5. Glasgow-wide Support Service
5.1 An important factor in the success of the domestic abuse court pilot in Glasgow has been the dedicated support service for victims provided by ASSIST. This service has evolved over the period of the pilot and is considered one of the key underlying principles of the pilot. Indeed much of the success of the pilot is credited to the service provided to victims.
5.2 Enhanced specialist support over and above that provided by mainstream services is required because of the nature of domestic abuse: victims of domestic abuse are different from victims of many other crimes, violent or otherwise, as they either are or have been in a close personal relationship with the perpetrator. Domestic abuse is often carried out over a period of time, by a partner or ex-partner, and tends to escalate in severity and frequency.
5.3 Children are often involved in domestic abuse cases and this can result in additional difficulties in victims coming forward. Children on occasion can be called as witnesses to an incident, although in the majority of cases the only eyewitness called in the domestic abuse incident is the adult victim.
5.4 It is therefore vital that any support service has a good understanding and knowledge of the particular nature of domestic abuse and in providing support and advocacy has at its heart the wellbeing and safety of the victim.
Identified needs of the support for victims of domestic abuse
5.5 The Group has analysed the service provided by ASSIST during the pilot, and has identified 4 main additional services which were considered important particularly in the role of safety planning. These are:
5.5.1 Contact for victims within 24 hours, which allows early initial risk assessment and safety planning;
5.5.2 Continuity of contact with victims, allowing the procurator fiscal and the court the benefit of up-to-date information about the views of the victim;
5.5.3 Advocacy (ie advice, information and support to the victim on an ongoing basis, not only at the point of crisis); and
5.5.4 Multi-agency risk assessment conferencing ( MARACs).
What delivery options could meet the identified needs?
5.6 The Group has further considered how best these needs can be met. Three options have been explored: continue to use a separate and bespoke agency (like ASSIST); existing services providing services to a best practice standard; and a mixture of bespoke and existing agencies.
National agencies
5.7 In this context, the relevant national agencies contributing in this field are the following:
Scottish Women's Aid
5.7.1 Scottish Women's Aid is the national voluntary organisation in Scotland working to improve services to women, children and young people with experience of domestic abuse. There are 39 local Women's Aid groups affiliated to Scottish Women's Aid. The local groups are autonomous and the range of services offered may vary around the country depending on the size and location of the group.
5.7.2 There are 4 local Women's Aid groups in the Glasgow area, one of which works with ethnic minority women and children. At present, most Women's Aid groups operate on a self-referral basis, where a woman can contact them at any stage and be offered advice and support in addressing her particular situation.
5.7.3 In order to carry out the additional services needed, groups would have to be able to accept third party referrals as the existing court pilot approach relies on referral of all victims (with their consent) to ASSIST. Safety planning has been central to the work of Women's Aid for many years. A more formalised risk assessment and risk management approach would therefore be possible with some additional training. It should be noted that groups have already adopted a more formal approach to other areas of risk management as part of meeting Care Commission requirements. The concept is therefore not unfamiliar. However, Women's Aid groups are currently focussed largely on accommodation provision and the intensive support that goes with that and, to provide the systematic risk assessment and pro-active contact of the ASSIST model as well as the consistency and continuity of service required, additional staffing would have to be found. In relation to the MARACs Women's Aid groups could be involved, but again, this may require some additional staffing. Finally Women's Aid groups do not provide a service to men, so another agency would be required to provide a service to this minority group of victims of domestic abuse.
Victim Support Scotland
5.7.4 Victim Support Scotland is a national voluntary-led charity which provides services to victims and witnesses primarily by volunteers managed by staff. This method of service delivery significantly reduces operational costs and represents 'best value' in real terms for the Scottish Government.
5.7.5 The Local Authority based Victim Services currently receive referrals (including domestic abuse) from the three police divisions within the city of Glasgow. The referral method is subject to local variation and as Victim Support Scotland operates on a Monday to Friday basis, the organisation does not always have the capability of making contact with the victims of domestic abuse within the first 24 hours. Volunteers working for Victim Support (Victim Services) receive training in the provision of practical and emotional support in cases of domestic abuse. This includes basic safety planning information. Victim Service volunteers are not currently trained in specialist risk assessment and safety planning arrangements or the domestic abuse advocacy provided under the ASSIST model.
5.7.6 Victim Support Scotland could with additional staffing or working in partnership with other agencies develop and deliver this additional support service.
5.7.7 Victim Support Scotland's Witness Service which is present within every Sheriff and High Court in Scotland provides support and assistance to victims and witnesses of crime. A protocol exists with COPFS in relation to referral arrangements in serious crime cases. In keeping with the Victim Service the provision of support and assistance to victims and witnesses within the court setting is provided by volunteers managed by staff. Importantly for Victim Support Scotland staff and volunteers operating within the court setting have no personal knowledge of the circumstances of specific cases or information in relation to the victim or accused.
