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1457989

registered interest
date	14/04/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle levels of domestic abuse.
tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
uin	154370
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2022 answer text <p>As part of the Government’s ambition to protect and better support victims of domestic abuse, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduces a range of measures to help protect victims of domestic abuse and their children. These include important new protections and support for victims ensuring that abusers will no longer be allowed to directly cross-examine their victims in the family and civil courts, and giving victims better access to special measures in the courtroom, such as protective screens and giving evidence via video link. The Act also introduces measures to tackle levels of domestic abuse including new criminal offences such as non-fatal strangulation and suffocation and extending the coercing and controlling behaviour offence to remove the “living together’’ requirement, so that the offence applies to partners, ex-partners or family members, regardless of whether the victim and perpetrator live together.</p><p> </p><p>Building on the Domestic Abuse Act, we have made substantial commitments in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan published by the Home Office in March 2022, to better support victims of domestic abuse. Commitments include multi-year funding for victim support services which are crucial for helping victims engage in the criminal justice process. As part of this, the Ministry of Justice is bolstering support for victims by increasing its funding from £150.5m in 2021/22 to £185 million by 2024/25. This will ensure support is available to more victims and includes funding to increase the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisers to over 1,000, and other key services like crisis helplines. A Perpetrator Strategy forms part of the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan and sets out clear commitments to prioritise addressing behaviour, stopping people from becoming perpetrators and victims in the first place.</p><p> </p><p>Through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, we are also giving victims more time to report domestic abuse-related assaults by extending the time limit for prosecutions to six months from a formal report to the police within an overall limit of two years from the offence. We have also consulted and will publish a draft Bill which will continue to ensure victims are at the heart of the criminal justice system.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins grouped question UIN 154369 question first answered 25/04/2022 17:08:55 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1451792

registered interest
date	16/03/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to section 83 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, what the status is of report on the extent to which people using contact centres in England are protected from the risk of domestic abuse or other harm as of 16 March 2022.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham North
tabling member printed	Alex Norris
uin	141276
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2022 answer text <p>The Government is on track to publish a report about the extent to which individuals, when they are using contact centres in England, are protected from the risk of domestic abuse or, in the case of children, other harm. This will be delivered by April 2023 as set out in section 83 of the Domestic Abuse Act.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 23/03/2022 16:49:51 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4641 label Biography information for Alex Norris

1439968

registered interest
date	10/03/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, what progress they have made in developing a report about the extent to which individuals are protected from domestic abuse when using contact centres in England, as set out in section 83 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
uin	HL6880
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2022 answer text <p>The Government is on track to publish a report about the extent to which individuals, when they are using contact centres in England, are protected from the risk of domestic abuse or, in the case of children, other harm. This will be delivered by April 2023 as set out in section 83 of the Domestic Abuse Act.</p> answering member printed Lord Wolfson of Tredegar question first answered 24/03/2022 15:44:59 answering member 4901 label Biography information for Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1433766

registered interest
date	21/02/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress he has made on creating a statement of practice on domestic abuse.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	126645
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2022 answer text <p>In response to the MoJ expert panel’s report, published in 2020, the Government committed to working with all key partners in the family justice system to design a statement of practice for cases raising issues of domestic abuse or other risks of harm. This statement of practice will take into account provisions made in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and learning from the development of the Integrated Domestic Abuse Courts. This is being progressed jointly by system leaders with oversight from the Family Justice Board.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 24/02/2022 20:02:08 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1270807

registered interest
date	14/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Inspector of Probation’s 2019/2020 Annual Report: inspections of probation services, published in December 2020, if he will publish an action plan in response to the finding that checks with the local police domestic abuse team at the point of initial assessment are not being done in over a third of cases.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Ms Lyn Brown
uin	128916
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/12/2020 answer text <p>As with previous years there are no plans for HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to publish an action plan in response to Her Majesty’s Inspector of Probation’s (HMIP) latest Annual Report, given no specific recommendations are made like they are in Inspection Reports.</p><p> </p><p>However, Contract Management Teams continue to work closely with Community Rehabilitation Companies to ensure that any areas of improvement that have been identified by HMIP form part of an agreed internal action plan, which is monitored closely as part of contract management processes. Similarly, HM Prison and Probation Service continue to monitor National Probation Service Divisions’ progress against suggested areas of improvement or recommendations provided by HMIP.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 22/12/2020 14:58:51 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown

1271049

registered interest
date	14/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of domestic abuse convictions related to controlling and coercive behaviour in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019 and (d) 2020.
tabling member constituency	Newport East
tabling member printed	Jessica Morden
uin	128905
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2020 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice does not hold data centrally on how many domestic abuse convictions relate to coercive and controlling behaviour. Offences involving domestic abuse can take various forms and are prosecuted under the offence in law that best reflects their nature and circumstances, for example, harassment, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, a public order offence. These offences can take the form of domestic abuse or non-domestic abuse and data collected centrally from courts does not distinguish between the two. The data on domestic abuse offences could only be identified by manually searching case records at disproportionate cost.</p><p>However, the Ministry of Justice regularly publishes information on all prosecutions and convictions for offences related to controlling and coercive behaviour, as defined by section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015, in the ‘Principal Offence Proceedings and Outcomes by Home Office Offence Code 2013 to 2019’ data tool, available here:</p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938554/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2019.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938554/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2019.xlsx</a></p><p>The number of convictions can be identified for each year from 2016 to 2019. Data from 2020 will be published in May 2021.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 17/12/2020 15:42:03 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	1548 label Biography information for Jessica Morden

