BBC Radio Scotland above and BBC Scotland‘s website today on child experiences of rape and of increased rape reporting:

Scotland’s top law officer has said it is “concerning for all of us” that the number of domestic abuse charges has increased. New figures show that 34,586 charges were reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) last year – an increase of 14% on the previous year. Court action was ordered in 91% of cases.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live/bbc_radio_scotland_fm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx5lxdwyqzo

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Nowhere, this:

Domestic abuse is twice as common in England & Wales 

From Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 2024-25 published today:

The police recorded 64,967 incidents of domestic abuse in 2024-25, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year. Despite increasing over the latest two years, this figure remains below the peak in 2020-21. https://www.gov.scot/news/domestic-abuse-recorded-by-the-police-in-scotland-2024-25/

The introduction of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 and greater recognition of coercive and controlling behaviour have likely improved identification and recording of some forms of abuse that previously might not have been recorded as such. The statistics show offences under that Act now make up a measurable share of recorded domestic-abuse-related offending. https://www.gov.scot/news/domestic-abuse-recorded-by-the-police-in-scotland-2023-24/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

With 11 times the population, you might expect the figure in England & Wales to have been around 650 000.

The official figure in England & Wales – 1 350 460, twice as high: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/domesticabuseprevalenceandtrendsenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2025

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Nor this:

Proportionally 4 times as many children in England & Wales face domestic abuse compared to Scotland 

From Open Democracy on 25 June 2025:

An exclusive investigation by Open Democracy has found that 377,000 children in England and Wales have been identified by local authorities as being at risk of domestic abuse in the past five years. Perhaps even more shockingly, 396 of these children have died in the same period. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/child-victims-domestic-abuse-national-crisis-family-courts-england-wales/

From March 2025:

The Scottish Government has today (26 March 2025) published the latest official annual Children’s Social Work Statistics for Scotland regarding child protection. This uses data collected from all 32 local authorities in Scotland on child protection processes from 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2024.

During the 2023-2024 year, 3,167 children were registered onto the child protection register, a decrease of 2% from 2022-23 (3,234). The figures show that a total of 2,129 children were on the Child Protection Register on 31 July 2024, an increase of 3% since 2023 (2,077).

The most common concerns identified at child protection planning meetings for children registered during the 2023-24 year were: domestic abuse (45% of children registered), neglect (42% of children registered), parental substance use (39% of children registered), parental mental ill health (37% of children registered), and emotional abuse (33% of children registered). https://www.celcis.org/news/news-pages/latest-child-protection-statistics-scotland-published#:~:text=The%20Scottish%20Government%20has%20today%20%2826%20March%202025%29,from%201%20August%202023%20to%2031%20July%202024.

All things being equal, you’d expect the figure for England & Wales to be around 11 times larger than the roughly 1 500 (45% of 3 167) reported as being at risk of domestic abuse in Scotland, or 16 500 but it’s around 75 000 (377 000 over 5 years), more than 4 times higher.

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