Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has evidence for a link between alcohol use and domestic violence.

Alcohol is associated with an increase in the likelihood and severity of domestic abuse (see Guedes et al., 2016) However, the current evidence does not prove a causal relationship between alcohol and domestic abuse with wider evidence indicating a range of risk factors, alongside alcohol use, contributing to domestic abuse.

Crime Survey for England and Wales for the year ending March 2018 found 16.6% of partner abuse victims in the previous year reported that the offender was under the influence of alcohol (ONS. Partner abuse in detail – Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk): Data year ending March 2018.)

Source cited:

Guedes, A., Bott, S., Garcia-Moreno, C., Colombini, M., 2016. Bridging the gaps: a global review of intersections of violence against women and violence against children. Global Health Action, 9(1); Capaldi, D. Knoble, N. Shortt, J. Hyon, K., 2012. A systematic review of risk factors for intimate partner violence. Partner Abuse. Volume 2, Issue 3, pp 231-280.