Incidents recorded since the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill was passed: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/03142  
Date received: 29 October 2018 
Date responded: 26 November 2018

 

 

1. How many incidents of domestic abuse has been recorded since the Domestic Abuse Bill passed in February 2018?
2. Has the number of reported incidents increased or declined since the new Domestic Abuse Bill passed compared to 2015, 2016 and 2017? If so, by how much?
3. How many people have been criminally charged since the passing of the Domestic Abuse Bill 2018?
4. Has the number of criminal charges increased or declined after the Domestic Abuse Bill 2018 compared to 2015, 2016 and 2017?

 

 

Your four requests for information all relate to the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested. This relates to the information on people charged by the police. The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained below.

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) bill

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) bill received royal assent on the 9th of March 2018 and it is anticipated that the Act will come into effect in the first part of next year.

Until this time there is no provision for incidents to be recorded or individuals charged under this legislation.

Statistics on Incidents of Domestic Abuse

Once the act comes into effect statistics will be published on the number of times police record the new domestic abuse offence (as part of the Recorded Crime National Statistics).

For further Information the Scottish Government also publishes an annual official statistics bulleton on the number of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland. The definition of domestic abuse used by Police Scotland is:

Any form of physical, verbal, sexual, psychological or financial abuse which might amount to criminal conduct and which takes place within the context of a relationship. The relationship will be between partners (married, cohabiting, civil partnership or otherwise) or ex-partners. The abuse can be committed in the home or elsewhere including online

The most recent statistics, for 2016-17, are available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/domestic-abuse-recorded-police-scotland-2016-17/.

The figures for 2017-18 are due to be published on the 27th of November 2018.

 

 

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested because the data the Scottish Government receives from Police Scotland for producing the National Statistics on Recorded Crime in Scotland, is a simple count of the number of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up. This means that we are unable to provide any information on the number of individuals charged by Police Scotland. More information on Recorded Crime in Scotland can be found here:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubRecordedCrime

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

 

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses