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To go back to your question about whether my provision was modelled on the sex offenders register, I should say that it was not fully modelled on that. I listened to what survivors out there said that they wanted. The fact is that the onus is on them to contact authorities, when people should know whether someone is a dangerous domestic abuse offender. My bill started from that. I did not look at the 2003 act first; I listened to real-life experience. I also knew that the United Kingdom Government at the time was considering doing something on the issue, too. That is when I started looking into it a little bit more.

In relation to the sex offenders register or, should I say, the Sexual Offences Act 2003, I will pass over to Charlie on the technicalities.

Good morning. I introduced the Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill in May 2025, following the usual members’ bill process and with the support of the non-Government bills unit.

Growing up, I remember going into my mum’s shop in Argyle Street in Glasgow and seeing women crying, bleeding, bruised and very upset. At the time, I did not know what was happening. Later on in life, I realised that they were survivors of domestic abuse. Coming from black and minority ethnic communities, those women would rarely engage with authorities, so the extent of domestic abuse among them was not fully recorded or understood. To this day, I know many survivors who will not come forward because they think that the system is too weak, while the ones who do come forward often do not get the support that they need.

I am passionate about tackling domestic abuse, encouraging victims to come forward, making sure that survivors can trust the system that is in place to protect and support them and, ultimately, preventing further abuse.

Throughout my journey with the Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, I have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders and survivors of domestic abuse. Initial engagement meetings began in 2022. Later that year, the formal consultation took place, and 95 per cent of individual respondents were supportive of the proposed bill. Since 2024, I have held several extremely positive, one-to-one meetings with domestic abuse organisations to discuss the provisions in the bill.

Domestic abuse is a horrific crime. Last year, around 64,000 such incidents were reported to Police Scotland, and an estimated 65 per cent of suspected perpetrators had previously been involved in related incidents. Just yesterday, we found out that there has been a 26 per cent increase in crimes recorded under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, compared with 2023-2024. Those are shocking figures, and they increase year after year. However, they are not just statistics—they represent real people going through this horrendous crime.

The aim of my bill is to reduce the incidence of domestic abuse and tackle reoffending through a series of measures. Those include preventative measures, rehabilitation measures, increased data collection, long-term monitoring of those who are convicted of domestic abuse and early intervention through education measures.

Part 1 of the bill introduces notification requirements for domestic abuse offenders. They would work similarly to notification requirements for sex offenders, to ensure that domestic abuse offenders can be effectively monitored and subject to monitoring and management through existing multi-agency public protection arrangements, known as MAPPA. Better tracking, monitoring and management of the risk that is posed by serious domestic abuse offenders will not only tackle reoffending but act as a deterrent, sending the message that domestic abuse will not be tolerated in Scotland.

Liz Shanks, a survivor of domestic abuse who appeared on the BBC programme “Disclosure”, said:

“Pam is putting through a Bill for a domestic abuse register. Those who commit certain domestic abuse offences would be placed on a register, managed by Police Scotland, and would be forced to update the police whenever their circumstances change, meaning the police will be better equipped to keep victims safe. The Bill she’s working on is really key to what we, as survivors, want to see for many reasons.”

Part 2 of the bill requires consideration of whether a person who has been convicted of domestic abuse offences is a suitable candidate to take part in rehabilitation programmes to prevent reoffending. Provisions would ensure that every key phase of an offender’s passage through the criminal justice system includes an assessment of their suitability for the appropriate rehabilitation services.

Part 3 of the bill places a requirement on Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and charities to ask for vital information about victims of domestic abuse, including their age, sex, disability, ethnicity and much more. The domestic abuse statistics that the Scottish Government currently publishes do not include information on victims’ disability or ethnicity, nor is that data collected, but we know that individuals with certain protected characteristics might be more at risk of domestic abuse. My bill seeks to address that gap. Knowing which groups suffer from domestic abuse and engage with services is an important step in preventing domestic abuse. Those provisions received full backing from Scottish Women’s Aid at the consultation stage.

Finally, part 4 of the bill is intended to ensure the provision of domestic abuse education across Scotland as standard. That would ensure that young people grow up mindful of the harm that domestic abuse causes, and it would equip them with the knowledge to identify concerning behaviour throughout their lives.

In response to the consultation on my bill, Victim Support Scotland quoted one young victim, who summed up the impact of domestic abuse education by saying:

“I want to spread the message to others about awareness of domestic abuse, to get more folk to open up about it ... We need to educate children, go into schools, and tell them what domestic abuse is.”

Although I realise that the estimated cost of the bill is substantial, the financial cost to the Scottish public sector of domestic abuse is estimated to be £7 billion over a three-year average period of abuse.

