Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Northern Ireland Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Scully Excerpts
Wednesday 6th March 2019

(5 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Theresa May Portrait The Prime Minister
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The hon. Gentleman has raised a distressing case about a constituent. We have taken steps to ensure that medicinal cannabis is available, but decisions on availability are taken by clinicians, as is absolutely right.

Paul Scully Portrait Paul Scully (Sutton and Cheam) (Con)
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I welcome the publication of the draft Domestic Abuse Bill, and I hope it will pass successfully through the House. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, as well as tackling extreme abuse and violence, we should also raise awareness of the entry level acts of coercion, deceit and manipulation that lead to more extreme examples?

Theresa May Portrait The Prime Minister
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My hon. Friend has raised an important issue. People will obviously have seen distressing cases of coercion and indeed some instances where that has been taken through the courts. We all need to recognise the importance of dealing with domestic abuse and recognise that for too long the issue of coercion was not accepted or addressed. It is important. It is this Government who are doing that. As he says, we must be very clear about the entry level behaviours that lead to that distress.