Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what funding her Department has allocated to providers of local specialist domestic abuse services in anticipation of a potential increase in demand for such services as a result of her Department's policy to identify and refer survivors of domestic abuse to those services.

All our work coaches have received mandatory training, developed with input from domestic abuse charities, to help them to recognise the signs of domestic abuse. This means that our staff are able to proactively identify, support and signpost victims of abuse to expert organisations.

The Government has committed £100 million between 2016 and 2022 to support the Cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy (VAWG). This includes £20 million, announced in the 2017 Spring Budget, to support organisations tacking domestic abuse and to support victims; and a £17 million VAWG Service Transformation Fund to support the local provision of specialist VAWG services, encourage partnership working, new approaches and early intervention.