Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Domestic Homicide Reviews were awaiting their first assessment by the Home Office Quality Assurance Board on 1 September 2026; and what the median time was between submission by a Community Safety Partnership and that first assessment in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities, and society as a whole to learn lessons from fatal domestic abuse and to treat every death as preventable.
The Home Office is reforming DARDRs to improve their efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded more swiftly. An updated version of the statutory guidance that underpins DARDRs was published on 15 September 2026.
The statutory guidance sets out the importance of involving family and friends closely in the DARDR process. The 2016 DHR guidance (used for cases commissioned before 15 September 2026) outlines that the review Chair should provide the family with ‘regular engagement and updates on progress through the advocate, including the timeline expected for publication’.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DARDR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have reformed the QA process and introduced a new DARDR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
As of 1 September 2026, there were 62 reviews awaiting quality assurance. We have successfully reduced the backlog from 11 months in September 2025, to a report being heard within 6 weeks of submission in September 2026. We do not hold the information on the number of outstanding DARDRs commissioned before the 15 September 2026.
The Home Office has committed to funding and delivering an oversight mechanism for recommendations made as part of DARDRs. This work is currently underway, and further details will be announced in due course. In December 2025 we published the Freedom from Violence and Abuse, Cross Governmental Strategy and Action Plan. This outlines that going forward all national recommendations from DARDRs will be shared with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, which will provide governance to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and drive accountability.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides on the frequency of progress updates to bereaved families during Domestic Homicide Reviews commissioned before 15 September 2026; and who is responsible for providing those updates while a review is undergoing Home Office quality assurance.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities, and society as a whole to learn lessons from fatal domestic abuse and to treat every death as preventable.
The Home Office is reforming DARDRs to improve their efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded more swiftly. An updated version of the statutory guidance that underpins DARDRs was published on 15 September 2026.
The statutory guidance sets out the importance of involving family and friends closely in the DARDR process. The 2016 DHR guidance (used for cases commissioned before 15 September 2026) outlines that the review Chair should provide the family with ‘regular engagement and updates on progress through the advocate, including the timeline expected for publication’.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DARDR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have reformed the QA process and introduced a new DARDR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
As of 1 September 2026, there were 62 reviews awaiting quality assurance. We have successfully reduced the backlog from 11 months in September 2025, to a report being heard within 6 weeks of submission in September 2026. We do not hold the information on the number of outstanding DARDRs commissioned before the 15 September 2026.
The Home Office has committed to funding and delivering an oversight mechanism for recommendations made as part of DARDRs. This work is currently underway, and further details will be announced in due course. In December 2025 we published the Freedom from Violence and Abuse, Cross Governmental Strategy and Action Plan. This outlines that going forward all national recommendations from DARDRs will be shared with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, which will provide governance to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and drive accountability.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on options for improving oversight of the implementation of recommendations from Domestic Homicide Reviews; and when she expects to announce the outcome of that work.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities, and society as a whole to learn lessons from fatal domestic abuse and to treat every death as preventable.
The Home Office is reforming DARDRs to improve their efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded more swiftly. An updated version of the statutory guidance that underpins DARDRs was published on 15 September 2026.
The statutory guidance sets out the importance of involving family and friends closely in the DARDR process. The 2016 DHR guidance (used for cases commissioned before 15 September 2026) outlines that the review Chair should provide the family with ‘regular engagement and updates on progress through the advocate, including the timeline expected for publication’.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DARDR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have reformed the QA process and introduced a new DARDR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
As of 1 September 2026, there were 62 reviews awaiting quality assurance. We have successfully reduced the backlog from 11 months in September 2025, to a report being heard within 6 weeks of submission in September 2026. We do not hold the information on the number of outstanding DARDRs commissioned before the 15 September 2026.
The Home Office has committed to funding and delivering an oversight mechanism for recommendations made as part of DARDRs. This work is currently underway, and further details will be announced in due course. In December 2025 we published the Freedom from Violence and Abuse, Cross Governmental Strategy and Action Plan. This outlines that going forward all national recommendations from DARDRs will be shared with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, which will provide governance to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and drive accountability.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Domestic Homicide Reviews commissioned before 15 September 2026 remain unpublished; and, of those, how many have been in progress for more than (a) two years and (b) three years.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities, and society as a whole to learn lessons from fatal domestic abuse and to treat every death as preventable.
The Home Office is reforming DARDRs to improve their efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded more swiftly. An updated version of the statutory guidance that underpins DARDRs was published on 15 September 2026.
