Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory, specialist domestic abuse training for all housing officers in England.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has not undertaken an assessment of mandating specialist domestic abuse training for all housing officers in England.
Local authorities, under their statutory duties in Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, are required to assess the need for and provide support for all victims of domestic abuse and their children while in safe accommodation. To support delivery of this duty, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provided local authorities in England £160 million in 2025/26, a £30 million uplift from the previous year, and £499 million funding will be allocated to local authorities over the next three years.
Statutory guidance to local authorities is available (Delivery of support to victims of domestic abuse in domestic abuse safe accommodation services - GOV.UK) providing further details on how the duty should be delivered, including the expectation for local authorities to strengthen their understanding of domestic abuse locally, which may include through training.