Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had discussions with police forces on the provision of training on potential inks between domestic violence and violence against animals.

The Government will treat violence against women and girls (VAWG) as a national emergency. We have set out our ambition to halve VAWG in a decade using every available lever.

Committing violence towards a pet or an assistance animal or using them to control or coerce a victim should be considered as risk factors for domestic abuse and must be treated seriously by the police. It is essential that every force has the right specialist capability to properly investigate these crimes taking into account the relevant risk factors.

We are committed to ensuring policing have the right skills and training to respond appropriately to victims of VAWG. We are working closely with the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to strengthen police training for all forms of VAWG, including domestic abuse.