Male Abusive Behaviour

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

Wednesday 8th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My noble friend is right to point out that there are male victims of domestic violence but I do not think the number is as high as one in three. I think something like 7% or 8% of victims are men. He raises a very important point, however: for men, shame is a terrible thing, which often prevents their coming forward and seeking help. Advice lines for men are available—for example, the Men’s Advice Line. I am not undermining the suffering that men go through.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interests in Changing Lives and the Lloyds Bank Foundation. We are doing a lot of work with perpetrators, but also in making sure that commissioners know and understand what is needed in this area. May I remind the Minister that it is becoming increasingly clear that virtually 100% of those women who end up on the wrong side of the criminal justice system or homeless have suffered abuse as children and then again as adults? This is a real crisis in our society and we have to take hold of it. When I first got involved in one of the first refuges in the country 40-odd years ago, we simply had no idea of the extent of the problem. Women are not here to be abused. We must have equality; that is the basic thing that needs to be taken through schools and every other way.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

If I have time to answer the noble Baroness, I completely concur with her point: not only are these women victims of homelessness, sometimes, but of drug abuse or depression, which may have arisen from it or be a result of it. The problems arising from domestic violence are massive and the cost to society is too.

Homelessness: Rough Sleeping

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

Monday 7th March 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, there are a number of reasons why people sleep rough. The noble Lord has alluded to one of them. But he is absolutely right to suggest that we need to tackle the rough sleepers and make sure that they do not spend a second night out, but also, where it is necessary, provide the bed spaces for those who need them.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, given the Minister’s Answer, is she able to tell us why rough sleeping has more than quadrupled during the period of this Government and why we are now unable, particularly in London, to find beds for rough sleepers?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, as I say, the reasons for rough sleeping are many and complex—they are. A number of people do actually choose to sleep rough. Without commenting on that, this Government are committed not only to tackling rough sleeping, ensuring that nobody spends a second night out, but in one local authority there is actually a no-first-night-out programme in place. That is why we have protected, both centrally and locally, homelessness prevention programmes.

Local Government Funding

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

Wednesday 8th July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

There are quite a few, my Lords. If my noble friend has concerns about that, I share them.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister rethink what she has being saying? It is not that local government has been dependent on grant, but that the Government have stopped it from raising any further money locally and cut the grant. Also, areas that she and I know very well have lost in the reassessment of the deprivation index. Those are still the areas that have the most people who are the most vulnerable. Will the Government be honest and fair and recognise that there is need out there? Yes, there needs to be more local decision-making, but there also needs to be fairness across the country and a recognition that we need to work more effectively with local government to ensure that those services enable their people to deal with a global problem.