 Rwy'n fear hwn ymiedig y byddwyr ac gynnisiad, dech helpedibe? Fe yw breakswyr wedi gyneddangos cael wel yn ffordd am y Penedig nhw'n gweld rhywfad Khan. Mae ar gyfer Jeswyr honwy ar bryd yn brairdwyr gw celebr, gyda mi d rokuio ac amser, ond mae'r cyfniau yn ddragonos. Ar godod likeaeth eich cyfr Princau Cymru oherwydd o bach i Ladeg ac oeddy er forarnol yn ddweud i gael eich gorfod mwyaf o ddeallu eich ddiogelion oedd i sefydlu 8 April 2015? Mae'r ddiogelion oedd i gael eich d بعدdynt, i'r ddiogelion oedd ar gyfer yng Nghymru, ac rwyf yn oes gennym niad yma i gael eich ddiogelion o'r ddiogelion i ddim i gael i gael eich ddiogelion. Felly mae'r ddechrau oedd gydag oedd i gael eich ddiogelion oedd i gael i gweld National Stocking Awareness Day annually. This year, the day is being marked by a series of events this week to raise awareness of stocking. I cannot talk about stocking or indeed mark the day without paying tribute to the work of Anne Molds, who has campaigned on stocking. It was Anne that persuaded me to bring forward amendments to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Scotland Bill back in 2010 to make stocking a crime in Scotland. However, she has not stopped there, she continues to campaign and raise awareness of stocking and was a victim herself. She could have allowed that to daunter but instead she has fought for legislation and recognition of the trauma that stocking can cause, ensuring that help and support is available to people who suffer stocking. She set up Action Scotland Against Stocking and chairs the Scottish National Stocking Group. I really want to pay tribute to her for bringing this forward and making sure that it is very much at the forefront of the public consciousness. This year, National Stocking Awareness Day focuses on young people. A school stocking poster was designed by Ayrshire College Creative Arts student Leonie Smith. The poster that raises awareness of stocking will be sent to every school, college and university throughout the UK. The aim is to encourage young people to seek help if they are being stopped. Research has shown that stockers are often mistaken for bullies by parents, teachers and, indeed, the police. While bullying is extremely serious, it is different from stocking. Stockers tend to obsess about their victims and carry out of pattern of behaviour. The actions would often appear innocent, but, together, they can be absolutely terrifying. The aim of this year's events is to raise awareness among young people to make sure that they know what stocking is and how to recognise it. It is important that young people know how to protect themselves and, indeed, to seek protection of the law. In an age where social media is used regularly, we sometimes give more information on those platforms than we would give in any other mode of communication. In 2014, Action Scotland Against Stocking launched an award-winning schools DVD called Friend Request to help young people to recognise the dangers of stocking online. Ann tells me that every time the film has been shown, a young person has plucked up the courage to disclose that they have experienced similar behaviours. The aim of the exercise is to raise awareness and also to highlight how stocking has links to other abusive behaviours, such as bullying, pedophilia, sexual exploitation and, indeed, revenge porn. Until recently, we had never heard about revenge porn, but now it is rife. Intimate pictures taken in a consensual relationship are then shared on the internet without the permission of the participants. Ellie Hutchison has pioneered much of the work to end revenge porn for Scottish women's aid. She has worked hard to illustrate that revenge porn is, in itself, a form of stocking and has to be tackled. I very much welcome moves by various agencies to address this as a real and serious issue. We need legislation that deals with this and other forms of cyber abuse. It is important that young people recognise the signs of predatory behaviour online, as well as in day-to-day life, so that they can take steps to raise the alarm and, indeed, to protect themselves. Many cyber bullies are guilty of stocking, and the law is there to protect people of all ages from this insidious crime. Stocking continues to be a problem in Scotland. However, we now have legislation to protect victims, but, despite that, we have recently seen cases where legislation has been powerless. If a perpetrator is in fit to stand trial, it appears that the law is powerless to protect the victim. That cannot be the case. Therefore, the law must be there for the protection of victims, and there must be ways of making sure that someone unfit to stand trial gets the help and support that they require while making sure that they are unable to perpetrate abuse on their victim. I am glad that the Scottish Government is consulting on that. However, I am unsure whether the proposal of access to criminal non-harassment orders will serve the purpose, given that those are criminal charges and must also go through the criminal courts. I hope that responses to the consultation will indicate a better way forward that looks after the vulnerable but protects victims. We have come a long way in recognising the problem of stocking, but there is also a long way to go to protect victims. I hope that tonight's debate helps to raise awareness in some way that will lead to better support for victims of stocking. I now call on Keine MacAskill to be followed by Margaret McCulloch four minutes or thereby please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. First of all, in the usual manner, I thank Rhoda Grant for