Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has completed its review of service provision of June 2022 to determine whether forensic and medical interventions for non-fatal strangulation which occur in domestic abuse should form part of the core offer for sexual assault referral centres or should be cared for elsewhere.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Sexual Assault Referral Centre’s (SARC) Service Specification, as reviewed and updated in June 2023, now reflects the offence of non-fatal strangulation (NFS). The specification states: Appropriate medical and forensic interventional support is provided to all service users presenting with sexual assault and/or sexual abuse where the presenting need also indicates non-fatal strangulation. It is widely acknowledged that many victims of sexual assault will have also experienced domestic abuse.
For cases of non-fatal strangulation not associated with sexual assault, victims’ immediate healthcare needs can be treated in other acute healthcare settings such as emergency departments. The Institute for Addressing Strangulation recently published guidelines for clinical management of non-fatal strangulation in acute and emergency care services.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of the Ask for ANI domestic abuse scheme in 2023.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Home Office allocated £243,662 in the financial year 2022/23 and £168,449 in the financial year 2023/24 to Hestia Housing for the delivery of the Ask for ANI scheme.
In the financial year 2022/23, we also allocated £45,323 to develop an e-learning module and accompanying communications assets to complement the launch of the Ask for ANI in Jobcentre and Jobs and Benefits Offices pilot sites.
The Home Office has also commissioned an independent evaluation to understand how the scheme has been implemented across the Jobcentre and Jobs and Benefits Offices pilot sites. This evaluation is yet to be concluded but has so far cost £116,087.