Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons gender-based violence has been included in the Adults at Risk guidelines to caseworkers under the category mental health conditions.

The adults at risk guidelines were written specifically for Home Office decision makers and in a way which simply brigaded conditions or events (such as events of sexual or gender based violence) which may have impacted on an individual’s mental condition and, in turn, their suitability for detention.

This does not imply that sexual or gender based violence is regarded as being subordinate to mental health conditions generally – it is simply an acknowledgment that sexual or gender based violence may have an impact on the individual’s mental health.