Domestic Abuse and Hidden Harms during Lockdown

Debate between David Johnston and Victoria Atkins

Thursday 14th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to highlight the enormous work that schools are doing during lockdown restrictions as well as in the period that we had last year between lockdown restrictions. We have invested some £8 million to help teachers spot some of the signs of abuse and distress in children. It may take some time for those signs to show when children return to the classroom, but the money is intended to help to address that. The hon. Lady will, I hope, have heard about the investment we have made in the “See, Hear, Respond” scheme. We have also provided £7.6 million to children’s charities that have suffered financial hardship due to covid-19.

We continue to fund Childline, as well as the professional helpline for adults who are concerned about a child. In addition, we are funding a helpline set up by Operation Encompass in the middle of the first national lockdown last year. It is a helpline for teachers worried about the families of children in their school, particularly in relation to domestic abuse, and want to know what they can do to help. The Operation Encompass helpline exists very much to help the teachers who help to look after our children, and I recommend it to teachers in the hon. Lady’s constituency and elsewhere.

[David Johnston (Wantage) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the launch of the new codeword scheme today. I have a constituent whose abusive partner is the subject of a non-molestation order, but because the place where she lives is the place where they had a joint business, he has managed to get the zonal aspect of the order lifted, on the ground that he needs to be in the location for business. The abuse has restarted, and during lockdown it is difficult for my constituent’s friends and family to support her in the right way. Will my hon. Friend meet me to discuss how to give better support to victims of abuse in these circumstances?

[Victoria Atkins]

I most certainly will meet my hon. Friend, and I thank him for raising a case that demonstrates the complexity of many people’s experiences of abuse, even after a relationship has ended. The Bill contains a number of measures to address that sort of abusive behaviour, including the introduction of domestic abuse protection orders that will put positive requirements on offenders, as well as negative ones. I am happy to meet him, and I hope that, through his work and support from services, his constituent is able to find a solution to the terrible situation he has described.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Johnston and Victoria Atkins

Monday 14th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[David Johnston (Wantage) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to protect victims of domestic abuse.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Victoria Atkins)]

Throughout the covid-19 pandemic, we have provided unprecedented additional funding to domestic abuse service providers to bolster their capacity to meet the demand for support. We announced further funding last month and relaunched the #YouAreNotAlone campaign to ensure that victims of abuse and those worried about them know how to access help and advice. In addition, the police continue to target perpetrators of abuse proactively because there is no excuse for abuse.

--- Later in debate ---

[Victoria Atkins]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising a constructive point. I hope that he knows that we were very keen through the pandemic to help at a local, regional and national level. Indeed, I was very careful to ensure that police and crime commissioners, who are responsible for distributing the local level of funding, do so not just to the services that are commissioned, but also to non-commissioned services, because there is a wealth of expertise across the country. On the point about funding, I will of course take that away. It is something that I have been discussing with charities and I know their concerns; we are dealing with that issue during the spending review allocation process.

[David Johnston]

Reducing the Risk supports victims of domestic abuse in my constituency and across Oxfordshire, and it was grateful to receive some of the funding that my hon. Friend refers to and which has helped it to support 50% more people. One of the things it focuses on is prevention. Does my hon. Friend agree that although we have to deal with the cases that we have seen spike during this year, we must not lose sight of the importance of prevention so that they do not get to that stage in the first place?

[Victoria Atkins]

I very much recognise that. Indeed, part of the programme of work that sits within the Bill and outside the Bill is about tackling those who perpetrate domestic abuse. We need to stop these cycles of abuse; sadly, in some cases, perpetrators go from relationship to relationship, abusing and hurting people in their wake. One of the things that I am very interested in—I know that this is also an interest of my hon. Friend—is looking at what more we can do to understand the work of academics, particularly in interesting areas such as the use of artificial intelligence, to see whether we can do better by way of risk assessing domestic abuse perpetrators and the terrible impacts that they can have on their victims.