Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) training and (b) support her Department provides to police to investigate (i) coercive control and (ii) other non-violent domestic offences.

In our manifesto, we committed to strengthening training on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) for policing to ensure that all officers have the right skills to investigate all VAWG offences, including coercive or controlling behaviour (CCB) and other non-violent domestic offences.

The Home Office has already invested £13.1 million this year into the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP). This funding includes an uplift of nearly £2 million to deliver a robust package of training improvements across public protection, including on domestic abuse and CCB.

Through the NCVPP, we are working closely with the College of Policing to develop strengthened, specialist training for officers across all operational levels - frontline, specialist, and leadership. Grounded in academic research and behaviour change science, new training programmes will ensure that all officers are well equipped to investigate these crimes and provide support to victims.

CCB is also covered extensively in the Domestic Abuse Matters training for police which has now been delivered to over 80% of police forces in England and Wales. This specialist domestic abuse training was created by the College of Policing in partnership with domestic abuse charities, SafeLives, Welsh Women’s Aid and Women’s Aid.