The statutory guidance sets out the importance of involving family and friends closely in the DARDR process. The 2016 DHR guidance (used for cases commissioned before 15 September 2026) outlines that the review Chair should provide the family with ‘regular engagement and updates on progress through the advocate, including the timeline expected for publication’.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DARDR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have reformed the QA process and introduced a new DARDR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
As of 1 September 2026, there were 62 reviews awaiting quality assurance. We have successfully reduced the backlog from 11 months in September 2025, to a report being heard within 6 weeks of submission in September 2026. We do not hold the information on the number of outstanding DARDRs commissioned before the 15 September 2026.
The Home Office has committed to funding and delivering an oversight mechanism for recommendations made as part of DARDRs. This work is currently underway, and further details will be announced in due course. In December 2025 we published the Freedom from Violence and Abuse, Cross Governmental Strategy and Action Plan. This outlines that going forward all national recommendations from DARDRs will be shared with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, which will provide governance to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and drive accountability.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been allocated in each financial year from 2026-27 to 2028-29 for the provision of specialist domestic abuse support for deaf and disabled victims and survivors; and how that funding compares in cash and real terms with funding provided for the existing service.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As part of ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, the Home Office committed to deliver specialist VAWG Helplines across England and Wales alongside 1-1 advocacy support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally.
The competitions to deliver this £24 million investment closed on 31 July 2026. As the competitions are still ongoing, we are unable to comment on the details beyond what has already been published. However, we can provide assurance that the Home Office is working to ensure there is no gap in provision between existing services including for disabled people and the services awarded through the competition.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Department has made of the potential effect of changes to the procurement of specialist domestic abuse support for deaf and disabled victims and survivors on (a) waiting times, (b) accessibility, (c) service quality and (d) survivor safety.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As part of ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, the Home Office committed to deliver specialist VAWG Helplines across England and Wales alongside 1-1 advocacy support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally.
The competitions to deliver this £24 million investment closed on 31 July 2026. As the competitions are still ongoing, we are unable to comment on the details beyond what has already been published. However, we can provide assurance that the Home Office is working to ensure there is no gap in provision between existing services including for disabled people and the services awarded through the competition.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether an equality impact assessment has been completed for the 2026-29 procurement of specialist domestic abuse support for deaf and disabled victims and survivors.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As part of ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, the Home Office committed to deliver specialist VAWG Helplines across England and Wales alongside 1-1 advocacy support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally.
The competitions to deliver this £24 million investment closed on 31 July 2026. As the competitions are still ongoing, we are unable to comment on the details beyond what has already been published. However, we can provide assurance that the Home Office is working to ensure there is no gap in provision between existing services including for disabled people and the services awarded through the competition.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Department is taking to prevent an interruption to specialist British Sign Language-accessible domestic abuse support when the current funding period ends in October 2026.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As part of ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, the Home Office committed to deliver specialist VAWG Helplines across England and Wales alongside 1-1 advocacy support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally.
The competitions to deliver this £24 million investment closed on 31 July 2026. As the competitions are still ongoing, we are unable to comment on the details beyond what has already been published. However, we can provide assurance that the Home Office is working to ensure there is no gap in provision between existing services including for disabled people and the services awarded through the competition.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the cause of the persistent odour affecting residents in Calne, Wiltshire; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Environment Agency and local authorities have the resources and enforcement powers required to identify and address the source of the smell.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency is aware of persistent odour reports in Calne and continues to treat the issue as a priority. Officers from the Environment Agency’s Wessex Area team have been deployed daily since last Thursday to investigate the source and assess any environmental impacts. They are conducting odour assessments at the times residents report the smell to be strongest, mainly late at night and early morning. These assessments are helping to establish the odour’s intensity and origin and will inform any necessary regulatory action.
Defra engages closely with the Environment Agency and other agencies to review resources and enforcement powers.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children under the age of 18 were newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in each of the last five years, and how many of those cases involved hospital admission through accident and emergency departments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information is not held in the format requested.
Information is held on the count of finished admission episodes on emergency admissions and those made through accident and emergency (A&E) departments for patients aged between zero and 17 years old with a primary diagnosis of 'type 1 diabetes' for activity between 2020/21 to 2024/25.
Year | Total admissions (including non- emergency) | All emergency admissions (including those not made via A&E department) | Emergency admissions made via the A&E department |
2020/21 | 6,006 | 5,569 | 3,771 |
2021/22 | 7,120 | 6,561 | 4,483 |
2022/23 | 6,508 | 6,027 | 4,175 |
2023/24 | 6,271 | 5,792 | 4,179 |
2024/25 | 6,013 | 5,537 | 4,171 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England