Victim Information and Advice ( VIA)
5.7.8 VIA, which is part of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, keeps victims, witnesses and bereaved nearest relatives informed of key events and offers explanatory advice where appropriate. Victims of domestic abuse account for 50% of VIA's work. Its relevant functions include:
- providing general information and advice about how the criminal justice system works and what can be expected in relation to the particular case type;
- providing updates on the progress of a case (including court dates, bail information and sentencing decisions);
- arranging for witnesses to be shown the court before a trial;
- discussing any additional requirements (for example, access to court or needing an interpreter);
- obtaining views of eligible witnesses about special measures that might help when giving evidence; and
- offering details of organisations that can offer practical and/or emotional support, facilitating contact where appropriate.
5.7.9 VIA does not provide advocacy support nor does it carry out risk assessment or safety planning. A protocol has been developed between VIA and ASSIST which recognises individual roles and responsibilities and seeks to avoid duplication of effort and confusing victims. This protocol is subject to review.
The bespoke model
5.8 The ASSIST model, in its current form, has been developed and expanded over the lifetime of the pilot and has consistently provided well-evaluated services, not only to the victims and their children going through the domestic abuse court, but also to the relevant support agencies and key partners operating in the court and Glasgow's G Division.
5.9 All the staff working with ASSIST either came with, or have developed, a great deal of knowledge and understanding of working with victims of domestic abuse.
5.10 Protocols have been established, by ASSIST, with all key partners involved with the day to day operation of the court - including Strathclyde Police, COPFS, VIA, VSS and Witness Service. These have been assessed continuously over the lifetime of the pilot and amended as and when necessary in order to ensure effective and transparent working relationships. The fact that information can be shared quickly between the police, procurator fiscal and ASSIST is considered to have been a major factor in the successful operation of the court.
Comparison of options
5.11 It is possible that the remit and capacity of existing national organisations could be developed to enable them to provide more specialist support services but this would require time, increased capacity and financial resource. However, it is unlikely that the level of provision required could be developed in the short term and certainly not in order seamlessly to transfer responsibility from ASSIST at the end of the transition period. At this stage there is also nothing to indicate that in so doing there would be either cost saving or improved provision. A reworking of existing protocols, which have developed over the lifetime of the pilot would also be required. In other words the gains made by ASSIST during the pilot would to a large extent be lost.
5.12 The costs provided for the ASSIST model during the pilot have been in line with comparable services in England and Cardiff. The Group considers that the costs would be comparable if either Women's Aid groups or Victim Support were to be funded to develop a similar service. Either would require further development of staff and additional costs.
Proposed way forward
5.13 The Group considers that the level of service provision by ASSIST meets the needs of the court pilot in Glasgow and the victims going through the domestic abuse court process. We recommend that a separate and bespoke agency ( ASSIST model) should continue to be used, and that work is continued to ensure effective and transparent protocols with relevant partners.
5.14 The Group recognises that if the ASSIST model were to be adopted for the next phase of provision in Glasgow, there is a current assumption that Glasgow City Council would continue to commission the service via Glasgow Community & Safety Services. As is expected from most funded projects, ASSIST would need to provide a business plan and detail of outcomes and measurements, and progress reporting would be a condition of grant.
5.15 The evaluation of the pilot identified some gaps in provision, most notably the support for those victims who do not consent to ASSIST and information to witnesses. It should be a consideration of future support services that some additional training is made available to VIA and Witness Service to enable them to provide support for the former group.
Implications for the rest of Scotland
5.16 The Group's remit is limited to considering the way forward in Glasgow. However, our discussions may be relevant for other areas of Scotland, and in particular for the toolkit which is currently being developed by the Scottish Government to assist related local initiatives in other areas.
5.17 While the Group considers that the ASSIST model is best placed to offer the support services necessary to support victims whose partners/ex-partners are appearing in the Glasgow domestic abuse court, we believe there is scope for development of that approach to improve local response across Scotland. Over the next 3 year period we would therefore like to see developmental work carried out by the Equality Unit of the Scottish Government. In particular, the Equality Unit should consider whether the suite of standards and training programmes developed in England and Wales by Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse ( CAADA) could be adapted to help assure standards of service to victims of domestic abuse, in Glasgow and elsewhere.
5.18 The Group would like to see the Scottish Government's Equality Unit and Victims & Witnesses Unit initiate work to explore ways to develop better collaboration and joined up responses between key agencies working with victims of domestic abuse and of other forms of violence against women. This work could be undertaken in different parts of Scotland. It need not necessarily link to specialist court provision, but it might work in concert with the learning from the domestic abuse pilot. It would allow local partners to develop enhanced support provision. It could take account of developments in England and Wales, including the development of occupational standards for working with victims of domestic abuse. And among other issues, it could explore the extent to which services to victims of domestic abuse could be provided by suitably trained volunteers.
5.19 The expertise from the ASSIST model could help development of service co-ordination and advocacy work for victims of domestic abuse in other areas of Scotland. The ASSIST operation manual could be used to develop the key requirements for such a service and enable other organisations to develop co-ordination and advocacy work. The possibilities for developing agency co-operation around support services outside Glasgow should be explored. In addition the group considers that some future consideration should be given to developing a national standard for victim support in relation to domestic abuse, for use by all the voluntary sector agencies involved. Time and resources permitting, there would also be scope for the Scottish Government to explore with organisations like ASSIST and VSS, how training and capacity building could be developed to assist the building of support services in other areas.