Women’s Refuges

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

The noble Baroness raises a very good point, because until now people who have not been eligible for public funds have been unable to access entry into these refuges. The Government introduced the destitution domestic violence concession some years ago to support people who could not access any other form of help at this time of crisis. They have now started a review and will publish their overall response to migrant victims of domestic abuse, including those with no recourse to public funds. This review will specifically consider the committee’s recommendation to extend the period of time that support is offered for, and how this relates to a victim’s ability to access refuge accommodation at all.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, funding to refuges has been ravaged by over a decade of austerity in local government funding. The Communities Secretary has announced some additional funding, but front-line service providers have argued that it will not help tackle the funding gap faced by refuges because it does not provide money that could be spent on day-to-day cost of service provision. Will the Minister ask the Communities Secretary to think again about this provision so that money can be used for day-to-day costs and to increase the allocated budget so that it begins to address the huge shortfalls that have been built up over the past decade?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

I welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, to her first outing at the Dispatch Box. I will certainly take that back to the department. The whole point of the funding announced by Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State, was to fill the gap that has been built up over the last decade.