Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Judicial College is taking to train judicial officers and staff to handle cases of domestic abuse with an appropriate level of sensitivity and awareness.

The Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), the Senior President of the Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.

Judicial training in domestic abuse, including domestic violence, is included in family law and criminal courses run by the Judicial College. All judges must complete their induction training before they can hear such cases.

In July 2020, additional digital training was rolled out on domestic abuse for all family judges. This has subsequently been updated, with refreshed digital training packages rolled out for all family judges and magistrates in October 2021. Further, the College is delivering follow-on training family and civil judges in the 22/23 training year, including training on the Domestic Abuse Act.

The training reflects the wide nature of domestic abuse and covers all forms of abuse recognised by the Government, ranging from physical abuse including serious sexual and other assaults, emotional and psychological abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, including financial coercion and control.

Judges hearing serious sexual offences cases must be specifically authorised to do so, and a condition of that authorisation is that they must meet relevant training commitments. This involves induction training followed by ongoing training. The training covers topics such as cross-examination, vulnerable witnesses, consent and sentencing matters.

The Judicial College is not responsible for training court staff.