Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new policies to help improve protection for people at risk of domestic homicide in all regions.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
In the 2022 Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan the government outlined a package of measures to reduce domestic homicides and reform the Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) process.
DHRs are reviews into deaths related to domestic abuse which seek to identify what lessons can be learnt and implemented to prevent future deaths.
In June 2023, we launched the online DHR Library to help ensure police and partners have easy access to material to learn from previous homicides and prevent future deaths linked to domestic abuse.
The implementation of reforms to DHRs will improve our understanding and drive down the frequency of domestic homicides.
The Home Office also funds the collection of data on deaths related to domestic abuse through the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Domestic Homicide Project. The project brings together data and information on prior agency knowledge of victims and risk factors to improve the evidence base and subsequent policy responses for preventing domestic homicides.
To gain protection from domestic abuse a protective order can be applied for. Police can apply for a Domestic Violence Protection Order, victims can apply for a Non-Molestation Order and criminal courts can impose a Restraining Order on acquittal or conviction of a criminal offence. The introduction of the new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Order, will help simplify and strengthen the protection for victims avaliable, introducing new features like mandatory notification requirements and electronic monitoring (“tagging”). The new order will be piloted in Greater Manchester, the London Boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, and Bromley, and with the British Transport Police.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 17238 on Migrants: Domestic Violence, for what reason his Department does not routinely publish information on the concession or immediate settlement for migrant victims of domestic abuse in a reportable format; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing the number of individuals who have claimed indefinite leave to remain through the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession (a) in each year between 2018 and 2023 and (b) annually from 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data relating to specific concessions within the Act are not published as part of the National Statistics series. The latest quarterly Immigration Systems Statistics were published in February 2024, and include data for the period to December 2023. Table Se_04, “Grants of settlement to spouses on the basis of marriage”, is included within the Settlement summary tables: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d8880b54f1e70011165916/settlement-summary-dec-2023-tables.xlsx.
Table Se_04 provides data on persons “Granted settlement due to domestic violence after leave to remain granted as a spouse”. The published statistics do not show how many or what proportion of these would have applied under DDVC.
There are currently no plans to publish the requested information within these tables. However, the contents of all tables are regularly reviewed to ensure they are appropriate and meet the requirements of users.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take steps to assess the efficacy of restraining orders in preventing repeat incidents of domestic violence (i) in minority ethnic communities and (ii) generally.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Restraining orders play an important role in ensuring that victims are appropriately protected, and feel safer, particularly within the context of repeated and/or escalating behaviour that disproportionately impacts women and girls, such as domestic abuse.
They are one of several existing protective orders that can be used in cases of domestic abuse to protect a victim, such as Non-Molestation Orders, Stalking Protection Orders, and Domestic Violence Protection Orders.
Abusers who breach restraining orders face tough penalties including jail time. Where a restraining order is breached, CPS guidance encourages prosecutors to consider whether a new course of conduct is present and, if so, to ensure that it is prosecuted in addition to the breach in question.
Safeguarding victims of all crimes, and particularly from those such as domestic abuse is a priority for this Government. That is why we are going further to protect victims of domestic abuse by piloting a new Domestic Abuse Protection Order from Spring 2024 which will give courts the power to impose exclusion zones, curfews, and electronic monitoring tags on abusers. The order will be independently evaluated to understand its effectiveness in protecting all victims.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will provide additional funding for charities that support women who are victims of domestic violence.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Through the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night Funds, the Home Office has invested over £150 million to deliver interventions to tackle violence against women and girls, anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime.
In 2023/24, the Ministry of Justice provided £21 million for community-based serious violence and domestic abuse services, and £38 million for Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors posts. In all, the Ministry of Justice is quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25, up from £41 million in 2009/10.
And at Autumn Statement 2023, the government announced £10 million of additional funding available in 2024/25 for projects that aim to understand the impacts of domestic abuse on the labour market, support victims of domestic abuse in the workplace or prevent victims experiencing further abuse.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle violence and sexual offences in Preston.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
As part of steps taken through our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, we are tackling perpetrators and supporting victims.
