Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to mark White Ribbon Day on 25 November.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are considering our activity to mark the day. Last year, there was a programme of cross-Governmental activity around the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and the 16 days of activism that followed. This included Ministers across Government conducting visits, attending events, making speeches, debating these important issues in Parliament and a series of announcement on action to tackle VAWG.
Tackling VAWG is a Government priority. We have made significant progress since we published the Tackling VAWG Strategy in July 2021 and the complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan in March 2022.
In July, we launched the fifth round of the Safer Streets Fund which provides an additional £43 million in funding to projects focused on protecting women in their communities across England and Wales. We also announced the launch of a new national operating model for the investigation and prosecution of rape, which all forces and CPS Areas in England and Wales are implementing to ensure investigations of rape are suspect-focused and considerate to the needs of victims.
To improve the police response to tackling these crimes, we have supported the introduction of a new full-time National Policing Lead for VAWG, DCC Maggie Blyth, and have added VAWG to the Strategic Policing Requirement, meaning it is now set out as a national threat for forces to respond to alongside other threats such as terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The UK signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) in 2012, signalling our strong commitment to tackling violence against women and girls. This Government remains committed to ratifying the Convention as soon as possible and this commitment was reiterated in the new Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, published in July.
The Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017 requires Ministers to publish annual reports on their progress towards being able to ratify the Convention. The fifth such report was published on 1 November and can be found on gov.uk. Once the Government is satisfied that the UK is compliant with the Convention then Ministers will, in line with section 1(3) of the 2017 Act, make a statement to Parliament confirming this and setting out the timetable for ratification.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The UK signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) in 2012, signalling its strong commitment to tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), and this Government remains committed to ratifying it.
The Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017 requires Ministers to publish annual reports on their progress towards being able to ratify the Convention. The most recent report was published on 22 October 2020 and can be found here: Ratification of the Council of Europe convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence - progress report 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 18 October (HL Deb, col 615), what work they are doing with industry to tackle hate crime; what measures are being developed to tackle such abuse; and when such measures will be implemented.
Answered by Lord Lee of Trafford
The Hate Crime Action Plan was launched in July 2016. This plan sets out a range of non-legislative responses including counter-narrative activity and collaborative work with the Internet industry to identify ways to reduce the harm caused by hate crime online.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are consulting on introducing a social media code of practice as part of the Internet Safety Strategy which was published on 11 October. As laid out in the Digital Economy Act 2017, the code will seek to ensure that providers offer adequate online safety policies, introduce minimum standards and metrics and ensure regular review and monitoring.
Government will continue to consult with stakeholders in the technology industry on the details of the code of practice before its introduction in 2018.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their report <i>A call to end violence against women and girls, Progress report 2010–2015</i>, published in March, which states "Since Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) were introduced over 2,500 have been put in place across 39 forces", whether they will publish the names of the 39 police forces which have introduced DVPOs in their police force areas and the names of the four police forces which have not introduced DVPOs in their areas.
Answered by Lord Bates
Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) were rolled out nationally in March 2014. All forces are now operating this scheme.
As stated in the Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls Progress Report published in March 2015, to date over 2500 DVPOs are currently in place. This is based on information submitted to the Home Office as part of a review currently taking place to look at the implementation of DVPOs and the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (Clare’s Law). At the time that the Progress Report was published, 39 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales had provided data. All data and findings from the review will be published on Gov.uk once the review process is complete.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 25 November 2014 (HC Deb, col 772) and the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 19 December 2014 (HL3457), when the National Oversight Group chaired by the Home Secretary, regarding the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, known as Clare's Law, will report; and how the report will be publicised.
Answered by Lord Bates
Following the publication of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s (HMIC’s) review on the police response to domestic abuse, the Home Secretary is driving a package of measures to improve the police response to victims of this terrible crime. The Home Secretary has established a national oversight group, which she is chairing, to monitor and drive activity against the recommendations of HMIC’s review.
The first update of the Group’s activities to date was published on the Gov.uk website in January and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-oversight-group-on-domestic-violence-report . Further updates will be published in due course.
The Government is committed to supporting the police in tackling domestic violence and abuse, to bring offenders to justice and to ensure victims have the support they need to rebuild their lives. Separate to the work of the National Oversight Group on Domestic Abuse, we are also committed to reviewing this year how Domestic Violence Protection Orders and the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme have been rolled out across England and Wales since March 2014. This will be published in the Violence Against Women and Girls report, which will be published ahead of the General Election.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 25 November (HL Deb, col 772), when the national oversight group chaired by the Home Secretary will report its findings, to whom it will report, and whether its findings will be published.
Answered by Lord Bates
In response to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary's (HMIC’s)report (March 2014) which exposed significant failings in the police response to domestic violence and abuse, the Home Secretary has established a National Oversight Group, which she is chairing, to drive delivery against all of the recommendations of the HMIC review.
To date, the Group has met three times. The Government has committed to publishing updates on the work of the National Oversight Group. The first report will be published shortly. A copy of the report will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with police forces in England and Wales and with the Football Association of England in order to counter any rise in domestic violence while England are playing in the World Cup 2014; and what steps they are taking to ensure that police forces and supporting agencies are fully resourced to deal with the matter.
Answered by Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and the Coalition Government is committed to ending it whenever it occurs.
Together with the police, we are supporting the Football United Against Domestic Abuse campaign by Women's Aid, the launch of which was attended by the Crime Prevention Minister and supported by the Home Secretary. This campaign is working with the football community to unite players, clubs and fans at all levels against behaviour and attitudes that underpin domestic abuse.
The Crime Prevention Minister intends to meet with footballing interests in the near future to build on this campaign.
As part of its commitment to tackle domestic abuse, the Government is re-running a campaign to highlight the devastating consequences of domestic abuse for perpetrators of domestic abuse. The campaign was launched on 9 June and activity will run throughout the World Cup until 14 July 2014. Through posters and digital adverts, this campaign will target potential perpetrators and remind them of the terrible impact of violence on relationships.
Additional support to victims of domestic abuse is available through specialist local domestic abuse services and the national domestic violence helplines. The CoalitionGovernment has ring-fenced nearly £28 million of funding up to 2015 to support these services, which includes part-funding 144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference co-ordinator posts.