Women: Domestic Violence
Lord Bishop of Birmingham Excerpts(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Bates
That is absolutely right. The figures that I have are roughly the same: 1.4 million women and 700,000 men. Clearly, there is a link to people’s economic situation, their educational achievement and their overall environment. That is why we have extended to a further 400,000 families the troubled families programme, which is having a real impact in this area in tackling that type of behaviour.
The Lord Bishop of Birmingham
My Lords, domestic violence against women is one of the largest abuses of women, not just in the UK but in the world. I would be interested if the Minister commented on the Government’s commitment to reaching such a diverse range of women, in spite of their ethnic background, religion or location, over the next few years.
Lord Bates
Particular groups, some of which are on the national oversight board on domestic violence, chaired by the Home Secretary, are doing a great job in working in BME communities and tackling this issue. One such example is Imkhan. However, this issue is absolutely cross-cutting. It is not predominant in one particular group; it needs to be tackled as a whole. The HMIC report, which all this work is based on, is entitled Everyone’s Business—and that is what it is.