Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to address, and (2) to prevent, cases in the UK of (a) forced labour, (b) people trafficking, and (c) exploitation of domestic workers from overseas countries.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery and through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, we have given law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery, including maximum life sentences for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims. Modern slavery is a complex crime that requires an end-to-end response both nationally and internationally – and that is why we are investing in a multi-agency approach across a range of activities, which include:
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 107146 on Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes, what progress her Department has made on delivery of the flexible fund in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan .
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Government is committed to delivering the ‘flexible fund’ that was set out in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan published in March 2022. The Plan made several multi-year commitments covering the duration of this Parliament, including the flexible fund.
Since the Plan was published, detailed work has been underway on how such a fund could be operationalised. This includes considering the advantages and disadvantages of the fund making direct cash payments to victims and survivors, as opposed to domestic abuse charities purchasing goods and services on behalf of victims and survivors.
If the fund were to make cash payments, we have considered how to ensure they solely benefit victims and survivors. This is particularly important in cases of economic abuse, where perpetrators control the finances of those they abuse.
Further details on how the ‘flexible fund’ will be delivered should be made in the coming months.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the proportion of (a) victims and (b) perpetrators of domestic abuse of people over the age of 65 by police authority.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Home Office holds information on the number of domestic abuse-related offences by age of victim recorded by 26 police forces in England and Wales. Data on the proportion of these offences that involved a victim aged 65 or over for the financial year 2021/22 for these forces are given in the table.
The Home Office does not hold routinely collect data on the age of the perpetrator for these offences.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the debate entitled The Istanbul Convention, which took place at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 January 2023.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The UK ratified the Istanbul Convention on 21 July 2022, demonstrating our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG). The Convention came into force in the UK on 1 November 2022.
The Government recognises the crucial work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the involvement of all members of the UK delegation. We know of the important PACE debate which took place on the Istanbul Convention on 25 January, during which there was a discussion, amongst other things, about how we need societal attitudes to change and the importance of educating everyone, in particular men and boys, that VAWG is unacceptable. We recognise this and that is why in March 2022, we launched a national communications campaign, ‘Enough’, to target and challenge the harmful behaviours that exist within society, educate young people about healthy relationships and consent, and ensure victims can recognise abuse and receive support. The second phase of the campaign launched in October 2022 and focuses on the range of safe ways a bystander can safely intervene if they witness VAWG.
Our Tackling VAWG Strategy and complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan aim to transform the response to these crimes with actions to prevent abuse, support victims and pursue perpetrators, as well as to ensure the right systems are in place to tackle them.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to tackle violence against women and girls.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is a government priority. VAWG is an unacceptable, preventable issue which blights the lives of millions.
We have made significant progress since we published the Tackling VAWG Strategy in July 2021 and the complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan in March 2022, including action to tackle the causes of these crimes. This includes supporting the introduction of a new full-time National Policing Lead for VAWG, DCC Maggie Blyth, to help strengthen the police response as well as ratifying the Istanbul Convention on 21 July 2022.
The Government recently announced that we are supporting the Rt Hon Greg Clark MP’s Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Bill, which would make public sexual harassment a specific offence. It provides that if someone commits an offence under existing section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 (intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress) and did so because of the victim’s sex, then they could obtain a higher sentence.
Last year we launched our national communications campaign, ‘Enough’, to challenge the harmful behaviours that exist within wider society, educate young people about healthy relationships and consent, and ensure victims can recognise abuse and receive support. Phase two of the campaign started on 25 October.
In addition, this year the government has launched the ongoing VAWG Support and Specialist Service Fund and the Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Intervention Fund. The former sees the Ministry of Justice and Home Office committing up to £8.4 million of funding for specialised victims’ support services over two years. The latter seeks to award grant funding of up to £36 million over two years to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to deliver interventions for domestic abuse and stalking perpetrators.
New duties on Tier 1 local authorities in England, included in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force on 1st October 2021, ensuring victims and their children across England can access the right support in safe accommodation when they need it. On 12 December 2022 we announced a further two years of government funding - £127.3 million and £129.7 million for the delivery of these duties in 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the effective management and monitoring of serial preparators of domestic abuse.
Answered by Sarah Dines
In March 2022, we published the cross-Government Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan. The Plan delivers on the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act duty to publish a comprehensive Perpetrator Strategy. It sets out how we will bring more perpetrators to justice and reduce reoffending, including £75 million for tackling perpetrators over three years to fund interventions for perpetrators to disrupt or change their behaviour, evaluation of interventions, and further research to continue to build our understanding of ‘what works’.
Over the last three years we have been investing in increasing the availability of interventions for domestic abuse perpetrators, including behaviour change and stalking programmes, and expanding projects such as Drive. We have awarded Police and Crime Commissioners £16.9 million in the last financial year and will soon be launching the next iteration of funding for PCCs.