More importantly, victims are being failed. Right now, Police Scotland receives a call about domestic abuse roughly every eight minutes—that rate is far too high. We must do more to tackle this appalling crime, and my bill provides us with a historic opportunity to do so. By adopting the measures that it sets out, Scotland can be a world leader in preventing domestic abuse and take a substantial step towards eradicating violence against women and girls once and for all.

I thank members for listening.

No, I am saying that the work should be done in consultation with them. My bill does not say who should provide that education; it sets out that the provision should be in place. I have put it in the bill that there must be consultation. Governments cannot make such decisions in isolation, just as teachers cannot make them alone. We need to get people to work together and to engage in consultation so that no one person makes a decision on how to tailor the programme.

I am not going to say what the programme should be called; I am simply calling it education. I have included that provision in the bill to ensure that it is available for all schools.

I have had a good look to see what evidence is out there. Sex offenders are already subject to notification requirements, as you know, and there is significant evidence that they are less likely to reoffend. The latest statistics show that around 8.8 per cent of sex offenders went on to commit another offence, in comparison with 20.5 per cent for those convicted of domestic abuse.

I also highlight another area with regard to recent research on the effectiveness of multi-agency public protection arrangements that was carried out at Anglia Ruskin University. It found that people who receive management under MAPPA are less likely to reoffend than those who do not.

I also had a look at what is happening elsewhere in the world. In 2007, Spain introduced a comprehensive monitoring system in cases of gender violence, and, in 2015, it produced an online questionnaire to which more than 1,000 people responded, which found that 80 per cent of women were satisfied with the functioning of the system.

Although I have mentioned those areas, I note that we in the Scottish Parliament—I do not think that the committee needs reminding of this—are very good at passing world-leading legislation. I am asking for these provisions not because I am copying others but because I believe that we should be the first to introduce them. We were first when we passed legislation on things such as period poverty, among many other issues. This is a chance for the committee, the Scottish Government and MSPs to back the proposals and ensure that we will have world-leading legislation. People will look to us if we have in place notifications for domestic abuse.

Perhaps I did not put that right. When I talk about knowledge, I am not talking about what they should know about the scheme, I am talking about knowledge of the fact that more information is provided to the police about the offender and the fact that that will cover any change of circumstances, whether it is to do with address, name or many other things, which would allow the police to act faster.

For example, if I have been domestically abused, I am going to pick up the phone and call the police to come to me. We know how busy the police are, and they might arrive quickly or they might not. However, if something is flagged up because of the provisions in the bill, and they have more information and knowledge about the offender, they might act faster, and that might just save somebody’s life.

That information is key. It is not just about people not knowing that there is a disclosure scheme; it is about having that layer of protection. We have the disclosure scheme now, so why are the statistics not going down? We need to ask those questions. As parliamentarians, we have to look at why we are in a position in which all that we see are increases. That is why my bill is important.

I will bring in Charlie Pound on that point.

It was published in 2025.

At that time, because the bill was just shaping up, there was nothing official, but I spoke to him in the corridor, for example.

Yes, and I will come on to that.

What we are looking to do with the bill is to put that provision into legislation. It would not affect the equally safe strategy at all; if anything, it would work with that.

As I have said, I have spoken to many local authorities—a few years ago, I spoke to 31 out of the 32 local authorities in relation to local government issues, and I still speak to many of them. Not everybody is delivering the equally safe strategy, and there are gaps in what people are getting. In addition, it is not tailored to domestic abuse.

I am sure that members know that, when we provide education on such issues, we do not do so only to those whom I would describe as younger people, such as secondary school pupils. As is the case with equally safe, which I know that you have asked about, we want to help people to identify that domestic abuse is a crime and that it will not be tolerated in Scotland. We want to get across to people the message that if they engage in coercive behaviour or any sort of domestic abuse, they will be committing a serious crime, and to set out what will happen to them. We want to educate them about that.

On the other hand—on the softer side—we want to educate young people to recognise when abuse is happening to somebody else and to understand that it is wrong. That is why education is key. I have heard that time after time from many academics; I recently heard an academic in Dundee talk about how education is key.

You asked about who would deliver that education. My bill clearly states that it must not be delivered by the Scottish Government in this building. It must be delivered on the ground, while listening to the partners.

This part of the bill is very important. We want to put domestic abuse education into statute to make sure that it is available and that there is not a postcode lottery, whereby some people get it while others do not, depending on whether the Government has money. If we put it in legislation, it will be there.

It is important that we talk in particular to those organisations that deal with domestic abuse every day. That could include some education establishments—I have made the provision quite wide. There would have to be consultation, collaboration and partnership with other organisations. The Government could not simply create an education programme.

Absolutely.

I have not put that in the provision. I think that I was very clear in saying that there would have to be consultation.