Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will require police and crime commissioners to report annually on (a) prevention, (b) investigation and (c) post-conviction protection of victims of domestic violence.

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are required under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 to produce Police and Crime Plans which set out the victims’ services that they plan to provide during their term of office. PCCs are also required to publish an annual report at the end of each financial year that demonstrates the progress which has been made in meeting those plans.

This Government through its Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy will bring forward a Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill that will look at all the measures that have been introduced so far and see what further improvements can be made to ensure that victims of domestic abuse have the confidence to come forward and report their experiences, safe in the knowledge that the state and the justice system will do everything it can to both support them and pursue their abuser.