1244352

registered interest
date	19/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of potential barriers to justice encountered by survivors of domestic violence since the implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; and whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to improve access to justice for that group.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	105531
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), legal aid remains available for private family matters where there is evidence of domestic abuse or child abuse. The Post-Implementation Review of LASPO (PIR), published in February 2019, considered the impact of LASPO on victims of domestic abuse. In the Legal Support Action Plan, published alongside the PIR, we announced a review of the legal aid means tests, including a commitment to specifically considering the impact of the means test on victims of domestic abuse. This review will report in Spring 2021, at which point we will publish a full consultation paper setting out our future policy proposals in this area.</p><p>The government is absolutely clear that victims of domestic abuse must have access to the help that they need. The Government’s report ‘Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases’ published on 19 June 2019 further outlines an unwavering commitment to ensure domestic abuse survivors are better protected. This report acted as a springboard for further actions we are taking to protect and support domestic abuse victims and their children. The Domestic Abuse Bill has allowed us to enable the immediate changes called for in the report, creating a statutory definition of domestic abuse working to ensure that victims are protected and supported.</p><p>We recognise that victims of domestic abuse may need legal aid quickly in emergency situations, so there is already an eligibility cap waiver in place, which means that an applicant for a protective injunction may be eligible for legal aid even if they have income or capital above the thresholds in the means test, though they may have to pay a financial contribution towards their legal costs. In addition, we are providing £800,000 funding to the FLOWS project, run by RCJ Advice, who provide free legal support to victims of domestic abuse who wish to apply for an injunction from the courts.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk grouped question UIN 105532 question first answered 22/10/2020 16:20:48 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1244353

registered interest
date	19/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of whether the implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 has caused an unintended bias in access to justice in favour of the abuser rather than the victim.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	105532
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), legal aid remains available for private family matters where there is evidence of domestic abuse or child abuse. The Post-Implementation Review of LASPO (PIR), published in February 2019, considered the impact of LASPO on victims of domestic abuse. In the Legal Support Action Plan, published alongside the PIR, we announced a review of the legal aid means tests, including a commitment to specifically considering the impact of the means test on victims of domestic abuse. This review will report in Spring 2021, at which point we will publish a full consultation paper setting out our future policy proposals in this area.</p><p>The government is absolutely clear that victims of domestic abuse must have access to the help that they need. The Government’s report ‘Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases’ published on 19 June 2019 further outlines an unwavering commitment to ensure domestic abuse survivors are better protected. This report acted as a springboard for further actions we are taking to protect and support domestic abuse victims and their children. The Domestic Abuse Bill has allowed us to enable the immediate changes called for in the report, creating a statutory definition of domestic abuse working to ensure that victims are protected and supported.</p><p>We recognise that victims of domestic abuse may need legal aid quickly in emergency situations, so there is already an eligibility cap waiver in place, which means that an applicant for a protective injunction may be eligible for legal aid even if they have income or capital above the thresholds in the means test, though they may have to pay a financial contribution towards their legal costs. In addition, we are providing £800,000 funding to the FLOWS project, run by RCJ Advice, who provide free legal support to victims of domestic abuse who wish to apply for an injunction from the courts.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk grouped question UIN 105531 question first answered 22/10/2020 16:20:48 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1221371

registered interest
date	07/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has held discussions with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on tackling domestic abuse throughout the UK.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	70399
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2020 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice, alongside our partners on this agenda at the Home Office, continue to have a regular dialogue with the devolved administrations about the progress of the Domestic Abuse Bill.</p><p>The measures in the Bill relate to devolved matters in Scotland and Northern Ireland, however, with the agreement of the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Northern Ireland Minister of Justice, the Bill as introduced on 3 March 2020 includes measures extending the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the criminal courts in Scotland and Northern Ireland to certain violent and sexual offences. I welcome the fact that the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly have approved a legislative consent motion in respect of these provisions in the Bill insofar as they apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland on 17 and 23 June respectively.</p><p>The matters to which the provisions of the Bill relate are not within the legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales. Nonetheless, there has also been extensive engagement with the Welsh Government, particularly over the remit of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner in Wales.</p><p>In addition, the Ministry of Justice recently published the report of its panel of experts looking into how the family courts manage cases involving domestic abuse and other serious offences. This report covered both England and Wales and we continue engagement with the Welsh Government about a proposed implementation plan.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 14/07/2020 11:09:44 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1217865

registered interest
date	25/06/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is conducting an internal review of domestic abuse policy.
tabling member constituency	Walthamstow
tabling member printed	Stella Creasy
uin	64907
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2020 answer text <p>We are determined to drive the fundamental change necessary to keep victims of domestic abuse and their children safe. The Domestic Abuse Bill is the culmination of significant policy work and consultation on how we improve our response to this crime, which we are committed to keeping under review. Most recently, on 25 June 2020, we published our comprehensive report into the family courts system: ‘Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases’.</p><p>We are taking immediate action to implement the panel’s recommendations, and will be undertaking further work to address the long-standing, systemic issues identified in the report particularly where there are allegations of domestic abuse. This work will include a review into the presumption of ‘parental involvement’ and whether the right balance is being struck between the risk of harm to children and victims, and the right of the child to have a relationship with both parents.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 30/06/2020 16:10:30 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4088 label Biography information for Stella Creasy