Equally Safe delivery plan: progress report

Deliverable 3

3. We will develop a collaborative programme of support to enable local and national partners to adopt a public health approach to preventing VAWG

Delivery plan actions to help meet this deliverable:

3.1 We will develop a primary prevention framework and testing of an evidence-based implementation approach to prevention to enable a gender competent approach to addressing VAWG.

3.2 We will establish an implementation forum to:

• Promote awareness of a public health approach to preventing VAWG;
• Develop an understanding of local areas’ capacity across the four steps of a public health approach; and
• Support partners to identify and implement actions within their organisation/ policy area to embed this approach.

3.3 We will commission a grant scheme to progress the recommendation to develop and test robust, evidence-led, inclusive and representative approaches to changing public attitudes in Scotland to girls’ and women’s equality and rights outlined in the We Need to do Things Differently research report.

3.4 We will implement a two-year programme aimed at supporting the development and integration of COSLA initiatives focused on enhancing women’s access to power and resources. This will prioritise advancing gender equality and mitigating associated harms by addressing gender inequality through COSLA’s policy scrutiny, development, and decision-making processes.

3.5 We will continue to support the social housing sector to embed gender equality, in preparation for the introduction of a new legal duty to develop and implement a domestic abuse policy outlining how they will support their tenants experiencing domestic abuse.

Overview

The Public Health Implementation Forum has been established to improve awareness, understanding and embedding of a public health approach to preventing VAWG, at both local and national levels. The Forum met on multiple occasions during 2025, supported by engagement activities aimed at advancing its objectives, raising awareness of national primary prevention work, and supporting partners to apply a public health approach. Regular Forum meetings will continue throughout 2026.

A draft primary prevention framework has been developed, led by Zero Tolerance and Scottish Women’s Aid, to provide a shared resource that promotes a consistent understanding of primary prevention. This will help strengthen alignment across partners and support both local testing and wider implementation. The Dundee Violence Against Women Partnership has commissioned an evidence review which will equip partners across a range of policy areas with the insights they need to identify and implement effective actions to prevent VAWG.

To make progress towards the National Advisory Council for Women and Girls’ recommendation to create a Scottish Centre for Gender Equality in Social Attitudes, work will begin in spring to deliver a practical, evidence-based assessment of how such a Centre could operate in Scotland.

A significant milestone was reached when the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 6 November 2025. This introduces a new legal duty which will require social landlords to develop and implement a domestic abuse policy outlining how they support their tenants experiencing domestic abuse.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government invested £1.5 million in 2025/26 to launch the national Fund to Leave, which opened for referrals in February 2026. The fund is designed to reduce the financial pressures associated with leaving an abusive partner by providing vital support to help cover the essential items that women and children need when starting a new life in safety. In its first month of operation the fund has already supported 230 women and 300 children, demonstrating both the scale of need and the immediate impact of the initiative. Ministers have also announced that a further £2 million will be allocated from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund to the national Fund to Leave in 2026/27.