Sentencing Bill

Baroness Hamwee Excerpts

Wednesday 26th November 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Hamwee]

46: Clause 6, page 15, line 16, at end insert—
“(3A) Sentencing guidelines must provide that domestic abuse is an aggravating factor.”Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment would require sentencing guidelines to treat domestic abuse as an aggravating factor in sentencing.

[Baroness Hamwee (LD)]

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames has added his name to this amendment, which would ensure that sentencing guidelines

“provide that domestic abuse is an aggravating factor”.

Clause 6 puts into statute a provision that if the court is passing a sentence and

“is of the view that the offence involved domestic abuse carried out by the offender”,

then the court must state that. This clause is a very important acknowledgement of offences involving domestic abuse. My honourable friend the Member for Eastbourne played no small part in getting this on to the statute book.

Enabling the understanding of offences involving domestic abuse is important, generally and for the victim. I assume that the court being required to state that the offence involved domestic abuse will better enable the MoJ to keep data about this. I do not know whether the Minister will be able to confirm that or, at any rate, note the point that keeping data is important. We are going at little more than a snail’s pace in recognising domestic abuse; it is quite laborious achieving each step. I doubt I need to elaborate on this to noble Lords, but it is important for the victim to have not just a general recognition, but something which is official, stated by the court, of what they have gone through and what underlies it. That is of great significance to the individual.

However, simply providing for findings of domestic abuse provoked the question: and then what? Amendment 46 is intended to provide the answer by putting the matter into sentencing guidelines as an aggravating factor. I believe that the commission of an offence in the domestic context is already an aggravating factor under the sentencing guidelines, with which I struggled over the weekend. However, domestic abuse is more than context. I think the MoJ must accept that, otherwise new Section 56A would refer to domestic context, not domestic abuse. It is important; as people say, you cannot deal with what you cannot name. I beg to move.

[Lord Keen of Elie (Con)]

My Lords, I speak briefly to Amendment 46 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. As I read it, the amendment seeks to treat domestic abuse as an aggravating factor when determining all sentencing. Of course domestic abuse is a serious pervasive crime and it clearly has profound long-term impacts on its victims. This amendment appears to promote some degree of clarity and consistency, and, indeed, fairness in sentencing. It would ensure that the courts can take full account of both the nature and the impact of domestic abuse when deciding on an appropriate sentence. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s views on it.

--- Later in debate ---

I am committed to improving the identification and management of domestic abuse offenders across the system through the Bill. Clause 6 introduces a domestic abuse identifier at sentencing, which will help to ensure that cases involving domestic abuse are consistently identified and tracked. This is a meaningful and practical reform. For example, under the current system, an offender could be convicted of an assault, but there is no systematic way of recording the domestic abuse context of that offence. This could lead to the police missing this risk and not disclosing this information to a new partner. With the marker that we are introducing in the Bill, the abuse appears on the offender’s record. This helps the police to spot perpetrators and protect future victims. I thank the noble Baroness for raising this issue, I hope I have provided sufficient reassurances, and I respectfully ask her to withdraw the amendment.

[Baroness Hamwee (LD)]

I am grateful to the Minister for that. As I have said earlier today, I have struggled with the guidelines, which are long and dense. Without seeing the individual offences which domestic abuse aggravates—if I have the words in the right order there—it is hard to respond, although I retain a wish to see domestic abuse being an aggravating factor overall rather than just in some specified circumstances. However, I am happy to pursue this outside the Chamber so that I can understand precisely how this is currently dealt with. I am grateful to the Minister, and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 46 withdrawn.