Domestic Abuse

Baroness Gale Excerpts

Monday 19th November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right: we need a cultural shift across all areas of government, including health and education, which she mentioned. This is a multidisciplinary approach to a terrible problem in society that costs the economy. She talked about the economic cost. It costs billions every year—I think it is £37 billion a year—and there is of course the effect on children, the future generation. So she is absolutely right that victims must be at the heart of the Bill: it is our very reason for bringing it forward.

[Baroness Gale (Lab)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that the Home Affairs Select Committee has said that the Bill needs to,

“facilitate a more effective, joined-up and cross-Government strategy to tackle”,

violence against women and girls? Will she give an undertaking to your Lordships’ House that this will not be a narrow Bill, dealing only with the criminal justice measures, but a wide-ranging, game-changing Bill that will make tackling this crime a priority across all government departments? When the Government respond to the consultation on the Bill, will the Minister address the concerns of charities such as Women’s Aid, which has called the Bill,

“a once-in-a-generation opportunity”,

to transform the way domestic violence is responded to, and urge the Government not to waste this opportunity?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right: this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get it right on domestic violence. As for why it would not be a violence against women and girls Bill, it is a specific Bill for a specific purpose, which is to tackle the scourge of domestic violence that affects so many women—and men, of course—each year. To broaden the scope of it would take away from that aim. But that is not to dismiss the importance generally of tackling violence against women and girls.