Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will remove the reservation on Article 59 of the Istanbul Convention.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The reservation on Article 59 will be kept in place at this time but kept under review as the policies which address support for migrant victims of domestic abuse develop.
We continue to be committed to supporting migrant victims of domestic abuse. This includes the recently expanded Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession, the immediate settlement provisions under Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse and the Support for Migrant Victims Scheme.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing migrant victims of domestic abuse to access support from (a) police and (b) statutory services.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Victims are entitled to access services under the Victims Code regardless of their resident status, including support services. They are rightly able to access statutory services irrespective of their immigration status and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. As an example, the statutory guidance for the Duty to Provide Safe Accommodation under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act is clear that this provision is for all victims of domestic abuse, including migrant survivors with insecure immigration status.
The government has kept the range of support under review and have made recent changes.
We allocated up to £5.6 million from April 2021 until March 2025 for the Support for Migrant Victim Scheme, which provides a support net for migrant victims of abuse with no recourse to public funds. And we have expanded access to the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) to partners of workers or students, giving 3 months recourse to public funds whilst they potentially apply for an appropriate immigration status or return to their country of origin if it is safe for them to do so.