Section 14 – Reporting requirement
93.Section 14(1) places a statutory duty on the Scottish Ministers to report on the use of the offence at section 1(1) of this Act and of the existing statutory aggravation concerning partner abuse at section 1(1)(a) of the 2016 Act. By virtue of section 14(5) and (6), the report must cover a 3 year period beginning with the date section 1(1) comes into force, and it must be laid before Parliament.
94.Section 14(2) provides that this report must include information about such matters as the number of cases, the number of convictions, the number of cases involving the child aggravation, the number of cases in which a non-harassment order is made in respect of the victim or a child, the average time taken for proceedings to reach a conclusion and the experiences of witnesses (including child witnesses).
95.Section 14(3)(a) requires statistical information provided under section 14(2) to distinguish between ((i) the offence at section 1(1) of this Act, and (ii) offences aggravated by the partner abuse aggravation at section 1(1)(a) of the 2016 Act.
96.Section 14(3)(b) requires the information provided under section 14(2) to include details about particular court areas and types of court (e.g. sheriff court or High Court).
97.Section 14(4) requires the Scottish Ministers, for the purposes of the report, to seek information from the Lord President concerning how court business is arranged to ensure the efficient disposal of domestic abuse cases.