bringing this important debate and indeed pay tribute to her not simply for her contribution, and I echo the comments that she has made. The work that she has carried out on this issue, in particular in 2010 and before, but the work in related matters relating to the protection of women, children and the vulnerable. Equally, I would also echo her comments and praise for Anne Molds. She has been pivotal and deserves praise for the entire chamber in achieving the legislation that we have on stocking. I think that it would be fair to say that if it hadn't been for Anne Molds, then it's unlikely that we would probably have that legislation. She pursued it tirelessly, having been a victim herself. Despite the trauma that she had undergone, despite the fact that many other people would simply have wanted to have got on with their lives, she recognised the need to try and ensure that no other people went through it, and if they did, that they would be given access to justice. She pursued it. Also, it has to be said, sometimes in the face of institutional inertia. As the then justice secretary, I have to take my share of accountability for that, but she certainly shook up the foundations in police prosecutors and, indeed, the Government, where there was initially a mantra chant that the current legislative procedures applied, that no additional legislation was necessary, that breach of the peace or other forms of legal action were available. She managed, I think, to drive a wedge through that, and certainly she was pivotal in persuading me of the necessity for specific action. As a consequence, she changed those in police prosecution and officialdom. It is a dreadful offence, and equally it comes in a whole myriad of ways. It is carried out by numerous people against a whole broad spectrum of society, which is why it is appropriate that it should not simply be viewed as an offence by men upon women, and the raising of awareness for children is appropriate. The points that were made by Rhoda Grant about revenge porn are equally appropriate, perhaps from Hollywood movies or TV shows, a presumption that stalking is some person that you do not know who either phones and has heavy breathing and you never hear or see from them or some almost masked individual in the twilight following a woman home. The likelihood is that you will probably know the person who is stalking you. Equally, it is not necessarily the case that they will present a knife at your throat or carry out any perhaps acts of violence. Sometimes a consequence of that is that it is not viewed as particularly troublesome. Perhaps the perception of authority might be, why do not you just ignore it or get over it? There are only a few phone calls or it is alright. It is an awful lot of emails or letters or whatever. Sometimes there has been an element within those who should be looking after the interests of those who are suffering from it that it clearly does not register on the scale. It is certainly not a serious assault, but the effects on the individual are manifest and severe, which is why how it comes in whatever manifestation. The new electronic media has opened up a whole variety of ways. Revenge porn is another aspect to it, not simply turning up at people's work or place, following them home or whatever else. It is appropriate, therefore, that we have to take action. Equally, I have to say that it would be remiss of me not to say that the action that has been taken has to be built upon. I fully understand why the legislative timescale and processor such that action cannot be taken at the present moment on corroboration. However, I think that it would be fair to say that victims of stalking, as with victims of sexual offences, as indeed the elderly or other children who suffer abuse and silence and isolation will not get access to justice unless we tackle the routine requirement for corroboration. Most aspects of stalking will not be done in public, they will be done in private. We have done a lot as a chamber, and Rhoda Grant deserves great credit, along with Anne Mould's, in terms of a specific piece of legislation to tackle stalking. However, we have to ensure that access to justice is there for those who, even with the raising of awareness, even with the driving home of the message that it will not be contemplated or condoned in any shape or form by courts or prosecutors, we have to ensure that access to justice is there and justice will be delivered. It is thanks to Rhoda Grant for raising the issue and, once again, thanks to the irrepressible, tireless campaigning of Anne Mould's, who deserves our greatest thanks for the action that she has taken. I now call on Margaret McCulloch to be followed by Margaret Mitchell. Thank you, Presiding Officer. In the beginning, I also want to congratulate Rhoda Grant for securing this debate on national stalking awareness day, which took place last week. She has brought an important issue to the Parliament and I would also commend her for doing so. Stalking is an intrusion and it is even an invasion. It is sometimes difficult to define, but I think that we all accept that no one should have to live in fear or distress because of the behaviour of others. Stalking is unwelcome, unsettling and, in many cases, it is recurring. Sometimes overtly menacing and, while anyone could be a victim, it is twice as likely to affect women than men. Women's aid describes stalking as one of the most frequently experienced types of abuse, and that is why I believe that there has to be a robust response and a deeper awareness and understanding of the problem. I also want to touch on cyber-stalking