Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many women’s refuges have closed in (a) Kirklees, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England in each of the last 7 years.

My Department does not hold information on refuge closures. We expect local areas to assess their need of services and support for victims of domestic abuse and to provide for that need, for this reason the Government has devolved power and responsibility accordingly.

In our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy the Government committed to review the local approach to refuge provision, two years after the launch of the £20 million Fund (by November 2018). We have launched a tender for an audit of local authority commissioning of domestic abuse services, including refuge, which will inform our review.