Oral Answers to Questions

Danny Chambers Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. We need to make progress on this issue, and we are determined to do so.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

8. What steps she is taking to support victims of violence against women through the criminal justice system.

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

We are funding police support services such as independent sexual advisers and domestic abuse advisers. We have launched domestic abuse protection orders in selected areas, and, as recommended by the sentencing review, we are exploring the possibility of expanding the use of domestic abuse specialist courts. We have asked Sir Brian Leveson to conduct a review of our criminal courts with the ambition of reducing the time for which victims wait for justice.

[Dr Chambers]

A woman from Winchester wrote to me saying:

“It feels as though every department that should have protected us has instead failed us”.

After years of high-risk domestic abuse, she went through a CID investigation to prove that she needed financial separation, but the police missed the Crown Prosecution Service investigation deadline and no charges were brought. She is now unable to secure child maintenance. Her abuser remains in financial control, which is effectively enabled by Government systems. What discussions is the Minister having with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to ensure that perpetrators of domestic abuse can no longer use financial systems to maintain power and control over their victims?

[Alex Davies-Jones]

The hon. Member has made the important point that this is not just a criminal justice problem to be solved, but a problem for every single Department. That is why we have a cross-Government strategy on tackling violence against women and girls, which includes economic abuse. Along with the Safeguarding Minister, I regularly meet Treasury and DWP colleagues in order to get to grips with the problem, and we will publish our strategy in the coming months.