and how technology is changing physical stalking, too. There are a variety of behaviours that we can consider to be stalking, loitering, sending unwanted calls or messages or being over-friendly with a victim. I worry that victims might feel that in isolation some of this behaviour seems more strange and unusual than disturbing or threatening. I worry that they feel they have to wait until a more discernible pattern of behaviour emerges over time until they seek advice or go to the police. If the actions of a stalker make anyone feel fear or concern, then I would hope that they would report the matter as soon as they can, and I hope that the police respond sensitively and effectively. However, just as actions of a stalker can be hard to define, sometimes their behaviour towards their victims is more obvious, more pernicious and more aggressive. Threatening or obscene calls and messages, falling and surveillance, interfering with someone's mail or belongings, invading someone's personal space, invading their home and physical aggression. Nobody should have to live in fear because of that kind of behaviour or the behaviour that it leads to, not least our young people. The focus of this year's national stalking awareness day on the risk to young people allows us to think about personal safety in a world that is more connected through social media and online interaction. There has been a concerted and commendable effort to make young people aware of cyberbullying and how behaviour on those platforms has a real impact in the real world, but we have to develop a better and broader understanding of cyber-stalking, too. Just as internet is another means for us to communicate with each other and share our lives with each other, sadly it is also another medium for stalkers to exploit. It is another way for them to send unsolicited or abusive messages, blackmail or to seek proximity to someone by using technology and gathering the information that people place online. The national stalking helpline advises its callers to change their passwords regularly and to keep their antivirus software up to date. They have warned about the dangers of stalking using malware or keylogging software to break through our cybersecurity and target their victims further. There are reports of stalkers' ordinary items online to be delivered to the homes of their victims and using geolocation features and apps to find out where their victims are or where they have been. For the generation who use these apps most and for whom technology is such a big part of their lives, we have to communicate the significance of cyber safety. It has never been so important. Presiding Officer, Women's Aid tells the story of Shandra in their digital stalking awareness materials and I think that it is a story that the chamber needs to hear. Shandra left her violent husband and fled to a secret location, but her husband found her and started stalking her at her new address. He knew all her movements, what she was doing and where she had been. Her husband had installed spyware on her mobile phone and from that he had been able to pinpoint her location, watch her through her camera and even listen to her through the handset. Presiding Officer, I believe that society as a whole needs an education in how pernicious stalking can be in today's world and for that reason I would applaud the efforts of all those who have participated in national stalking awareness day. I thank Rhoda Grant for bringing this important debate to the chamber this evening. The fact that one in six women and one in 12 men are stalked at some point during their lives is alarming. This debate presents a welcome opportunity, therefore, to raise awareness about this dangerous and deeply damaging form of harassment. The extent of the problem faced by female students in universities and colleges across the UK was highlighted in the 2010 national union of students hidden marks report. It found that one quarter of stalking victims reported that the obsessive behaviour that they had been subjected to had affected their mental health, their studies and their relationships. More worryingly still, the finding state that only one in five victims reported the incident to either the institution or the police. The main reason given for not reporting incidents was that the victim did not believe that the incident was serious enough to report. To mark national stalking awareness day, the Susie Lambleau Trust has released a two-minute animated film looking at what stalking is and offering support for those who are experiencing it. The video firmly rejects any misguided notions that stalking is trivial, flattering or romantic. Instead, it portrays it for what it is, namely a very serious crime that can take the form of sending disturbing and often distressing emails, making non-stop phone calls and engaging in social media abuse. Crucially, the film makes it clear that more than 80 per cent of victims are stalked by someone they know, with the majority of perpetrators being ex-partners. Stalking is clearly a form of abuse that can have devastating consequences in terms of undermining the victim's sense of security and their ability to live a life without fear. In the worst cases, some victims have driven to remove themselves from the electoral register for fear of being traced by the stalker. Hence, fundamental freedoms such as the right to vote and the right to live without fear, which the rest of us take for granted, are denied them. It is therefore incomprehensible that the Scottish Government has chosen to exclude stalking statistics from its crime statistics. To spell that out, the