Asked by Baroness Bertin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what
support they are giving to women who are victims of domestic
violence. The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of
Trafford) (Con) My Lords, we have already committed increased
funding of £100 million to support victims of violence against
women and girls, and today have...Request free trial
Asked by
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Baroness Bertin
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are
giving to women who are victims of domestic violence.
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The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of
Trafford) (Con)
My Lords, we have already committed increased funding of
£100 million to support victims of violence against women
and girls, and today have launched a wide-ranging
consultation working towards a domestic abuse Bill which
seeks views on a suite of proposals to do more still to
support victims and target perpetrators of these terrible
crimes.
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Baroness Bertin (Con)
I thank my noble friend the Minister for her Answer. While
we need to change the narrative on domestic abuse from “Why
didn’t she leave?” to “Why didn’t he stop?”, all women
fleeing abuse must have a safe place to run to. However,
there have been many deeply worrying reports and
accusations that the number of spaces for women in refuges
is being reduced. Can my noble friend reassure the House
that this is not the case? Can she also acknowledge how
crucial it is to take early and preventive action,
particularly when it comes to supporting the thousands of
children who witness abuse on a daily basis?
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I thank my noble friend for her question. I can reassure
her that the provision of bed spaces has increased by 10%
since 2010. We want to be very clear that the current level
of refuge provision will not reduce—she may have heard my
right honourable friend the Home Secretary state that this
morning. We have heard the need for sustainable funding for
refuges, which is why we are reviewing the way in which
refuges and supported housing are delivered. We have asked
all the charities and organisations working on the front
line to feed in their expertise and come forward with their
ideas on how best to deliver this on the ground. The
process is ongoing. We have been clear that no options are
off the table as we work with them to ensure that women
requiring support in their time of need are not let down.
My noble friend was absolutely right when she talked about
early intervention to prevent domestic abuse, which is why
the domestic abuse consultation is coming about. Children,
as she mentioned, are at the forefront of this work. Today,
we have announced £8 million of funding to support—
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Noble Lords
Oh!
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Today, we have announced £8 million of funding to support
children who witness domestic abuse and to help with their
recovery. I am sorry if I have taken too long, but this is
an important subject.
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(Lab)
My Lords, a major difficulty in some of these appalling
cases, in which I have been involved judicially, is that
there are no witnesses other than the participants. That is
one of the problems of proving the cases. Do I presume that
the same standard of proof will prevail nevertheless?
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The noble and learned Lord is absolutely right that, quite
often, there are no witnesses other than the participants who
mete out such abuse on women; quite often, there are no
physical signs of abuse where it involves coercive control
and, as the Home Secretary mentioned this morning, economic
control of women. That is why we are strengthening the law
and why we have gone out to consultation: so that such things
may be pursued. It is also why the domestic violence
protection order is being introduced.
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(CB)
My Lords, from what the Minister has already said it is clear
that she fully understands and accepts that domestic violence
is a real threat to the well-being and proper development of
children. In this consultation, can further consideration be
given, in cases where police are called to a home because of
an instance of domestic violence and children are present, to
requiring that the police automatically contact the
safeguarding unit of the local authority to ensure that that
the children’s needs are considered as well as those of the
adults involved?
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I thank the noble Lord for that question; he has extensive
experience of this area. We have allocated additional funding
to the College of Policing to improve training for some of
those first-line responders, who in the past may not have
been aware of children’s needs, Children who suffer even one
incident in which they witness domestic abuse can sometimes
be affected for their entire lives.
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(LD)
My Lords, in welcoming the Government’s latest initiative on
controlling and coercive behaviour, I would highlight the
study by the charity Refuge, which found that one in four 16
to 21 year-olds—young people—thought it perfectly normal that
coercive and controlling behaviour took place. It is growing,
and we know that it is a precursor to physical violence in
the end. Will the Minister say a bit more about what is being
done to educate young people, and indeed the public—women in
general—that coercive, controlling and psychological abuse is
not acceptable and that they can seek help?
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I am grateful to the noble Baroness for raising that point.
Coercive and controlling behaviour may not even be seen as
that by the victim—I think that is the point the noble
Baroness is making. We can do much through PSHE and educating
girls in self-respect. Education in the use of social media
and the internet is crucial in this area. The statistics
cited by the noble Baroness do not surprise me, and we have
much to do to educate our young women.
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(Con)
Will the Minister consider making severe facial trauma a
notifiable condition? These men smash up their wives and then
take them to a hospital to be treated. The next time they
take them to a different hospital, and the third time yet
another hospital. If it were a notifiable condition all this
would add up and prosecutions might well take place.
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I will certainly take back my noble friend’s suggestion. He
touches on a very important point: not only might these women
be taken to different hospitals each time, but the woman
might feel too frightened to report what she has gone
through. The whole purpose of some of the Government’s
initiatives is that women should no longer feel frightened to
come forward and get the support they need through these
terrible traumas.
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(Lab)
My Lords, am I right in thinking that in February 2017
announced a domestic
violence and abuse Act? We have seen no moves towards that
Act, as far as I know. A consultation was promised; more
consultation is now being promised. What does this
consultation consist of? Do we need more consultation, or
should we just get on with it?
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I can assure the noble Baroness that the VAWG commitments
that made, both as Prime
Minister and previously as Home Secretary, are still firm. It
is not an either/or in terms of the commitments—the measures
in the Bill—will cover: they will enshrine a definition of
domestic abuse; they will introduce a new domestic abuse
commissioner and a domestic abuse protection order that I
talked about earlier; and they will include proposals for
ensuring that the sentencing in domestic abuse-related
offences duly recognises the devastating impact that these
offences have on children, as I explained to the noble Lord
earlier. Moreover—the noble Baroness, Lady Gale, will be
interested to hear this—we will introduce measures to adopt
extra-territorial jurisdiction over remaining sexual offences
so that we can advance towards ratification of the Istanbul
convention.
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