Lothians domestic abuse court plan

Public health minister Michael Matheson announced that a Lothians court could be set up in the mould of Glasgow’s domestic abuse court, which has been running since 2004.

Mr Matheson said the Glasgow court “has proven to be very effective over recent years”.

He added: “There is work being done at the moment to establish a similar court in the Lothians area, and there is also a tool which has been used to be rolled across all the sheriffdoms of Scotland to ensure that sheriffs are more aware of the role that they can play, and be more sensitive to the needs of people who have been subjected to domestic violence.

“It is important to recognise that the model that has been used in Glasgow does not necessarily apply itself well to other courts in other sheriffdoms, in rural areas in particular.

“But there is an important role that sheriffs have got to play in the way in which the court system operates to be sensitive to that.

“I would hope at some point early next year we should be in a position to see a domestic violence court opened up here in Edinburgh.”

Lothian and Borders Police recorded 9,566 reports of domestic abuse last year, second only to Strathclyde, where there were 25,112. However, with 1,019 reports per 100,000 people, the proportion of cases is lower than in Central Scotland (1,166), Strathclyde (1,132), Fife (1,116) and Tayside (1,053).

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie outlined some of the figures. Last year saw 51,926 domestic abuse cases, 80 per cent of which were against women.

SNP MSP Mike Mackenzie asked if Ms Baillie supported the Scottish Government plan to introduce a minimum unit price on alcohol, due to the links between alcohol and violence against women.

She said: “That shows a lack of understanding of the complexity of domestic abuse. It is too easy to simply blame alcohol. There is an underlying societal problem that we actually need to deal with.”