Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support she is providing to victims of domestic abuse.

We are acutely aware of the need to put victims at the heart of our approach to tackling domestic abuse at this time. We are working closely with domestic abuse charities to monitor and assess impacts and needs.

The Government has posted advice regarding national helplines on gov.uk to guide victims to the most appropriate support for their individual needs (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-abuse-how-to-get-help ). This has been extensively promoted through our awareness raising campaign #YouAreNotAlone.

The Home Office has announced £2m of funding to help bolster helplines at this time; £1.2m of this has already been allocated to provide Covid-19 support. This is in addition to the £750 million funding package announced by the Chancellor, £76 million of which will support survivors of?domestic abuse, sexual violence and modern slavery?as well as ensure that vulnerable children and young people continue to get the help they need. From this funding the HO launched a £2m fund for national and regionally based domestic abuse organisations. £793,000 of this has already been allocated to 13 organisations and additional bids are currently being assessed.

Our Domestic Abuse Bill, which recently completed its Commons stages, will help to better protect and support the victims of all forms of domestic abuse and help bring perpetrators to justice.

As part of its ongoing support work for victims of domestic abuse the Home Office has also provided £1.1 million funding in 2020/21 to support seven national helplines providing support to victims of domestic abuse and sexual abuse, as well as £3 million to specialist services for children affected by domestic abuse, as a continuation of the Children Affected by Domestic Abuse fund.