Government's claim that crime is at a 40-year low does not take into account thousands of incidents, including stalking, which are categorised as offences rather than crimes, and only crimes are included in the 40-headline year-low claim. Furthermore, in the Government's own statistical bulletin, published in November last year, stalking is merely categorised as one of a number of miscellaneous offences, which also includes breach of the peace and offensive behaviour at football matches. If that was not bad enough, it was revealed last week that there are reports of some police officers trying to dissuade victims of these offences from pursuing complaints by warning them that they have to go to court to testify. Stocking is a serious crime that blights victims' life, with often long-term consequences that should be recognised as such. The national stalking awareness day, seeking as it does to raise awareness of what constitutes stalking and its devastating effects, is both timely and welcome. Many thanks. I now call on Elaine Smith, after which I move to closing speech from the minister. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. As others have done, I commend my colleague and friend, Rhoda Grant, on bringing this important issue to the chamber and on the tireless work that she does on issues of violence against women and children more generally. I want to join her in recognising national stalking awareness day and the fact that this year's emphasis is being put on stalking among young people. While stalking is not exclusively a women's issue, it does as it understands disproportionately affect women, with one in six women being stalked at some point in their lives and young women being particularly affected. Stalking can manifest in a number of ways, as Rhoda Grant pointed out in her motion, and it needs to be taken seriously. Stalking is not romantic, it is not trivial or funny, it is worrying, it is serious and it is illegal. Contrary to common belief, most stalkers are former partners or friends of victims or are somehow known to them as both Kenny MacAskill and Margaret McCulloch noted earlier in the debate. The British Crime Survey shows that threatening phone calls and letters are the most common types of stalking behaviour, but victims can also experience being followed and being spied on. An example of that was illustrated by Margaret McCulloch. Some have had their homes broken into or being the victims of violent behaviour. Rhoda Grant also mentioned cyber stalking, as did other members in the debate, and there is no doubt that advances in technology have led to a huge increase in cyber stalking, and that is a particular issue for young people and students, given the high level of social media use among the younger age groups. Although it is not a physical stalking method, it can be just as intimidating, and we know as elected members the level of abuse and vitriol that can be directed towards people online. According to domestic violence charity Women's Aid, 41 per cent of women reported that a partner or an ex had tracked them down through their online activities, and 36 per cent of those women claimed that they felt threatened by such behaviour. I want to take the opportunity at this point to say that it is important that Women's Aid receives support for the vital work that they do, and I was therefore pleased to note today that Scottish Labour's women's manifesto committed to investing more than £2 million in women's aid centres across Scotland. I think that we have to acknowledge that any kind of bullying is unacceptable and can lead to tragedy. In particular, young victims of bullying can take to self-harming or even committing suicide can be the tragic outcome of that. However, stalking can be a particularly extreme form of bullying and can commonly involve violent and even murderous behaviour. Therefore, it is important that victims of stalking, particularly young people, are supported and that they are educated on what stalking is and how it can be reported, as I mentioned by Margaret Mitchell earlier, as the report had in Mark's highlighted. Further, we must ensure that there are strong links between the police, NHS, student unions and specialist voluntary services to make that process easier for the victim. I would like now to echo the sentiments of the motion that says that bullying in its most severe form is stalking, and I would once again wish to congratulate Rhoda Grant on bringing this important issue to the chamber this evening. I now move the closing speech and I call on Marko Beaget, Minister of Seven Minutes, so thereby please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I want to join the chorus of people that have recognised Rhoda Grant for securing this member's debate to highlight the scourge of stalking and to give this important issue the time that it deserves in the chamber. I absolutely support the sentiment of the motion that recognises the severity of stalking and its effect on adults and young people alike. I agree with her remarks in her opening contribution that it is important to keep in mind the distinction between bullying, which is unacceptable behaviour, and stalking, which is a criminal offence. The national union of students had in March published in 2010 provides a real sense of the damaging effects of stalking on young women. The report states that 12 per cent of women students who participated in their national online survey between August 2009 and March 2010 reported being subject to stalking. Almost 90 per cent of perpetrators in those cases were men, and most were known to their victim. That is broadly