Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels of police participation in Domestic Abuse Matters training in (a) Watford and (b) England.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Domestic Abuse Matters training, developed by the College of Policing, in collaboration with SafeLives, with input from Women’s Aid and Welsh Women’s Aid, aims to improve the police response to domestic abuse and to achieve national consistency in the service police forces provide to people experiencing domestic abuse.
The majority of police forces in England and Wales have undertaken the Domestic Abuse Matters training in their force to date, including Hertfordshire Police who are the force for Watford.
We have also funded the development of a new module of the training that is targeted at officers investigating domestic abuse offences to enable further improvement in police responses to domestic abuse incidents.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers are currently serving in Hertfordshire and Watford.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area (PFA), on a bi-annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
These data are collected by PFA only, and lower levels of geography, such as towns or boroughs are not collected. Data on the number of police officers in Hertfordshire Constabulary as at 31 March each year, from 2007 to 2022 can be found in the ‘Workforce Open Data Table’. The latest mid-year figure, as at 30 September 2022, is also available in the data tables accompanying the latest ‘Police Workforce’ bulletin.
While the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin remains the key measure of the size of the police workforce, as part of the Police Officer Uplift Programme, the Home Office publishes a quarterly update on the number of police officers (headcount terms only) in England and Wales, also broken down by PFA. Lower levels of geography, such as towns or boroughs are not collected. Data as at 31 March 2023 are available here: Police Officer Uplift, quarterly update to March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The latest data from the ‘Police Officer Uplift’ statistics shows, as at 31 March 2023, there were 2,415 police officers (headcount) in Hertfordshire Constabulary. This is the highest number of police officers on record in Hertfordshire Constabulary surpassing the previous peak of 2,236 officers as at 31 March 2007.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that victims of crime (a) feel confident and (b) are supported when reporting crimes to the police.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Protecting victims and improving their experience and the support they receive is a key priority for the Government.
All police forces must comply with the Victims Code which sets out the services and minimum standards all victims have a right to receive. Police and Crime Commissioners have a legal duty to consult with victims in setting the policing priorities in their area and to hold the Chief Constable of the police in their area to account, and are responsible for commissioning many of the victim support services.
The introduction of the Victims and Prisoners Bill 2023 will strengthen victims’ experiences of the criminal justice system and will make sure that victims of crime are properly supported.
Government has committed to publishing national and local Criminal Justice System (CJS) Delivery Data Dashboard (formally called CJS scorecards) which bring together data from across the system to increase transparency, understanding of the justice system, and support collaboration.
The Home Office is also investing in a new Victim Satisfaction Survey to drive improvements in the support police forces provide to victims, and gain new insights into why victims withhold or withdraw support for investigations.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that survivors of domestic abuse are supported to report that abuse to the police.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Domestic abuse is a horrific crime and improving the response to domestic abuse is a key priority. That is why we introduced our landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the Act), which will provide further protections to the millions of people who experience domestic abuse and strengthen measures to bring perpetrators to justice, as well as transform the support we give to victims ensuring they have the protection they deserve.
We expect police to treat all victims of domestic abuse with the sensitivity and compassion they deserve, which plays an important part in encouraging victims and survivors to report. Therefore, to strengthen the police response to domestic abuse and as part of our commitment in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan 2022 to support the development and further rollout of the Domestic Abuse Matters training, we have committed up to £3.3 million up to 2025 to bolster and encourage the uptake of this training in forces. We will beprioritising funding for those forces who have yet to undertake the training. As part of this commitment, we are also funding the development of a newmodule of the training that is targeted at officers investigating domestic abuse offences to enable further improvement in police responses to domesticabuse incidents.
The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS), also known as Clare’s Law enables the police to disclose information to a victim or potential victim of domestic abuse about their partner’s or ex-partner’s previous abusive or violent offending either following a request for information by a victim, potential victim or an associated third party or following the police being in receipt of information requiring a disclosure. We have recently commenced section 77 of the Act which places the guidance which underpins the DVDS into statute and published updated guidance ahead of this. This places a duty on the police to apply the guidance unless there is good reason not to and will strengthen the visibility and consistent operation of the scheme. The guidance also makes clear that safeguarding the victim or potential victim is, at all times, a priority.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to protect retail workers from verbal and physical abuse as covid-19 lockdown restrictions ease.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government conducted a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff to understand the extent of the issue and how we can improve the response to these crimes. The Government’s formal response was published 7 July 2020 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-and-abuse-toward-shop-staff-call-for-evidence
To address the actions raised in the call for evidence the Home Office has worked closely with retailers and trade organisations through the National Retail Crime Steering Group. We have developed resources to assist retailers to report crimes when they occur, resources for shop staff who are victims of violence and abuse, and the #Shopkind communications campaign. The downloadable resources are free to use and are available here: https://brc.org.uk/nrcsg-against-shop-worker-abuse-and-violence/