Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department maintains a national tracker for recommendations made in Domestic Homicide Reviews; and if she will publish data on implementation rates.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic homicide reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable.
Ensuring that lessons identified through DHRs are not only recorded but acted upon is essential to driving meaningful change. That is why the Home Office has implemented a new process for logging, and distributing national recommendations, including an internal central database for national recommendations.
This Government has also committed to sharing all national recommendations from DHRs with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, as part of the cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy published in December 2025. This will strengthen ministerial oversight across responsible government departments to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and coordinated action.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Domestic Homicide Reviews were not commissioned within the statutory timescale in each of the last five years; and what the longest recorded time taken was in that period.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic homicide reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable. However, whilst the Government remains committed to the fundamental principles of the DHR process, I recognise that there is room for improvement and that more must be done to improve how DHRs are currently conducted.
DHRs are the responsibility of local Community Safety Partnerships. The Home Office provides guidance through statutory guidance; however, it does not get involved in local processes or individual cases.
The Home Office has been undertaking a programme of work to reform DHRs. The aim of these reforms is to increase efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded swiftly. The Home Office is planning to publish updated statutory guidance to ensure that a more effective and streamlined process is put in place going forward. This is due to be published within the coming months.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DHR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have now reformed the QA system and launched a new DHR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse with specialisms in policing, stalking, ‘honor’-based abuse, and economic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
Each DHR is unique, and therefore the timescales are variable, however, the statutory guidance is clear that local areas should be proportionate with scope and time frames and that any delays are clearly accounted for in the final DHR. Due to the variety of different cases, we are not able to comment on specific delays in each case.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken was between (a) a domestic abuse-related death and (b) the commissioning of a Domestic Homicide Review in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic homicide reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable. However, whilst the Government remains committed to the fundamental principles of the DHR process, I recognise that there is room for improvement and that more must be done to improve how DHRs are currently conducted.
DHRs are the responsibility of local Community Safety Partnerships. The Home Office provides guidance through statutory guidance; however, it does not get involved in local processes or individual cases.
The Home Office has been undertaking a programme of work to reform DHRs. The aim of these reforms is to increase efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded swiftly. The Home Office is planning to publish updated statutory guidance to ensure that a more effective and streamlined process is put in place going forward. This is due to be published within the coming months.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DHR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have now reformed the QA system and launched a new DHR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse with specialisms in policing, stalking, ‘honor’-based abuse, and economic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
Each DHR is unique, and therefore the timescales are variable, however, the statutory guidance is clear that local areas should be proportionate with scope and time frames and that any delays are clearly accounted for in the final DHR. Due to the variety of different cases, we are not able to comment on specific delays in each case.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms are in place to monitor compliance by local areas with statutory guidance on the timely commissioning and completion of Domestic Homicide Reviews.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic homicide reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable. However, whilst the Government remains committed to the fundamental principles of the DHR process, I recognise that there is room for improvement and that more must be done to improve how DHRs are currently conducted.
DHRs are the responsibility of local Community Safety Partnerships. The Home Office provides guidance through statutory guidance; however, it does not get involved in local processes or individual cases.
The Home Office has been undertaking a programme of work to reform DHRs. The aim of these reforms is to increase efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded swiftly. The Home Office is planning to publish updated statutory guidance to ensure that a more effective and streamlined process is put in place going forward. This is due to be published within the coming months.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DHR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have now reformed the QA system and launched a new DHR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse with specialisms in policing, stalking, ‘honor’-based abuse, and economic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
Each DHR is unique, and therefore the timescales are variable, however, the statutory guidance is clear that local areas should be proportionate with scope and time frames and that any delays are clearly accounted for in the final DHR. Due to the variety of different cases, we are not able to comment on specific delays in each case.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Domestic Homicide Reviews are launched as soon as possible.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic homicide reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable. However, whilst the Government remains committed to the fundamental principles of the DHR process, I recognise that there is room for improvement and that more must be done to improve how DHRs are currently conducted.
DHRs are the responsibility of local Community Safety Partnerships. The Home Office provides guidance through statutory guidance; however, it does not get involved in local processes or individual cases.
The Home Office has been undertaking a programme of work to reform DHRs. The aim of these reforms is to increase efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded swiftly. The Home Office is planning to publish updated statutory guidance to ensure that a more effective and streamlined process is put in place going forward. This is due to be published within the coming months.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DHR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have now reformed the QA system and launched a new DHR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse with specialisms in policing, stalking, ‘honor’-based abuse, and economic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
Each DHR is unique, and therefore the timescales are variable, however, the statutory guidance is clear that local areas should be proportionate with scope and time frames and that any delays are clearly accounted for in the final DHR. Due to the variety of different cases, we are not able to comment on specific delays in each case.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of recommendations arising from Domestic Homicide Reviews have been (a) fully implemented, (b) partially implemented and (c) not implemented in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Taking learnings seriously following domestic abuse related deaths is paramount to preventing fatal domestic abuse. I recognise that Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable.