in line with other findings. For example, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey in 2012-13 found that 8 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds and 10 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds had experienced at least one form of stalking or harassing behaviour in the last 12 months. As we have already heard, stalkers can exhibit a wide range of behaviours. They can follow victims, they can send unwanted messages and gifts, they can damage property. As Margaret McAuliffe pointed out, they can invade homes, and as many people have highlighted, the opening up of the online sphere of human interaction has just created, in many ways, new opportunities for those behaviours to manifest. Kenny MacAskill pointed out that, perhaps in the past, the sense that each of those acts individually can, to some official eyes, appear trivial has led the issue not to be taken as seriously as it should have. However, when viewed through the eyes of the victim of stalking, they take on a new form, they take on a chilling form and they are undisputable in their severity. Contrary to the popular perception of stalkers as strangers who obsessively watch and follow their victims, in reality, as Margaret Mitchell pointed out, most stalkers we believe are known to their victim. Indeed, stalking can be perpetrated by the victim's partner or ex-partner as part of a broader pattern of abusive and controlling behaviour. The linkages to wider issues of violence against women are clear. For those who experience stalking, it can have a massive impact on lives and cause considerable fear and distress. Of those women's students who reported stalking in the NUS survey, one quarter said that it affected their mental health, their studies and relationships. In the most serious cases, stalking can be precursor to serious assault, rape or even murder. We have supported strengthening the criminal law to deal with stalking. We supported the amendments brought forward by Rhoda Grant, which led to the introduction of the statutory stalking offence in 2010. The maximum penalty when tried on indictment is five years in prison. We are currently consulting on a whole number of measures to further strengthen the criminal law in a number of areas around violence against women. Whether a new offence, for example, is required to better reflect the true nature of domestic abuse as experienced by victims, including patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour and a new specific offence related to the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, which is commonly referred to as revenge porn, is on top of funding commitments announced in 28 March that we will invest in additional £20 million over the next three years to tackle and better support victims of violence against women, which is in itself on top of record funding for initiatives to tackle violence against women, with £11.8 million allocated for 2015-16. Stalking is different to bullying. At an issue that we take very seriously, bullying of any kind is unacceptable, must be tackled quickly wherever it arises, whether it is in the home, workplace or school. We want every child and young person in Scotland to grow up free from bullying. We want them to develop respectful, responsible, confident relationships with other children, with young people and adults. It is important that there is that clear distinction. Stalking is criminal and about people, usually men, using it to establish power and control over their victims. Sexual assault and exploitation are not types of bullying, they are abuse. Although those behaviours may start out as bullying, we must ensure that our children and young people and society as a whole understand that sexually aggressive behaviour and bullying are completely unacceptable and that the consequences of taking part in either can be serious without confusing the two. We do not believe that criminal behaviour such as stalking, domestic abuse, rape or sexual assault are inevitable. Preventing that offending behaviour requires us to take action to challenge the negative attitudes, the societal power struggles that often underpin it. We are supporting work in schools by mentors in violence prevention, MVPs Scotland, and an approach to gender violence that aims to equip our young people with an understanding of what constitutes healthy relationships and creates an environment where negative behaviours can be challenged and that that is part of everybody's contribution and role. We are also supporting a partnership led by Respect Me and a range of partners from Rape Crisis Scotland, Zero Tolerance and Sea Op, which aims to raise awareness of gender-based issues, including bullying, harassment and violence. Since the offensive stalking was introduced in October 2010, the number of offences recorded by police in Scotland we can see from the figures has increased year on year. There were 875 in 2013-14, a 45 per cent increase on the 605 offences in the previous year. We believe that this is due to more victims of stalking having the confidence in the police and our criminal justice system that was highlighted by a range of speakers as vital to ensure that those crimes are reported and can be tackled. The figures will go up before they go down, but they must go down and they will go down. We should all recognise the devastating effect of stalking on victims and we should continue in this chamber and beyond working to eradicate it and all other forms of violence against women. Many thanks and thank you all for taking part in this important debate and I now close this meeting of Parliament.