Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on providing domestic abuse survivors with mental health and support services.

This Government is committed to supporting all victims of domestic abuse. We passed the landmark Domestic Abuse Act last April, which will strengthen our protection to victims and ensure perpetrators feel the full force of the law. We will also be publishing a Domestic Abuse Strategy in the coming months, which will help drive a step-change in the response to these crimes and build on the Domestic Abuse Act, seeking to transform the whole of society’s response to domestic abuse.

We recognise that domestic abuse can have a lasting and severe impact to the mental health of victims and their families. Forthcoming statutory guidance on Domestic Abuse will ensure that domestic abuse is properly understood, including the long and short term physical and mental health impacts of domestic abuse.

In 2021-22, Government is providing just under £151m for victim and witness support services, including funding for a number of domestic abuse specialist services providing counselling and one-to-one support to victims of domestic abuse and ‘by and for’ services for Black, Asian and minority ethnic, LGBTQ+ or disabled victims.

In addition, the Children Affected by Domestic Abuse (CADA) fund is delivering a wide range of interventions which are designed and carefully chosen to support children affected by domestic abuse and improve their long-term outcomes, including therapeutic support and counselling.

In respect of the health and social care system, through the Health and Care Bill we will create 42 Integrated Care Systems (ICS) across England - these will allocate resources, coordinate services and plan in a way that improves population health and reduces inequalities between different groups.

We will continue to work across Government to ensure that those involved in domestic abuse receive the support that they need.