The statutory guidance is clear that local Community Safety Partnerships have a responsibility to monitor the implementation of action plans, as set out in section 79(f) of the guidance. Additionally, section 79(g) states that a DHR is not formally concluded until the action plan has been implemented, including completion of an audit process.
The importance of dissemination of learnings is also clearly outlined in the statutory guidance, section 110 (a-f). This includes distributing learnings locally through multi-agency settings but also that ensuring the final report is shared with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Police and Crime commissioner.
At present, the Home Office does not monitor the progress of individual action plans. However, I understand the importance of oversight, and therefore, I am currently exploring options for improving oversight of DHR recommendations.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what central oversight exists to ensure that recommendations from Domestic Homicide Reviews are acted upon by relevant agencies.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Taking learnings seriously following domestic abuse related deaths is paramount to preventing fatal domestic abuse. I recognise that Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable.
The statutory guidance is clear that local Community Safety Partnerships have a responsibility to monitor the implementation of action plans, as set out in section 79(f) of the guidance. Additionally, section 79(g) states that a DHR is not formally concluded until the action plan has been implemented, including completion of an audit process.
The importance of dissemination of learnings is also clearly outlined in the statutory guidance, section 110 (a-f). This includes distributing learnings locally through multi-agency settings but also that ensuring the final report is shared with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Police and Crime commissioner.
At present, the Home Office does not monitor the progress of individual action plans. However, I understand the importance of oversight, and therefore, I am currently exploring options for improving oversight of DHR recommendations.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the reasons are for the time taken for the commissioning of Domestic Homicide Reviews, including (a) resource levels, (b) police investigations, (c) coronial proceedings and (d) capacity of independent chairs.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic homicide reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable. However, whilst the Government remains committed to the fundamental principles of the DHR process, I recognise that there is room for improvement and that more must be done to improve how DHRs are currently conducted.
DHRs are the responsibility of local Community Safety Partnerships. The Home Office provides guidance through statutory guidance; however, it does not get involved in local processes or individual cases.
The Home Office has been undertaking a programme of work to reform DHRs. The aim of these reforms is to increase efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded swiftly. The Home Office is planning to publish updated statutory guidance to ensure that a more effective and streamlined process is put in place going forward. This is due to be published within the coming months.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DHR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have now reformed the QA system and launched a new DHR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse with specialisms in policing, stalking, ‘honor’-based abuse, and economic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
Each DHR is unique, and therefore the timescales are variable, however, the statutory guidance is clear that local areas should be proportionate with scope and time frames and that any delays are clearly accounted for in the final DHR. Due to the variety of different cases, we are not able to comment on specific delays in each case.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that systemic learning from Domestic Homicide Reviews is disseminated consistently across police forces, local authorities, health bodies and other statutory partners.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Taking learnings seriously following domestic abuse related deaths is paramount to preventing fatal domestic abuse. I recognise that Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable.
The statutory guidance is clear that local Community Safety Partnerships have a responsibility to monitor the implementation of action plans, as set out in section 79(f) of the guidance. Additionally, section 79(g) states that a DHR is not formally concluded until the action plan has been implemented, including completion of an audit process.
The importance of dissemination of learnings is also clearly outlined in the statutory guidance, section 110 (a-f). This includes distributing learnings locally through multi-agency settings but also that ensuring the final report is shared with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Police and Crime commissioner.
At present, the Home Office does not monitor the progress of individual action plans. However, I understand the importance of oversight, and therefore, I am currently exploring options for improving oversight of DHR recommendations.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consequences apply to public bodies that do not implement recommendations arising from Domestic Homicide Reviews.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Taking learnings seriously following domestic abuse related deaths is paramount to preventing fatal domestic abuse. I recognise that Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR) offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treat every death as preventable.
The statutory guidance is clear that local Community Safety Partnerships have a responsibility to monitor the implementation of action plans, as set out in section 79(f) of the guidance. Additionally, section 79(g) states that a DHR is not formally concluded until the action plan has been implemented, including completion of an audit process.
The importance of dissemination of learnings is also clearly outlined in the statutory guidance, section 110 (a-f). This includes distributing learnings locally through multi-agency settings but also that ensuring the final report is shared with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Police and Crime commissioner.
At present, the Home Office does not monitor the progress of individual action plans. However, I understand the importance of oversight, and therefore, I am currently exploring options for improving oversight of DHR recommendations.