, including young people, men, religious leaders and others, recently arrived migrants, asylum seekers and refugees |
Scottish Government, third sector and statutory agencies |
Short |
| Objectives |
Action |
Activities |
Action Owner |
Timescale |
| Education Scotland will review, update and develop learning resources that can be used in the classroom in an age appropriate manner |
Education Scotland, NHS Health Scotland |
Short |
||
| Make available up-to-date factual information on the impact of FGM on the health and wellbeing of the affected individuals |
NHS Boards, third sector organisations |
Short |
||
| Scope the impact and implications that elongation of labia and other practices has on potentially affected communities in Scotland, and develop appropriate response |
Scottish Government, third sector organisations, NHS Boards |
Medium |
||
| Individuals and communities recognise the implications and are able to challenge FGM |
Communities potentially affected by FGM and professionals are supported to identify and analyse common issues within affected communities and develop strategies to challenge behaviour and influence change in communities, service provision and policy making |
Investment made in community engagement and development to enable the recognition of the implications of FGM and are able and empowered to challenge the practise of FGM. This to include all sections of the potentially affected communities including men, women, children and young people |
Scottish Government and other funders |
Medium |
| Agencies and organisations should publish and maintain online information and resources e.g. onescotland.org and Scottish Government webpages and FGM Aware, NSPCC Helpline, Scottish Womens Aid, the Scottish Domestic Abuse Helpline, the free app called Petals |
Scottish Government and all partners in statutory and third sector |
Short/Medium |
||
| Individuals who support FGM change their attitudes and behaviour and are supported to do so |
Statutory services work with partner agencies and community organisations to raise awareness of the right of all women and children to be free from FGM |
Investment to be made in community-based engagement and development with all members of the potentially affected communities, including men, women, children and young people to change attitudes and behaviour |
SG and other funders |
Medium |
Protection
| Objectives |
Action |
Activities |
Action Owner |
Timescale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justice and child protection responses to FGM are robust, swift, consistent and coordinated |
Police to ensure that they respond sensitively to the concerns raised by professionals and others |
To develop awareness of and access to the guidance for police on how to respond to FGM |
Police Scotland |
Short |
| Statutory agencies respond appropriately to children at risk of FGM |
Children affected by FGM have a child's plan |
CPP, IJBs and Social Work Scotland, Scottish Child Protection Committee Scotland |
Short/Medium |
|
| Female genital mutilation should always be seen as a cause of significant harm and also seen in the context of GIRFEC or local inter agency child or adult protection procedures |
Local procedures, guidelines and communication strategies should be in place to ensure a coordinated response from all agencies and highlight the issue for all staff that may come into contact with women and children who may be at risk from or affected by female genital mutilation in partnership with parents/carers where appropriate |
CPP, IJBs and Social Work Scotland, Scottish Child Protection Committee Scotland and Adult Support and Protection Committee ( ASPC) conveners |
Short |
|
| Those who seek to or carry out FGM are identified early and held to account by the criminal justice system |
Ensure legislation to address FGM in Scotland is fit for purpose |
Scottish Government to continue to engage with potentially affected communities and other relevant stakeholders to consider the impact of any further legislation |
Scottish Government, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ( COPFS), statutory organisations, third sector organisations, Police Scotland |
Medium |
| Scottish Government to liaise with UK Government to ensure efficacy of existing legislation |
Scottish Government, COPFS |
Short/Medium |
||
| Assess the numbers being prosecuted for performing, aiding and abetting FGM following investigations by Police Scotland |
COPFS, Police Scotland |
Medium |
||
| Consider the existing legislation in relation to elongation and other practices and cosmetic genital piercings |
Scottish Government, Police Scotland, COPFS, and other relevant statutory agencies |
Long |
||
| Objectives |
Action |
Activities |
Action Owner |
Timescale |
| Develop policy, procedure and learning from investigations to ensure consistent police standards are applied across Scotland |
Establish an effective mechanism to review investigations and ensure adherence to national standards for prevention FGM and management of FGM survivors |
Police Scotland |
Medium |
|
| Establish a nationally accessible platform for Police Scotland to identify good practice and learning outcomes from previous investigations |
Police Scotland |
Medium |
||
| Develop and implement a communication and engagement plan in order to facilitate partner engagement and support for the delivery of national Child Protection processes |
Statutory and third sector organisations |
Medium |
||
| Through thorough investigations and development of FGM intelligence strategy identify and detect perpetrators |
Work with statutory and third sector partners to agree thresholds for exchanging personal information, initiating investigations, ownership, and deployment of Police Scotland Public Protection Unit resources |
