Domestic Abuse

Baroness Sanderson of Welton Excerpts

Friday 24th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay]

My Lords, the Domestic Abuse Bill that has just passed in another place is of course heading for your Lordships’ House, where we will be able to debate these measures. That sets the new statutory definition of domestic abuse and creates new duties on local authorities, including to make sure that those who are fleeing domestic abuse will automatically be considered as a priority need for housing by local authorities. I am sure that these are debates to which we will return when the Bill reaches your Lordships’ House.

[Baroness Sanderson of Welton (Con)]

Is the Home Office going to do any work to understand what lies behind the increased use of the helpline? If it is the case that the Government’s recent public information campaign is encouraging more victims to come forward, would they consider continuing with that for the foreseeable future?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay]

My noble friend makes an important point. She refers to the publicity campaign that my right honourable friend the Home Secretary launched in April, the #YouAreNotAlone campaign, which encourages greater awareness of the problem of domestic abuse, particularly at this time, and makes sure that people know where they can turn to for help. My noble friend is right: this is, sadly, an underreported crime. As we have seen an increase in the number of calls to helplines in the pandemic, we want to understand whether that is because of a rise in the number of incidents, a rise in the confidence of people seeking help, or a combination of both.