Crime: Domestic Violence

Baroness Corston Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord West of Spithead]

My Lords—

[Baroness Corston]

My Lords—

[Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead]

My Lords—

[Lord West of Spithead]

My Lords, I will give way to my noble friend Lady Corston.

[Baroness Corston]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that domestic violence is a major cause of women in this country ending up in prison? With which organisations in this country are the Government working to eradicate this drastic harm to all these lives?

[Baroness Northover]

I am well aware of the importance of domestic violence in bringing about women being in prison, and all the other challenges that women in prison face. We are very keen to carry forward the work that the noble Baroness did to try to ensure that we address the reasons why women end up in prison, which is often not in their interests or those of the family. We are working across the board with a number of different organisations. I myself have been at various meetings where these organisations have put their case, which is a very cogent one. We will continue to do that. Anything that the noble Baroness wishes to feed in to me, I would be very happy to receive.