Thank you for contacting me about domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Domestic abuse is a devastating crime that ruins lives. I was appalled to learn that around 2.4 million people in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse in 2022 and around one in five homicides are related to domestic abuse. I am encouraged that Ministers have taken and continue to take action to tackle this horrific form of abuse, and that it remains a priority area for the Government.
I very much welcomed the Domestic Abuse Act passed in 2021. The Act has created a legal definition of domestic abuse to provide clarity that domestic abuse can be financial, verbal and emotional as well as physical and sexual and that critically it is about patterns of abuse over time. As part of this definition, children are explicitly recognised as victims if they witness abuse. It is good news that the controlling or coercive behaviour offence has been extended to include abuse where perpetrators and victims no longer live together. This change follows a review which highlighted that those who leave abusive ex-partners can often be subjected to sustained or increased controlling or coercive behaviour post-separation.
Measures in the Act also include the introduction of Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders to further protect victims and place restrictions on the actions of offenders. I particularly welcome the fact that the Act will invalidate any courtroom defence of consent where a victim suffers serious harm or is killed. Furthermore, a Domestic Abuse Commissioner has been appointed to stand up for victims and survivors; raise public awareness; monitor the response of local authorities, the justice system and other statutory agencies; and hold them to account in tackling domestic abuse.
Setting out how the Government will deliver on many of the Act's provisions, the new cross-Government 'Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan' includes over £230 million of investment in tackling domestic abuse and seeks to transform the whole of society’s response to domestic abuse. It will prevent offending from happening in the first place, support victims and survivors when it does occur, pursue perpetrators in order to prevent reoffending, and develop and strengthen the multi-agency, society-wide system needed to combat these pervasive, often hidden crimes.
During the passage of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 through Parliament, the Government added measures to the legislation to change how the six-month time limit to commence a prosecution for common assault or battery involving domestic abuse is applied in England and Wales. It now runs from the date of an offence being reported to the police through a formal witness statement or video recording given with a view to its use as evidence, rather than the date of the offence, subject to an overall limit of two years from the offence. This gives victims more time in which to seek justice given that domestic abuse is often reported late relative to other crimes, but with a two-year backstop to prevent the police from being inundated with historical reports.
I note the Government has continued to take action to combat these abhorrent crimes by significantly strengthening our laws and introducing new tools to protect victims. This includes the criminalisation of forced marriage, new stalking offences, various offences related to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and a new offence of domestic abuse covering controlling and coercive behaviour. Furthermore, the Home Office has recently consulted on measures to strengthen the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (also known as ‘Clare’s Law’) which will require the police to disclose information on perpetrators quicker.
The Government is currently analysing the responses received and will issue its formal response shortly. Further information can be found at this address: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/domestic-violence-disclosur…
In recognition of the importance of support services, the Ministry of Justice will ringfence a minimum of £15.7 million per annum for community-based services supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence between 2022-23 and 2024-25. A minimum of £81 million will also be provided over three years to fund 700 Independent Domestic Violence Advocate and Independent Sexual Violence Advocate roles, with additional funding to be confirmed for an additional 300. Both the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice will offer multi-year awards of funding to organisations supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse. This will enable the delivery of higher capacity, higher quality support services.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.