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Our reaction to Programme for Government: ‘A tangible crisis needs a tangible response’:

Increased funding and outlawing misogyny and are among the commitments that the Scottish Government has made to tackle violence against women and girls over the next year.

First Minister John Swinney previously pledged his “personal leadership” to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls and promised that he would set out “significant measures” in his latest Programme for Government.

Yesterday the Scottish Government said it would develop a new multi-year funding model for specialist third sector services and enhance existing funding for organisations supported via its Delivering Equally Safe Fund. 

The Scottish Government has also promised to provide emergency funding for specific specialist services which have been forced to operate waiting lists, including the National Advocacy Service.

The National Advocacy Service, which supports survivors to navigate the criminal justice process, is under significant pressure.

Over the past year, 13/19 services which offer advocacy support have been forced to operate some sort of waiting list, which resulted in 1378 survivors spending time on a waiting list. 

The Programme for Government has also committed to “further investment” in Equally Safe at School, an intervention co-created by Rape Crisis Scotland, which supports secondary schools across Scotland to take a whole school approach to addressing gender-based violence (GBV).

A tangible crisis needs a tangible response.

The Scottish Government has also committed to revisiting legislation around misogyny, which it has been proposing since 2022, as well as overdue reform to improve access to legal aid. 

Other work includes existing justice commitments in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act to improve rights and protections for survivors and other victims. 

The Programme for Government also commits to “investing in interventions” to challenge and change problematic misogynistic attitudes and behaviour in boys and young men.

It also announced its intention to develop a campaign to address attitudes towards misogyny and violence against women and girls.

Our reaction:

Survivors are being let down because they cannot access the support they need when they need it. It is right for the First Minister to recognise that services cannot meet current demand without more resourcing.

We also welcome longer-term commitments to tackle the rising prevalence of misogyny and sexual violence, such as investing in prevention and tackling the root causes of gender-based violence.

However, these proposals provide very little clarity about how increased funding is going to work in practice. We need clear commitments and timescales for this.

Survivors can’t wait, and the services working tirelessly to support them can’t either.

Rape Crisis Scotland chief executive Alev Taylor said: “A tangible crisis needs a tangible response. While this announcement goes some way to providing that, there is still a gap where clear funding commitments and timescales should be.

“We welcome a national response to tackle misogyny and sexual violence, and it is encouraging that the First Minister has recognised that violence against women and girls’ services cannot navigate this crisis on the current levels of precarious and static funding.

“However, we need greater clarity to understand what that looks like in practice for survivors and the services across Scotland working tirelessly to support them.”