Lords Committee hears evidence on domestic abuse legislation in different jurisdictions; and separately considers the Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls strategy

On Thursday 18 June, the Lords Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Committee will hear from a panel of witnesses who will give evidence on domestic abuse legislation and how it operates in two different jurisdictions; Scotland and Australia. The session will compare the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 with the legislation in these two jurisdictions with a view to exploring any positives that could be applied in England and Wales.

This session will start at 10.35am and will be available to watch live or on demand at Parliament TV or can be attended in person in Committee Room 3, Palace of Westminster.

Giving evidence will be:

• Professor Michele Burman, Professor of Criminology, Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, University of Glasgow; and
• Professor Mark Kebbell, Professor of Forensic Psychology, Griffith University

Questions will include:

• Could you briefly outline the main features/approach of the domestic abuse Act in your jurisdiction?

• Are there any particularly unique elements of the Act in your jurisdiction or how it is implemented which we could learn from?

• How does the Act in your jurisdiction define domestic abuse? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this? How well does the definition operate in practice, for example as applied by police and courts?

• What are the provisions concerning children as victims and how well do they operate in practice?

Separately, the Committee will hear from a panel of witnesses in a session that will focus on the interaction between the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy and associated legislation.

This session will start at 11.40am and will be available to watch live or on demand at Parliament TV or can be attended in person in Committee Room 3, Palace of Westminster.

Giving evidence will be:

• Ellie Butt, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Refuge;
• Leyla Buran, Research Fellow in Policy and Practice, Centre for Protecting Women Online (CPWO); and
• Veronica Oakeshott, Head of External Affairs, Women's Aid.

Questions will include:

• Briefly, what is your headline assessment of the relationship between the Domestic Abuse Act and the Government's VAWG strategy?

• The Domestic Abuse Act, the VAWG Strategy, and Online Safety legislation provide a framework for tackling tech-facilitated domestic abuse. How effective is this? How, if at all, could it be improved?

• The Government's VAWG strategy aims to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade. To what extent does the Domestic Abuse Act support this? How, is at all, could it be improved to do so?

• The Act sets out that children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right. To what extent does the Government's VAWG Strategy provide support for children and young people as victims?