Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help strengthen support for victims of domestic abuse in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

This Government is committed to supporting all victims of domestic abuse. Our landmark Domestic Abuse Act will strengthen our protection to victims and ensure perpetrators feel the full force of the law. It includes the first legal definition of domestic abuse, improved support for victims in the courts, new offences and strengthened legislation around cruel acts of controlling or coercive behaviour. The majority of the provisions in the Act apply to England and Wales, or England only.

Alongside this, in the coming months we will be publishing our Domestic Abuse Strategy, which will seek to transform the whole of society’s response to domestic abuse in order to prevent offending, support victims and pursue perpetrators, as well as to strengthen the systems in place to address it.

In 2021-22, Government will provide just under £151m for victim and witness support services. This includes an extra £51m to increase support for rape and domestic abuse victims; £27m for creating 700 new posts for Independent Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Advisers; £20.7m for local, community-based sexual violence and domestic abuse services; and £2m for smaller specialist organisations helping Black, Asian and minority ethnic, LGBTQ+ or disabled victims. The majority of this funding has a national reach across England and Wales and therefore will cover areas such as the West Midlands. Specifically in the West Midlands, the Home Office provides £300,000 to Black Country Women’s Aid to provide therapeutic support to children, as part of the 21/22 £3.1m Children Affected by Domestic Abuse Fund.

The Home Office also launched a new Ask for ANI Codeword scheme in January 2021 to enable victims to seek safe and discreet support from participating pharmacies.