However, we know more needs to be done to robustly manage the most harmful perpetrators of domestic abuse. In the Domestic Abuse Plan we set out our intention to explore options for how best to do this, including through exploring the feasibility of a domestic abuse register. We are currently considering the various options for what form a perpetrator register could take – it is important this is done thoroughly so as not to cause unintended consequences.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 legislated for a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice (DAPN) and civil Domestic Abuse Protection Order (DAPO). The new order will be available in all court jurisdictions and breach will be a criminal offence. In addition to prohibitions, the DAPO will be able to impose electronic monitoring requirements and referrals onto perpetrator programmes to help manage repeat offending. DAPNs and DAPOs will be piloted from Spring 2024 test their impact and effectiveness before an expected national roll-out.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve the charge rates for perpetrators of violence against women and girls.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls is a priority for this government. We expect police to treat all victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence with the sensitivity and compassion they deserve.
In July 2021, the Government published an ambitious cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. The strategy set out actions to prioritise prevention, help support survivors, strengthen the pursuit of perpetrators and create a stronger system, with an ultimate long-term objective of reducing the prevalence of these crimes.
In driving delivery of our commitments set out in the strategy, we have supported the introduction of a new full-time National Policing Lead for Violence Against Women and Girls, DCC Maggie Blyth. We have also announced that we will be adding violence against women and girls to the Strategic Policing Requirement, meaning it will be set out as a national threat for forces to respond to alongside other threats such as terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse.
To strengthen the police response to domestic abuse nationally and as part of our commitment in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, we have committed up to £3.3m to support the development and further rollout of the Domestic Abuse Matters training.
As part of this commitment, we are funding the development of a new module of the training that is targeted at officers investigating domestic abuse offences to enable further improvement in police responses to domestic abuse incidents. Humberside Police, which covers Hull North, have undertaken the Domestic Abuse Matters training, and we are grateful to them for prioritising this important training in their force.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure police officers are effectively trained to handle cases of domestic abuse and sexual violence in Hull North.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls is a priority for this government. We expect police to treat all victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence with the sensitivity and compassion they deserve.
In July 2021, the Government published an ambitious cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. The strategy set out actions to prioritise prevention, help support survivors, strengthen the pursuit of perpetrators and create a stronger system, with an ultimate long-term objective of reducing the prevalence of these crimes.
In driving delivery of our commitments set out in the strategy, we have supported the introduction of a new full-time National Policing Lead for Violence Against Women and Girls, DCC Maggie Blyth. We have also announced that we will be adding violence against women and girls to the Strategic Policing Requirement, meaning it will be set out as a national threat for forces to respond to alongside other threats such as terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse.
To strengthen the police response to domestic abuse nationally and as part of our commitment in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, we have committed up to £3.3m to support the development and further rollout of the Domestic Abuse Matters training.
As part of this commitment, we are funding the development of a new module of the training that is targeted at officers investigating domestic abuse offences to enable further improvement in police responses to domestic abuse incidents. Humberside Police, which covers Hull North, have undertaken the Domestic Abuse Matters training, and we are grateful to them for prioritising this important training in their force.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an emergency fund for those impacted by domestic abuse to provide them with the resources required to flee the perpetrators of that abuse in the context of the increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for this Government. A key part of this is making sure victims and survivors get the support they need.
The Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which we published in March, invests over £230 million, including over £140 million specifically for supporting victims and survivors. The commitments in the Plan include doubling funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline.
The Plan also committed to establish trials of a ‘flexible fund’, which charities could use to provide extra money to victims and survivors in light of the increased cost of living.
More widely, the Government is providing direct Cost of Living Payments to more than 8 million UK households on means tested benefits. These payments will be tax-free, will not count towards the benefit cap, and will not have any impact on existing benefit awards. The Government also is protecting the most vulnerable in society, many of whom face the biggest challenge making their incomes stretch, by increasing benefits in line with inflation. This means that they will rise by September Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation – 10.1%.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects the recommendations of Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases report, published in June 2020, to be implemented.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Good progress has been made on delivering the commitments taken forward in the Government’s Implementation Plan, with the majority of these measures already in place or in progress.
Changes were brought in as part of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, including automatic eligibility for special measures in the Family Court, the prohibition of cross examination of victims by perpetrators or alleged perpetrators, and a clarification of the law on the use of section 91(14) orders in domestic abuse circumstances. These measures have all now come into force.
We are currently undertaking a review into the presumption of parental involvement and its risk of harm exception, in private law children's cases. The evidence gathering stage of the review is currently being undertaken and the final report from the review will be published in 2023.
In addition, we are testing reforms to the Child Arrangements Programme and seeking to enhance the voice of the child through the Investigative Approach pilot which has launched in Dorset and North Wales, and through the flexible case management provisions introduced by Practice Direction 36Y.
Work is also being progressed through the Family Procedure Rule Committee on amending Rules and Practice Directions to allow IDVAs and ISVAs to accompany parties in the courtroom as a default.