Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she had made a recent assessment of the adequacy of protection and support available for migrant victims of domestic abuse in complying with obligations under Articles 4(3) and 59 of the Istanbul Convention.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of crime are treated first and foremost as victims, regardless of their immigration status. We are committed to looking at options to support all migrant victims of domestic abuse over the longer term.

In April 2021 the Home Office launched the £1.5 million Support for Migrant Victims (SMV) Scheme to support migrant victims of domestic abuse who have no recourse to public funds. The pilot is being run by Southall Black Sisters and their delivery partners for a duration of 12 months and provides accommodation and wrap-around support. We have also appointed an independent evaluator, Behavioural Insights Ltd, to assess the Scheme, with a view to producing a final report in Summer 2022. The Scheme will help the Government secure an accurate picture of the support needs of migrant victims of domestic abuse and will inform subsequent policy decisions.

As set out in the report published on 1 November 2021 under the Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017, the compliance position for Article 4(3) of the Istanbul Convention (to the extent that it relates to non-discrimination on the grounds of migrant or refugee status) and Article 59 is under review pending the evaluation and findings from the SMV scheme. This Government remains committed to ratifying the Convention as soon as possible and is working to resolve the outstanding issues. This commitment was reiterated in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, published in July 2021.