Oral Answers to Questions

Antony Higginbotham Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Robert Buckland]

The hon. Lady is right to raise the position with regard to our outstanding prison officers. She can be reassured that as a result of the Chancellor’s announcement regarding the pay freeze, a lot of officers will receive the £250 rise next year, and there will be incremental increases to pay that are part of their current terms of employment. I hear what she says about the particular decision that we had to take. It was not an easy one. We are living in exceptional times, and I will continue to work as constructively as possible with the Prison Officers Association and other representative bodies to ensure not only that we reflect the need for support for our prison officers but that we retain as many of them as possible. It is not an easy balancing exercise. We did carry out the vast majority of the recommendations, but considering the times in which we live at the moment, that particular recommendation was not one we felt able to support at this time.

[Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con)]

  This week is children’s mental health awareness week, and information from the Children’s Commissioner indicates that there are more than 1,000 children in Burnley who live in a household where domestic violence occurs. Could my right hon. and learned Friend therefore update us on the status of the Domestic Abuse Bill, which will protect all victims of domestic abuse including the children who witness it?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Alex Chalk)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that point so powerfully. We fully recognise the devastating impact that domestic abuse has on children and their futures. The Domestic Abuse Bill will ensure that all children who experience the effects of domestic abuse are considered victims of domestic abuse in their own right, whether or not they are related to the victim or the perpetrator. I am pleased to report that the Bill was given a Second Reading in the other place last month, and we expect it to complete its passage by the spring.