To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Williams of Trafford
on 25 November 2014 (HC Deb, col 772) and the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 19 December
2014 (HL3457), when the National Oversight Group chaired by the Home Secretary, regarding
the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, known as Clare's Law, will report; and how
the report will be publicised.
<p>Following the publication of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s (HMIC’s)
review on the police response to domestic abuse, the Home Secretary is driving a package
of measures to improve the police response to victims of this terrible crime. The
Home Secretary has established a national oversight group, which she is chairing,
to monitor and drive activity against the recommendations of HMIC’s review. <br><br>The
first update of the Group’s activities to date was published on the Gov.uk website
in January and is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-oversight-group-on-domestic-violence-report"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-oversight-group-on-domestic-violence-report</a>
. Further updates will be published in due course. <br><br>The Government is committed
to supporting the police in tackling domestic violence and abuse, to bring offenders
to justice and to ensure victims have the support they need to rebuild their lives.
Separate to the work of the National Oversight Group on Domestic Abuse, we are also
committed to reviewing this year how Domestic Violence Protection Orders and the Domestic
Violence Disclosure Scheme have been rolled out across England and Wales since March
2014. This will be published in the Violence Against Women and Girls report, which
will be published ahead of the General Election.</p><p> </p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Williams of Trafford
on 25 November (HL Deb, col 772), when the national oversight group chaired by the
Home Secretary will report its findings, to whom it will report, and whether its findings
will be published.
<p>In response to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary's (HMIC’s)report (March
2014) which exposed significant failings in the police response to domestic violence
and abuse, the Home Secretary has established a National Oversight Group, which she
is chairing, to drive delivery against all of the recommendations of the HMIC review.</p><p>To
date, the Group has met three times. The Government has committed to publishing updates
on the work of the National Oversight Group. The first report will be published shortly.
A copy of the report will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.</p><p> </p>
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with police forces
in England and Wales and with the Football Association of England in order to counter
any rise in domestic violence while England are playing in the World Cup 2014; and
what steps they are taking to ensure that police forces and supporting agencies are
fully resourced to deal with the matter.
<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and the Coalition
Government is committed to ending it whenever it occurs. <br><br>Together with the
police, we are supporting the Football United Against Domestic Abuse campaign by Women's
Aid, the launch of which was attended by the Crime Prevention Minister and supported
by the Home Secretary. This campaign is working with the football community to unite
players, clubs and fans at all levels against behaviour and attitudes that underpin
domestic abuse.<br><br>The Crime Prevention Minister intends to meet with footballing
interests in the near future to build on this campaign.<br><br>As part of its commitment
to tackle domestic abuse, the Government is re-running a campaign to highlight the
devastating consequences of domestic abuse for perpetrators of domestic abuse. The
campaign was launched on 9 June and activity will run throughout the World Cup until
14 July 2014. Through posters and digital adverts, this campaign will target potential
perpetrators and remind them of the terrible impact of violence on relationships.<br><br>Additional
support to victims of domestic abuse is available through specialist local domestic
abuse services and the national domestic violence helplines. The CoalitionGovernment
has ring-fenced nearly £28 million of funding up to 2015 to support these services,
which includes part-funding 144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and 54 Multi-Agency
Risk Assessment Conference co-ordinator posts.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
