Refuges

(asked on 6th July 2017) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the availability of domestic violence refuges for women across local authorities.


Answered by
Marcus Jones Portrait
Marcus Jones
Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
This question was answered on 17th July 2017

Domestic Abuse is a devastating crime and we are determined to ensure that women, regardless of their circumstances, should receive the support they need when they need it, as we made clear in the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy


Local areas are best placed to understand local needs and the government has devolved power and responsibility for meeting those needs accordingly. However, we expect local areas to do the right thing and provide services that are responsive to the needs of victims of domestic abuse. Local areas should assess their need for domestic abuse services and make decisions on the provision of refuges and support to fit the identified needs for women and children, both from within and outside of their local area.

To help meet this challenge, since 2014 we have provided £33.5 million in direct government funding to support victims of domestic abuse. We were clear in the prospectus for our £20 million fund that we were looking for local authorities to join up and work collaboratively across boundaries to strengthen provision of specialist accommodation, including refuges, as well as protect assets of national significance such as the very specialist refuges which provide culturally specific and sensitive services.

Alongside the fund, we published our new 'Priorities for Domestic Abuse Services', developed with partners from the domestic abuse sector, which set out for the first time what local areas need to do to ensure an effective response to meeting the needs of all domestic abuse victims.

In line with our commitment in the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy we will be working with local authorities to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of our interventions, so that we can be assured that victims of domestic abuse are receiving the help they need when they need it, and that all areas are rising to the level of the best.

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