MSPs Pam Gosal and Ash Regan and First Minister John Swinney.
by Bill Heaney
West of Scotland MSP Pam Gosal has asked First Minister John Swinney how the Scottish Government plans to commemorate the planned 16 days of activism against gender-based violence — primarily domestic abuse.
Pam Gosal welcomed to the Holyrood public gallery representatives from Women’s Rights Network Scotland and Beira’s Place, along with survivors of domestic abuse.
He said: “Today, we held a vigil outside the Parliament, remembering the 46 women who have been killed by men in Scotland in the past five years.
“Behind every statistic is a real-life story of a woman whose future has been erased and whose family has been shattered.”
She added: “Shockingly, the statistics continue to rise. The latest figures show that almost 64,000 incidents of domestic abuse have been recorded by Police Scotland, while there has been an 11 per cent increase in the number of reported rape cases.
“Let us also not forget that there are grooming gangs operating in Scotland, although the Scottish National Party Government wants to believe that they are not a problem, so it sticks its head in the sand.”
She asked the First Minister to finally commit to backing her Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, “which will better monitor perpetrators and prevent potential victims from becoming victims in the first place?
“Will he do the right thing and also agree to a grooming gangs inquiry, so that we can uncover the true scale of the abuse of women and girls that is occurring in Scotland?
John Swinney commended the women in the public gallery for their courage and for commemorating the 46 women who have been killed by men.
“Every single time a woman is killed by a man in our society, it is a totally unacceptable crime and it appals all of us, regardless of our politics,” he said.
And he added: “The Government will engage constructively on the bill being introduced by Pam Gosal. We have already legislated on the issue through different measures—the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Act 2025 is an example, as is the previous domestic abuse legislation—to strengthen the legislative position so that there is absolutely no tolerance of domestic violence in our society.
“The issue of grooming gangs is a very complex one, to which the Government is giving detailed consideration. On Monday, along with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and the Minister for Children, Young People and the Promise, I was briefed by Police Scotland and the national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group on the prevalence of those issues in Scotland. The national group met to review those issues yesterday, and I have personally conducted a discussion on them with Professor Alexis Jay.
“I hope that putting all those details on the record today will give Pam Gosal and colleagues in Parliament the confidence and assurance that the Government is looking in detail at all those questions. Nobody is putting their head in the sand.
“These matters are being looked at in detail. There are complexities around the interaction of the call that has been made for us on the issue with the child abuse inquiry that we have already statutorily established, so there are no straightforward ways through the issue. However, I assure Parliament that the Government is giving every serious consideration to this important issue.”
Mr Swinney replied: “Ash Regan properly sets out, the Government is engaging constructively on the bill, and I would be very happy for the minister responsible to engage with Ash Regan and others on the bill. There are challenging issues with the bill that we must properly address to ensure that the legislation can be applied, and the Government will engage in that process.”