Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that police forces are adequately (a) trained and (b) resourced to respond effectively to (a) reports of (i) coercive control and (ii) abuse and (b) breaches of court orders.

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and we will treat it as the national emergency that it is.

In our manifesto, we committed to strengthening training for policing to ensure they have the right knowledge and skills to respond appropriately to victims of violence against women and girls. Coercive and controlling behaviour is covered extensively in the Domestic Abuse Matters training. This was developed by the College of Policing with SafeLives, Women's Aid and Welsh Women's Aid, and has now been delivered to over 80% of police forces in England and Wales. We are working closely with the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs' Council to explore how we can further strengthen police training on violence against women and girls.

In February, we launched Raneem's Law to embed new external domestic abuse specialists and dedicated teams within 999 control rooms, to support the police response to domestic abuse incidents. The DA specialists will give police access to specialist knowledge and advice on domestic abuse. They can review incoming calls, advise on risk assessments, and facilitate training for police staff.

We expect the police to investigate and respond to breaches of a protective order in a timely manner and this has been made clear in police statutory guidance. The domestic abuse teams under Raneem's Law will provide dedicated resource to support the police, for example to ensure that officers attending an incident are fully informed of any protective orders in place.