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Addressing violence against women in Scottish borders would cost £50 million

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Summary taken from The Southern Reporter, click 24.02.11

The cost of addressing domestic abuse and violence against women in the Scottish borders could be as much as £50 million a year, search councillors will hear today.

The figure reflects the cost of the estimated local provision, medicine including the use of criminal justice, police, health and  social services, loss of economic output and civil/legal services.

This is a shocking figure when compared with the current funding of £392,000 to tackle the causes and the aftermath of domestic abuse.

Most of the money goes directly from the Scottish Government to the voluntary sector while a further £74,000 a year is provided by Scottish Borders Council for the provision of a refuge for battered women.

But even this funding is due to cease at the end of next month.

Andrea Beavon, SBC’s Violence Against Women (VAW) co-ordinator, said:

“At this point there has been an early indication from the Scottish Government that current funding levels will be maintained for a further 12 months, but there has been no formal confirmation of this,”

“There is limited ‘mainstreaming’ of domestic abuse within local authority [council] or health board services – it is not ‘core’ business … with no consideration for long-term planning capacity,”

Her plea is backed up by worrying regional trends, including an increase in the number of domestic abuse incidents, an increase in repeat victimisation rates over the same year, and a rising number of children in the child protection system due to domestic abuse.

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