Question reference: S6W-15943
- Date lodged: 14 March 2023
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 March 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey includes questions on the potential normalisation of violence in sexual activity.
Answer
The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is an annual, large-scale social survey which asks people about their experiences and perceptions of crime in Scotland. It includes a module on sexual victimisation, which produces estimates of adults’ experiences of different types of sexual assault. At present this does not include a question on experiences of violence during what began as consensual sexual activity.
We are currently progressing set up of a new multi-year run of the SCJS, following a recent re-procurement exercise. As part of this ongoing work we will consider in 2023-24 whether a question on this specific topic could be added to the above module. Given the subject sensitivity, this requires careful consideration and testing prior to any roll-out, to ensure such a question is understandable, accessible and doesn’t place undue stress on survey respondents.
Such a change would build on the continuous improvements being made to the survey, whereby we are currently cognitively testing and piloting a new survey module on Partner Abuse and new and updated questions on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). These areas were identified as a key priority by survey users in last year’s consultation .