Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend (1) to extend the duration, and (2) to increase the budget, of the Support for Migrant Victims Scheme pilot, in the event that demand outstrips the existing level of support provided.

We very much welcome, and are now reviewing, feedback from the sector on the draft prospectus for the Support for Migrant Victims scheme, including the duration of the pilot. We will consider all options, including future sustainability, should demand for the scheme outstrip the budget already allocated.

As well as providing support to migrant victims of domestic abuse, one of the key objectives of the scheme is to gather more information on the scale of the problem, and on which types of migrants it most significantly affects. Therefore, while we recognise that information being shared with the Home Office may deter some victims from seeking support, it will not be possible to measure the effectiveness of the scheme, or develop long term policy solutions, if there is no such exchange of information.

We are, however, reconsidering the proposals to provide as much reassurance as possible that information will be shared securely and will not routinely be shared with other parts of the Home Office. In developing the scheme we engaged with 24 specialist organisations and groups.

These were: Amnesty International, The Angelou Centre, Asiana Women’s Project, BAWSO Wales, End Violence Against Women Campaign, The Equality and Human Rights Commission, Imkaan, Kurdish and Middle Eastern Women’s Organisation, Latin American Women’s Rights Service, Liberty, London Black Women’s Project, Middle Eastern Women and Society Organisation, Migrants’ Rights Network, Project 17, Refuge, Refugee Women, Rights of Women, Safety 4 Sisters Manchester, Sisters for Change, Southall Black Sisters, Step Up Migrant Women Coalition, Welsh Women’s Aid, Women for Refugee Women and Women’s Aid. The second phase of the review consisted of a series of focus groups and meetings with organisations that specialise in providing support to migrant victims of domestic abuse with no recourse to public funds.

Since then, we have held an engagement webinar with the sector on 22 October and are reviewing the feedback from sector organisations. At the webinar we consulted with Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, Latin American Women’s Rights Organisation, End Violence Against Women, Southall Black Sisters, Imkaan, Karma Nirvana, Hestia, Women’s Aid Scotland, The Angelou Centre, Women’s Aid, Catch 22, We Care Housing and Support, Victim Support and SafeLives. We are currently giving thought to the evaluation process, and will look to share findings with the wider sector soon.