Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the availability of refuge spaces for domestic abuse
survivors.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Levelling Up, Housing & Communities () (Con)
My Lords, under this Government, the number of bed spaces has
risen. There were 4,344 refuge spaces across England in May 2022,
which are the latest figures we have. We are committed to
ensuring that victims have access to the support they need within
domestic abuse safe accommodation, including refuges. Councils in
England have a new duty to provide support within safe
accommodation to victims under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and
36,545 victims received support within safe accommodation in the
first year of this duty.
(Lab)
I thank the Minister for that Answer. As she will understand from
her support of and commitment to this issue, it takes huge
courage and great risk for a woman to flee domestic violence.
Unfortunately, when they have no place to go, those courageous
women are left to make a horrific decision between returning home
and becoming homeless. I therefore ask the Minister whether the
Government have any plans to increase support at a local level to
provide the housing promised under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021,
which she mentioned and which we all supported. The research that
prompted this Question says that there are thousands of women who
have to choose between those two brutal situations.
(Con)
The noble Baroness brings up a really serious point. It is
essential that the number of women who are turned away goes down.
We have provided local authorities with funding and support to
commission services to meet the needs of these victims. As I
said, the number of refuge bed spaces is rising, but those are
not the only safe spaces. In fact, only 46% of those supported
were in refuges. Some 28% are in sanctuary schemes, in which
places where they want to stay in the area they already live in
are made safe for them. Some 13% are in safe dispersed
accommodation, 5% in specialist accommodation, 1% in second-stage
accommodation, and 7% in other safe accommodation. This is about
not just refuges but looking after the individual, and giving the
individual choice and support through what, as the noble Baroness
says, are very difficult times.
(Con)
My Lords, we are all extremely distressed to hear of the increase
in this dreadful crime of domestic abuse. I am pleased to hear
from my noble friend of the work that is being done to care for
these women, but is any work being done on the prevention and
early intervention that might prevent so many people having to
seek refuge?
(Con)
My noble friend brings up a really interesting point, and one
that we need to do much more work on. Prioritising prevention is
one of the four pillars of the tackling domestic abuse plan, and
part of the tackling violence against women and girls strategy.
The objective has to be to reduce the amount of domestic abuse,
domestic homicide, and suicides connected to domestic abuse by
stopping people from becoming perpetrators and victims in the
first place. In the tackling violence against women and girls
strategy, the Government have committed to invest £3 million to
understand this issue better: what works to prevent violence
against women and girls in the first place?
(LD)
My Lords, despite the incredible work that refuges do to keep
abused women and children safe from their abusers, they face
severe shortfalls in the funding that they need to do the job.
Over half of referrals are turned away, mainly because of lack of
space and capacity. There is a one-third shortfall in funding at
the moment between the £189 million of projected need and the
£127 million received from DLUHC. Will the Minister undertake to
review funding for refuges? I appreciate that there are a lot of
other alternatives. As I understand it, a report is coming out
today on community funding and availability of services, but does
she agree that every woman and child facing abuse should be able
to flee to safety?
(Con)
I certainly agree with the noble Baroness’s last point. Since
2021, my department has committed £507 million to local
authorities for the delivery of new duties. This year, £127.3
million will cover the estimated cost of unmet need to support
victims and their children in safe accommodation. There is an
issue with the Women’s Aid estimate because it includes the costs
of all other services, including funds that already exist, so
there is a slight disconnect there. The Government have also put
in place—this is quite important—support for charities that look
after victims and do a lot of work. I thank them for all the work
they do, particularly with specific groups of women who need
extra support. The Government are supporting them, particularly
through the cost of living crisis; for example, with their energy
costs.
(Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister say what the government can do further
in partnership with local authorities to assist those victims of
violence who have no recourse to public funds or have insecure
immigration status? As she will know, both those things can be
used by perpetrators to coerce and control their victims.
(Con)
In April 2021, the Home Office provided £1.4 million of support
for a migrant victims scheme to provide the support that the
noble Baroness talks about because they have no recourse to
public funds. A pilot has been run by Southall Black Sisters and
their delivery partners, providing a really good wraparound
support service for migrant victims of domestic abuse; this has
included offering them sustenance, helping them, counselling them
and giving them legal advice. During the pilot, the scheme
supported 425 migrant victims. We have allocated another £1.4
million this year to continue to fund this pilot; we are going to
take on board the lessons learned by Southall Black Sisters.
(Con)
My Lords, the Office for National Statistics has found that a
third of domestic abuse victims are male, yet there are very few
refuge spaces for men and children in London, the Home Counties
and the east of England, although there are places elsewhere. I
recently visited a men’s charity in Kent, where there are none at
all. How will the Government encourage local authorities to
bridge that gap?
(Con)
My noble friend brings up an interesting issue. Yes, we talk more
about women than men but there are men who are victims of
domestic abuse. The problem is that the numbers are smaller so it
is difficult to get a lot of refuges across the country. Under
the safe accommodation support duty, tier 1 local authorities are
required to assess the need for, and provide support for, all
victims of domestic abuse, including male victims. The male
victims’ organisation that keeps an eye on this is called ManKind
and provides expert input into monitoring these duties as part of
the domestic abuse safe accommodation national expert steering
group, which is chaired by my colleague, . The voice of the man who
is domestically abused is there at the centre; we ensure that
they get the support they need.
(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that it is important to
work upstream with schools to ensure that young men understand
what a healthy sexual relationship is, and that young women
know—and, indeed, have the confidence—not to accept the early
stages of the wrong sort of relationship?
(Con)
I agree with the noble Baroness. Following on from the answer
that I gave my noble friend, this is exactly what we should be
looking at when considering how to tackle violence against women
and girls. That is where the investment into that research goes,
and I am sure that some of the work that the noble Baroness
talked about will be happening.
