Queen's Speech December 2019 - Domestic Abuse Bill

Domestic Abuse Bill

“My government will ensure...that the courts work better for all those who engage with them, including victims of domestic abuse.”

The purpose of the Bill is to:

● Transform the response to domestic abuse to better protect victims and their children, ensuring that they have the support they need and offenders are brought to justice.

The main benefits of the Bill would be:

• ●  Changing the justice system so it better serves victims of domestic abuse.

• ●  Reducing offending and re-offending.

• ●  Strengthening the support for victims and their children provided by local authorities and other statutory agencies.

  The main elements of the Bill are:

  • ●  Creating a statutory definition of domestic abuse, emphasising that domestic abuse is not just physical or sexual violence, but can also involve emotional, coercive or controlling, and economic abuse.

  • ●  Establishing in law the Domestic Abuse Commissioner to: stand up for victims and survivors; raise public awareness; monitor the response of local authorities, the justice system and other statutory agencies; and hold them to account in tackling domestic abuse.

  • ●  Providing for a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Domestic Abuse Protection Order - placing restrictions and other requirements on perpetrators in order to better protect victims.

  • ●  Placing a duty on tier one local authorities in England (County Councils, Metropolitan and Unitary Authorities, the Greater London Authority) to provide support to victims of domestic abuse and their children in refuges and other safe accommodation.

  • ●  Creating a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse are eligible for special measures in the criminal courts (for example, to enable them to give evidence via a video link).

79

• ●  Placing the guidance supporting the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (“Clare’s Law”) on a statutory footing.

• ●  Creating a new domestic abuse offence in Northern Ireland to criminalise controlling or coercive behaviour.

• ●  Prohibiting perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in the family courts.

• ●  Extending the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the UK courts so that, where appropriate, UK nationals and residents who commit certain violent and sexual offences outside the UK may be brought to trial in the UK.

  Territorial extent and application

● The Bill's provisions would extend and apply in the main to England and Wales. Some provisions would extend and apply to the whole of the UK. Domestic abuse policy is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Criminal justice policy is devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Integrated Domestic Abuse Courts

● In our manifesto we also committed to piloting integrated domestic abuse courts. We want the courts to deliver the best outcomes they can for victims of domestic abuse and are considering how we achieve that.

Key facts

• ●  The offence of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship was introduced in 2015.

• ●  In the year ending March 2019, an estimated 2.4 million adults aged 16 to 74 experienced domestic abuse (1.6 million women and 786,000 men).

• ●  Around one in five children have been exposed to domestic abuse.

• ●  The police recorded 746,219 domestic abuse-related crimes in the year ending March 2019, an increase of 24 per cent from the previous year. This increase may reflect factors related to reporting and recording and does not provide a reliable indication of current trends.

• ●  For the year ending March 2017, the cost of domestic abuse for victims was estimated to be approximately £66 billion in England and Wales (this includes

80

the impact of physical and emotional harms in terms of lost output, health services and police costs).

● On 18 September 2019, Nicole Jacobs (former CEO of Standing Together Against Domestic Violence) was appointed as Designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner.