Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to publish the updated guidance on controlling and coercive behaviour and domestic abuse referred to in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy; and if she will ensure that guidance explicitly recognises the use of animals and pets as a means of coercion, intimidation, control and abuse within domestic abuse.

As outlined in ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, the Home Office will update both the Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance and the Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance to ensure they align with the current domestic abuse landscape and best practice, and reflect the significant evolution in our understanding of coercive control since the original guidance was published.

Both guidance documents currently recognise that perpetrators may use animals and pets to perpetrate abuse, and this will be strengthened further in the updated guidance in due course.