Vikki Slade
Main Page: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)Department Debates - View all Vikki Slade's debates with the Home Office
(5 days, 6 hours ago)
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Jess Phillips
I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and I suppose I want to say from this Dispatch Box that I want that perpetrator to be inconvenienced. Inconveniencing him is exactly what we should try to do, which is why this Government are tackling perpetrators —that is essentially about shifting the focus on to those who cause harm. We are rolling out domestic abuse protection orders, removing the burden on victims by placing stronger, enforceable prohibitions and requirements on the perpetrators, such as electronic monitoring and positive requirements to keep victims safe. Importantly, a breach of that order is a criminal offence.
Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
The child maintenance system is being used, as the Minister knows, to abuse women after they have left their relationship. One of my constituents lost her home after she was manipulated into selling it. Her ex-partner put the money into a joint account, and he then bought a new house in his own name. He left her and is now living the life of Riley while she is doing three jobs and cannot get a penny out of him in child maintenance. I have written to the Minister to ask her to meet my constituent and two other women. Will she please agree to meet us, so that we can give those women the visibility they need in holding the men to account?
Jess Phillips
The hon. Lady’s constituent’s experience is not unfamiliar to any Member of Parliament who has ever had to deal with the Child Maintenance Agency. That is why child maintenance was included in the violence against women and girls strategy. We will ensure that the abuse of women through child maintenance can no longer happen. Like always, I am more than happy to meet the hon. Lady and her constituents.