Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish the public consultation on the future funding of domestic abuse services.

I am pleased to announce that, having carried out a review of how domestic abuse services are locally commissioned across England, we have today launched a consultation on Future Delivery of Support to Victims and their Children in Accommodation-Based Domestic Abuse Services. The consultation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/support-for-victims-of-domestic-abuse-in-safe-accommodation.

We are proposing a duty which requires a partnership approach to supporting victims and their children based on a robust understanding of local need for support. This will be accompanied by Statutory Guidance that will clarify Government expectations in this regard.

We believe our proposals will promote sustainable, consistent, support for all victims, informed by understanding the needs across local areas and taking account of the needs of diverse victim groups, such as those with protected characteristics and victims with complex needs.

Through this consultation, we would like to hear from victims and survivors, service providers, local authorities and other public agencies, as well as other professionals who support victims and their children every day.