Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of setting a target for uptake of training on violence against women and girls for criminal justice practitioners.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to improving the capability and confidence of criminal justice practitioners in responding to violence against women and girls (VAWG), and training is embedded across the criminal justice system to support this.
Training is delivered and monitored by the relevant criminal justice organisation or body. For example, probation staff receive a comprehensive national learning offer that includes mandatory and advanced modules on domestic abuse, stalking and safeguarding. CPS prosecutors receive role-appropriate training on VAWG, ensuring they have the knowledge and skills to handle these cases effectively. In the criminal courts, we have announced that we will make trauma-informed training focused on domestic and sexual abuse available to all staff employed by HMCTS.
Training for the judiciary and the Bar is delivered independently by the Judicial College and the Bar Standards Board, who set and review their own requirements. To preserve judicial independence, the statutory responsibility for judicial training rests with the Lady Chief Justice.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to protect women and girls from violent offenders who have been released.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government was elected with a landmark mission: to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The ‘Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy’ sets out stronger perpetrator management, including the commitment to nationally rollout Domestic Abuse Protection Orders across all police forces in England and Wales, which is critical in meeting this government ambition.
The Probation Service robustly manages offenders released from custody with a range of tools in the community and can respond to any breaches of licence with recall to prison where appropriate. The Sentencing Bill strengthens this by giving new powers to Probation to prohibit offenders from driving, attending public events and entering pubs, clubs and bars. It also introduces restriction zones, which will limit the movements of serious sexual and violent offenders to a specific geographical area, where appropriate, giving victims the peace of mind they deserve.
Further, regarding Electronic Monitoring (EM), the Domestic Abuse Perpetrators on Licence (DAPOL) pilot operates across eight probation regions, allowing Probation Practitioners to impose electronically monitored licence conditions on eligible prison leavers at the point of release from custody where necessary and proportionate. Conditions may include curfews, exclusion zones, required attendance at specified appointments, and GPS trail monitoring, with multiple applied risk assessments support it. DAPOL can also run alongside Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) where alcohol misuse is linked to risk. Evaluation findings indicate that DAPOL provides reassurance to victims, with Victim Liaison Officers reporting that the ability to evidence breaches quickly helps reduce victim anxiety and strengthens confidence in the justice system.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Freedom From Violence and Abuse Strategy, what proportion of the £550 million funding for victim and survivor support services over the next three years will be directed to (a) Specialist services run by and for the community and (b) other domestic abuse services.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government has committed to halving Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in a decade. That is why we are investing £550 million over the next three years for victim and witness support services. The 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales receive annual grant funding from the Ministry of Justice victim and witness budget to commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types, including domestic abuse. This includes ‘core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion based on their assessment of local need, and funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. It is for PCCs to decide how much of their funding will be directed to specialist services run by and for the community, and other domestic abuse services.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many calls were made to police to report incidents of domestic abuse over the Christmas period in December 2024 and 2025.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office collects information from the police on the number of domestic abuse-related incidents from police forces in England and Wales on a quarterly basis. However, these data cannot be further broken down by specific time periods, such as weeks or months.
The latest published data, for the year ending March 2025, are available here: Domestic abuse prevalence and victim characteristics - Office for National Statistics
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her planned timetable is for reviewing the legal framework for domestic abuse.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office is conducting a scoping review into the legal framework of domestic abuse to ensure it captures the experience of adolescents, which will conclude this year.
Asked by: Alice Macdonald (Labour (Co-op) - Norwich North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of technology-facilitated abuse incidents reported to the police in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on technology-facilitated abuse incidents recorded by police forces in England and Wales.
The rapid development of technology has provided additional spaces for technology facilitated abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG) to be perpetrated and has equipped perpetrators with new ways to harass, intimidate, stalk and coerce women and girls.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase community funding for employment and skills support for people living in supported accommodation to prevent future homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through our National Plan to End Homelessness the government is putting prevention at the heart of public services, including action to help prevent homelessness. Through our Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector grant, Homeless Link have produced resources to support homelessness services increase access to employment and volunteering opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness.
The government is investing £3.5 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years. This includes almost £2 billion to prevent and address homelessness and rough sleeping through the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant, which local authorities will be able to use flexibly to meet local need, including by commissioning community organisations to deliver employment and skills support, if appropriate.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional resources she plans to provide to ensure the police can meet the expectation set out in the Freedom From Violence and Abuse Strategy for police forces to follow the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We know that more needs to be done to ensure the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme is as effective as it can be for victims and survivors.
We are working closely with the Independent Office for Police and Conduct and National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection to review the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, and better understand the barriers forces face when applying the statutory guidance, including any resourcing implications.
In the VAWG Strategy, we committed to create a clearer, more consistent framework for police and other agencies to improve implementation of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. We will also develop and roll out a digital tool, to support the police to make better decisions when disclosing to victims and survivors.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that newly recognised refugees who are survivors of trafficking, domestic abuse or torture are not left destitute or homeless when asylum support ends.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office is committed to supporting individuals granted leave to remain to successfully transition from asylum accommodation to mitigate the risk of homelessness.
The government is aware of the need for a smooth transition between asylum accommodation and other accommodation for those asylum seekers who are granted leave to remain. The Home Office is working to identify and implement efficiencies to support this process and mitigate the risk of homelessness.
Additionally, the Home Office has also placed Asylum Move On Liaison Officers (AMLOs) in over 50 Local Authorities across the UK, working alongside the Migrant Help and NGOs to support individuals who will be leaving asylum accommodation, and ensure a successful transition.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when local authorities will be informed of their indicative allocations of the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant for each consecutive financial year from 2026 to 2029.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Provisional allocations of the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant have been published on gov.uk here. Final allocations will be published in due course.