Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Newton and Kelvin Hopkins

Monday 21st May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Newton]

As I said in answer to an earlier question, we insist and make sure that the healthcare professionals undertaking the assessments are appropriately trained and have the right expertise, and the guidance is kept under constant review to make sure we get it right first time.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Ind)]

14. What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of fees and charges applied by asset managers to the investments made by defined contribution and defined benefit pension schemes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Newton and Kelvin Hopkins

Thursday 12th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

1. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of police resources to support victims of domestic violence.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Sarah Newton)]

Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary and fire and rescue services has noted in recent inspections that forces have protected dedicated resources to support victims of domestic abuse. The number of police referrals, prosecutions and convictions for domestic abuse has increased significantly since 2010, but this Government are not complacent. In this Session, we will introduce a landmark domestic violence and abuse Bill to better protect and support victims and to bring perpetrators to justice.

[Kelvin Hopkins]

According to the crime survey for England and Wales, an estimated 2 million adults aged 16 to 59, mostly women, say that they were victims of domestic abuse in the past year. Do not the Government accept that the massive cuts in police resources that they have inflicted will inevitably mean that there will be fewer arrests and fewer prosecutions for domestic violence, leaving more women in danger?

[Sarah Newton]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the question, but I simply do not accept that at all. Interestingly, funding for Bedfordshire police has risen by 1.8% this year—that is £1.8 million. I hope that he will join me in congratulating his local police and crime commissioner on her personal leadership in tackling domestic violence in Bedfordshire and, in particular, on Project Emerald, which is delivering record numbers of prosecutions and protecting more women than ever before from domestic abuse.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Newton and Kelvin Hopkins

Monday 6th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Newton]

The right hon. Gentleman makes an incredibly important point, and we very much work alongside USDAW on the national steering group that I mentioned. I absolutely back up his call that everybody should report crime. There are some excellent initiatives in town centres all over the country through which businesses and the police are working well together to ensure that such an increase in reporting happens.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

3. What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of current legislation on controlling and coercive behaviour; and if she will make a statement.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Minister Newton.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Sarah Newton)]

Mrs Newton indeed, Mr Speaker.

We introduced the new offence of controlling and coercive behaviour to shift the focus of the criminal justice system from single incidents to identifying and addressing patterns of abuse. The Home Secretary will chair a working group to drive change in how we think about and tackle domestic abuse, and this will include closely monitoring the implementation of this new offence.

[Kelvin Hopkins]

I thank the Minister for her answer, but existing police powers to remove perpetrators of domestic violence from a property are tremendously under-used, largely because costs and cuts in police funding have made the situation worse. What is the Minister going to do to help protect women affected by domestic violence?

[Sarah Newton]

This new offence was brought in right at the end of 2015, so the Office for National Statistics will not report on the level of uptake of the new police powers until later this spring. From my conversations with the police up and down the length and breadth of the country, I know that they are making very good use of the new powers.