Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps her Department is taking to increase prosecution rates for cases involving coercive and controlling behaviour.

Domestic Abuse (DA) causes severe and lasting harm to victims, particularly controlling or coercive behaviour (CCB) which can permeate all aspects of their lives. Bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice is a core priority for this Government and supports our landmark ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG).

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is committed to securing prosecutions for CCB. The number of CCB cases to have reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ court has increased year on year since this legislation was introduced: increasing from 5 cases in 2015-16 to 5,254 cases in 2024-25.

However, we know that more must be done to improve the identification and understanding of this complex form of offending. To support this, the CPS has integrated a CCB case study into its face-to-face domestic abuse training, which has now been delivered to 3133 prosecutors.

The CPS and National Police Chiefs’ Council launched the DA Joint Justice Plan in November 2024. This includes a shared commitment between police and CPS to improve the identification of behaviour-driven offending such as CCB. It also aims to ensure that victims are heard, supported, and protected throughout their journey in the criminal justice process.