Domestic Violence

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 4:37 pm on 27 October 1999.

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Photo of Christine Grahame Christine Grahame Scottish National Party 4:37, 27 October 1999

I come to this debate as a lawyer with 12 years' experience, predominantly as a family lawyer, who has obtained interdicts—sometimes with powers of arrest, sometimes without—for spouses, all of whom were women, and who has also defended, sometimes successfully, male clients against them. Unfortunately, I am therefore well experienced in all the unhappiness that the breakdown of a relationship entails. From the work plan of the Scottish Partnership on Domestic Abuse, under the heading of "Definition" on page 5, I recognise a range of clients who have crossed my path and who have suffered the physical abuse of battering through to the psychological abuse of threats, which is equally bad.

I know that children of all ages can be witnesses to abuse in most domestic situations, though a cunning partner can perpetrate abuse out of sight of not only neighbours but family. It occurs in all social groups. The worst case of physical abuse I came across was that of a quiet and refined professional woman who had been beaten up by her highly paid executive husband and had hidden the bruises and his hand marks round her throat under a copious sweater. She did not cry in my office, as most women did, and that made her plight all the more awful and compelling, because she was beyond tears. Women therefore come with low morale and no self-esteem, and are fearful. Many cannot cope with detaching themselves from their relationship, especially when faced with the financial and housing implications of separation.

Against what I hope is therefore an informed professional background, and from the evidence obtained by the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, of which I am a member, I would like to make the following comments. The first concerns the support services. Some women in these circumstances have a good lawyer, a good general practitioner, a good health visitor, and perhaps personnel assistance at work. If a woman is working, abuse can lead to the loss of her employment. I therefore welcome the intention to ensure that there will be more equitable and less random access to various agencies.

I draw the attention of Parliament to the role of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, which is not mentioned as a support service, but which has everything to do with access to justice. It has failings that often let women down when they most need immediate help. The rules by which solicitors have access to legal aid for a client are by no means simple, and the access is by no means swift. While emergency legal aid is available to obtain interdicts and powers of arrest, once those applications are made, a rigorous timetable to complete a full legal aid application form kicks in. Obtaining interdicts is a time-consuming business. The solicitor might have to drop everything else to obtain documents such as medical reports, corroborative statements that will form the basis of affidavits and police precognitions. All that work is quite apart from appearing in court to make representations.

Furthermore, the solicitor must often provide emotional support to a very distressed client. I have given out my home phone number only to clients in interdict proceedings. In the middle of such a traumatic situation, the distressed client must complete lengthy forms, including financial forms, for submission to the board. Clients' finances are often in flux, which makes things difficult; or because of their income—which need not be very high—they are denied legal aid from the outset and so cannot fund court proceedings. In addition, the remuneration for civil legal aid work is disgracefully low and many solicitors cannot take on this time-consuming work—though they would wish to do so—because the rest of the firm will not subsidise it.

It is plain that the Legal Aid Board rules on domestic violence require review. However, I note that the work plan does not mention the Scottish Legal Aid Board among the organisations involved in domestic abuse issues. The organisation is at the core of access to justice for many abused women and provides the structure by which such women can restructure their lives. I ask the minister to address that particular omission in the work plan.