We have provided funding to the Lancashire PCC to roll out the Drive Project, which focuses on the most serious domestic abuse offenders to prevent them from abusing again, and funded Preston based Saraha to provide bilingual, comprehensive, face-to-face support service for women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds who are victims of domestic abuse.
Nationally, we have invested £9.4 million to develop a New Operation Model for the investigation of rape through Operation Soteria. This ensures investigations are suspect based. All police forces in England and Wales are now implementing this new approach to rape investigations and we have provided £8.5m in 2023/24 to continue to support policing to improve their response to rape.
Through the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night Funds, we have invested over £150 million to deliver interventions to tackle violence against women, anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime.
This includes just over £3.4m for Lancashire, of which £146,568 has been awarded to Preston City Council to fund interventions such as the installation of CCTV, the deployment of taxi stewards and night-time economy sector training, along with improvements to accommodation for services assisting women at risk and recovery services for victims of sexual violence.
Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £8m for a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in Lancashire. VRUs bring together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area, including sexual abuse and domestic abuse.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the statement entitled Domestic Abuse Commissioner responds to Criminal Justice reforms in the King’s Speech, published on 7 November 2023, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure perpetrators of domestic abuse can be removed from the police force and police staff as well as changes to police regulations to remove warrant cards from police officers under investigation for violence against women and girls offences.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Existing Regulations provide Chief Constables with a power to suspend officers under investigation, including where it is in the public interest to do so.
In February, Government announced that it will legislate for automatic suspension in cases where an officer is charged with an indictable only offence, and a presumption of suspension where an officer is charged with an either way offence. When suspended, an officer is suspended from the Office of Constable and its associated powers. Forces should remove officers’ warrant cards from them where this happens.
The Government is further introducing measures to strengthen the system for removing officers who are not fit to serve. These include a presumption of dismissal where officers are found to have committed gross misconduct and a clarified route to remove officers who fail to hold and maintain vetting.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help support the mental health of victims while they wait for rape trials.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Supporting victims of sexual violence and abuse is an absolute priority for this government.
We have taken a number of steps to support the mental health of victims while they wait for rape trials.
In December 2022, the Ministry of Justice launched the 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line to provide victims and survivors access to vital help and information whenever they need it.
In August 2023, we launched the recommissioned Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, providing £26 million to over 60 specialist support services.
The Government is also quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25, up from £41 million in 2009/10. This includes additional ringfenced funding to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) to around 1,000 by 2024/25 - a significant increase on the number of ISVAs and IDVAs.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to provide funding to Women's Aid in the next three financial years.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Tackling violence against women and girls is a government priority. Our strategies aim to transform the whole of society’s response to these crimes with actions to prevent abuse, support victims and ensure more perpetrators are bought to justice.
The Home Office has provided funding to Women’s Aid of up to £1.34m until March 2025 to deliver the Flexible Fund. This fund will help hundreds of domestic abuse victims next year who will receive lifeline payments to help escape tormenting and often life-threatening abuse, providing the chance to rebuild their lives. We are also investing £753k into Women’s Aid next year to improve the awareness of domestic abuse amongst young people.
Funding beyond March 2025 is subject to future budgets which will be set through the next Spending Review process.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled Tackling violence against women and girls strategy, published on 21 July 2021, what progress his Department has made on ensuring support is provided to survivors of gender-based violence.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We have completed or closed over half of all cross-government commitments in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy (2021) and Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan (2022).
This includes:
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the use of out of area residential accommodation for children with additional needs.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. Though the department wants to reduce out of area placements, sometimes circumstances make it the right decision for a child to be placed elsewhere, for example when they are at risk from domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, trafficking or gang violence.
Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly, and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each such decision, and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.
The department recognises, however, that there are issues in the placement market, which is why the department has announced over £400 million in capital funding to help local authorities create more beds in their local areas. This will help create 560 additional placements across England.
The department is also investing £36 million this parliament to deliver a fostering recruitment and retention programme so that foster care is available for more children who need it. This will boost approvals of foster carers, as well as taking steps to retain the carers already in place.