Police Scotland |
Medium |
|
| Monitor impact of gender-based hate crime taking care not to stigmatise individual communities |
Police Scotland |
Medium |
Provision
| Objectives |
Action |
Activities |
Action Owner |
Timescale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women and girls who have been affected and who are potentially affected by FGM have access to relevant, effective and integrated services |
Delivery of coordinated and consistent services via a multi-agency response to those affected or who may be affected by FGM |
Regular multi-agency meetings to exchange information and good practice about FGM locally and with other regions in Scotland |
Multi-agency response by CPPs (Community Planning Partnerships), Integrated Joint Boards ( IJBs), Police Scotland and Violence Against Women Partnerships, Child Protection Committee Scotland, Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Committees ( MARACs) and Multi-Agency Partnerships ( MAPs) and other statutory and third sector agencies |
Medium |
| All statutory agencies have at least one named professional with expertise on FGM in addition to the lead officer, where they are different individuals |
All statutory agencies |
Short |
||
| Consistent recording and reporting of FGM data to inform responsive and high quality service development and monitoring of services |
Demonstrate improved data capture for FGM: |
All statutory agencies |
Medium |
|
| Multi-agency information sharing protocol developed and publicised locally to statutory and non-statutory sectors |
All statutory agencies |
Medium |
||
| Each NHS Board has a clear protocol and a referral pathway to ensure a coordinated and comprehensive health and social care service, including generalist and specialist services, are available and accessible informed by the local need |
Provide information to healthcare staff, including those in general practice and community clinics (paediatrics, genito urinary clinics, mental health, etc.) to enable them to access up-to-date information about the range of health and other local and national statutory and voluntary sector services that offer support to survivors of FGM |
NHS Boards, IJBs |
Short/Medium |
|
| Objectives |
Action |
Activities |
Action Owner |
Timescale |
| Healthcare workers and other professionals should provide relevant information to survivors of FGM about support services and how to access them |
NHS Boards, CPPs, IJBs, third sector, university and student college welfare |
Short/Medium |
||
| Individuals who experience trauma as a result of FGM should receive access to trauma informed mental health services |
NHS Boards, IJB's |
Short/Medium |
||
| Through partnership working improve Police Scotland's response to FGM and increase opportunities for early and effective interventions in respect of victims and perpetrators |
Police Scotland to work collaboratively with partners to create national processes for the submission of intelligence on FGM |
Police Scotland |
Short/Medium |
|
| Improve the reporting methods by third party reporting for those affected by FGM |
Police Scotland, all statutory agencies, third sector organisations |
Short/Medium |
||
| Nationally collate the number of child concern referrals/Inter Agency Discussions ( IRDs) received by Police Scotland for FGM and maintain a national FGM register to provide operational coordination and an overall assessment of FGM prevalence across Scotland |
Police Scotland, Child and Adult Protection Committees, CPC, ASPC Scotland, MARACs,and MAPs |
Medium |
||
| Service providers competently identify FGM, and respond effectively |
All statutory organisations equip their workforce with the necessary skills knowledge and understanding to effectively identify and respond to FGM, identify risk and follow local procedures for reporting child and adult protection concerns |
To develop multi-agency national guidance for front line staff and their organisations, to address FGM in Scotland |
NHS Health Scotland, Police Scotland, local authorities, CPPs, higher educational institutions and all relevant third sector organisations |
Publication date expected early 2016 |
| Objectives |
Action |
Activities |
Action Owner |
Timescale |
| All statutory agencies will develop a comprehensive suite of guidance documents to ensure all staff is confident and competent at identifying and responding appropriately |
All statutory agencies and higher educational institutions |
Medium |
||
| Healthcare staff in key settings should be equipped to sensitively enquire about patient experience of FGM and to respond effectively to disclosures of FGM. For example, assess risk and take appropriate action |
NHS Boards, NHS Health Scotland and IJBs |
Short/Medium |
||
| To develop and maintain FGM educational materials and resources for teachers to support children, parents/carers and other networks, to include annual safeguarding update |
Education Scotland |
Medium |
||
| Each Child Protection Committee and Adult Protection Committee should have an inter-agency learning and development strategy to reflect the training needs of the multi-agency workforce, with specific reference to the role of the Named Person and lead professional in identifying and responding to women and children at risk of or affected by FGM |
Individual and multi-agency response by CPPs (Community Planning Partnerships), Integrated Joint Boards ( IJBs) and Violence Against Women Partnerships, Child Protection Committee ( CPC) forum, and Multi-Agency Partnerships ( MAPs); Social Work Scotland, Scottish Child Protection Committee Chair Forum |
Medium |
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