Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board Minutes: December 2025

Attendees and apologies

Attendees and Apologies

Members:

• Kaukab Stewart MSP, Minister for Equalities, Scottish Government, (Chair)
• Councillor Maureen Chalmers, Community Wellbeing Spokesperson, COSLA, (Chair)
• Andrea Beavon, Local Authority Leadership, VAWP Network
• Sandy Brindley, Third Sector Specialist, Rape Crisis Scotland
• Amanda Coulthard, Local Authority Leadership, SOLACE
• Lucy Denvir, Public Health, NHS Fife
• Emma Forbes, COPFS
• Ann Hayne,  Health, NHS Lanarkshire (Attending on behalf of Trudi Marshall)
• Catriona Kirkpatrick, Third Sector Specialist, Engender
• Karen McClusky, Community Justice
• Kelly McIntosh, Education, ADES
• Stephanie Millar, Third Sector Specialist, Scottish Women’s Aid (Attending on behalf of Marsha Scott)
• Anna Mitchell, Systems Change, Safe and Together
• Sarah Taylor, Police Scotland
• Linda Thompson, Third Sector Specialist, Women’s Support Project
• Safa Yousaf, Third Sector Specialist (Attending on behalf of Mariam Ahmed)
• Samar Ziadat, Third Sector Specialist, Zero Tolerance (Attending on behalf of Laura Tomson)

Other Attendees

Presenters:

• Lee-Anne Chapman, Senior Safer Marketing Manager, Scottish Government
• Shelagh Considine, Joint Head of Safer Marketing, Scottish Government
• Katherine McIsaac, Joint Head of Strategy and Insight, Scottish Government

 

Policy Officials/JSB Secretariat

• Katy Betchley, VAWG Funding Team Leader, Scottish Government
• Katie Brown, Equally Safe Policy Manager, COSLA
• Johanna Davidson-Scott, VAWG Equality Policy Manager, Scottish Government
• Jeff Gibbons, VAWG Justice Unit Leader, Scottish Government
• Rhona Gowans, VAWG Equality Policy Officer, Scottish Government

 

Apologies

• Mariam Ahmed, Third Sector Specialist, AMINA
• Karen Allan, Housing and Homelessness, ALACHO                     
• Trudi Marshall, Health, NHS Lanarkshire
• Marsha Scott, Third Sector Specialist, Scottish Women’s Aid
• Laura Tomson, Third Sector Specialist, Zero Tolerance

 

Items and actions

Item 1 – Welcome and Apologies

Cllr Chalmers welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies.

Item 2 – Minutes of September Meeting and Actions Arising

The Minister invited final comments on the minutes from the September meeting. Rhona Gowans from the board's secretariat then delivered a summary of outstanding actions from previous meetings and provided an update on their status: of the 15 actions recorded, 8 are now complete and 5 remain outstanding or ongoing.

ACTION 1: SG officials to upload the September minutes to the SG webpages.

Item 3 – Scottish Government and COSLA Updates

Nel Whiting provided an update on work to address honour-based abuse, recognising its intersection with other forms of abuse, including coercive control and abuse involving extended family. She also highlighted the recent media misreporting on FGM and noted the response issued by the FGM Aware Network.

Nel Whiting also reflected on the national event during the 16 Days of Activism campaign, which took a thematic approach to assessing the recommendations from the Istanbul Convention GREVIO Report Recommendations. This particular event focused on 4 themes: justice journey, data, staff training, and funding and helped to identify where work is already underway and where further action is needed. Insights from these discussions will inform the development of Scotland’s action plan.

Cllr Chalmers commented on the value of the national event, and how the format supported constructive discussions and collaboration across sectors.

Katy Betchley updated on the future of VAWG funding, confirming that further updates on arrangements for the Delivering Equally Safe fund (DES) are expected following the publication of the Scottish Budget on 13 January 2026. Katy also reflected on discussions at the national event about sustainable funding and the suggestion that a framework for future funding decisions be developed with stakeholders.

Item 4 – Equally Safe Ministerial Group Update

The Minister reflected on the November meeting of the Equally Safe Ministerial Group (ESMG), which considered the Istanbul Convention GREVIO Report recommendations, including their alignment with members’ ministerial portfolios, and recent progress reporting against the Equally Safe delivery plan. The Permanent Secretary also attended the ESMG meeting to share his reflections on the role of senior leadership in maintaining momentum to deliver the aims of Equally Safe.

Item 5 – Scottish Government Misogyny Marketing Campaign

Officials from the Scottish Government Marketing team presented the new misogyny marketing campaign, explaining the research and insight that shaped the approach, the co-creation process with young people, and the creative concept. They outlined that the campaign targets boys aged 11–18 and adult influencers and uses a two-strand approach (early intervention and peer-to-peer messaging for boys, and education for adults). The campaign will launch in February across various digital platforms.

Members welcomed the campaign and enquired about how it will support schools and parents, evaluation plans, and any partnership opportunities. Officials confirmed that evaluation will measure attitude shifts and claimed actions and agreed to share the presentation slides.

Officials added that an Education Scotland resource hub will go live alongside the campaign and noted work underway to link the campaign to school resources through partners such as Time for Inclusive Education and Educational Institute of Scotland. Officials committed to continuing engagement with members as the campaign progresses.

Kelly McIntosh offered to help with testing the evaluation survey and to link with colleagues to support this work.

ACTION 2:  Slides from VAWG Marketing Campaign Presentation to be shared with JSB.

ACTION 3:  Officials will engage with Kelly McIntosh to discuss her support for the evaluation of the marketing campaign.

Item 6 – Equally Safe Delivery Plan Progress Report Update

The Minister introduced the progress report and invited members to reflect on the paper provided ahead of the meeting.

Johanna Davidson- Scott provided an overview of progress against the delivery plan, covering March – September 2025, and noted that most actions had progressed since the last reporting cycle, with only a few highlighted as having an amber or red RAG status.

Discussion focused on key challenges and opportunities. Anne Hayne asked about the NHS Public Protection Accountability and Governance Framework (Action 10.6) and offered her support, noting previous work to develop baseline content. Sandy Brindley highlighted gaps in justice data, and members discussed potential solutions, including data linkage models. Anna Mitchell shared that Safe and Together is developing practitioner forum materials, with pilots planned for early 2026, and will share resources with the JSB, supporting action point 11.2. 

The Minister closed by welcoming progress and reaffirming the need for collaboration to move amber and red actions forward.

ACTION 4: SG officials to engage with Anne Hayne on Action 10.6 (NHS Public Protection Framework).

ACTION 5: Anna Mitchell to share information regarding the Safe and Together practitioner forum materials pilots planned for early 2026 with the JSB.

Item 7 – Police Scotland VAWG Strategy

DCS Sarah Taylor presented an update on the Police Scotland’s VAWG Strategy and implementation plan. She highlighted recent crime trends, progress on trauma-informed training, and initiatives such as Operations Begonia and Waterdale. Six interim objectives were shared, alongside plans for a new Public Protection Operating Model to pilot in 2026.

Item 8 – Summary of Actions

Johanna Davidson-Scott provided a summary of the meeting actions.

Item 9– AOB and Close

No items for AOB.

Actions:

• SG officials to upload the September meeting minutes to the SG webpages.
• Slides from VAWG Marketing Campaign Presentation to be shared with JSB.
• Officials will engage with Kelly McIntosh to discuss her support for the evaluation of the marketing campaign.
• SG officials to engage with Anne Hayne on Action 10.6 (NHS Public Protection Framework).
• Anna Mitchell to share information about Safe and Together practitioner forum materials pilots planned for early 2026 with the JSB.