Sep. 17 2024
Source Page: Correspondence regarding Prostitution Strategy: FOI releaseFound: facilitating services was attempted through direct contact with services including sexual violence support, domestic
Sep. 17 2024
Source Page: Correspondence relating to the Big Noise programme: FOI releaseFound: consider the individual circumstances of families including children at risk in situations of domestic
Sep. 17 2024
Source Page: Former First Minister meetings with international leaders concerning human rights: FOI releaseFound: Ask: How can we optimise opportunities to share knowledge an d learning as we continue to tackle domestic
Sep. 17 2024
Source Page: Recruitment of Expert Working Group on Ending Conversion Practices members: FOI releaseFound: Committee is anxious to ensure that, in a similar way to legislation that exists to protect victims of domestic
Found: Prosecution of Domestic Abuse with speakers Laura Paton, HM Chief Inspector of Prosecution in Scotland
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who (a) have been convicted of domestic abuse and (b) will be released early from prison as part of the SDS40 scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
There is no single offence for domestic abuse defined in legislation as many other criminal offences can include domestic abuse.
The SDS40 change has exclusions for specific offences linked to domestic abuse including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation. This represents a change from the previous Government’s End of Custody Supervised Licence Scheme which failed to exclude domestic abuse sentences.
SDS40 data will be published in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact on victims of SDS40 applying to sentences being served concurrently with sentences of sexual or domestic abuse.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Offenders’ eligibility for SDS40 is determined by each specific sentence. Release provisions for different sentence types and length are fixed by law. This change has amended the automatic release point for standard determinate sentences that are not excluded. This means that by law, an offender serving multiple sentences could have a mixture of some sentences that are eligible for the 40% release point and others that are not. Someone serving a sentence for an excluded offence will not see their custodial time for that sentence reduced, but any sentences for non-excluded offences will be impacted.
Certain offences have been excluded from the Standard Determinate Sentences SDS40 change. These include sex offences irrespective of sentence length; serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more; specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length (including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation); as well as offences concerning national security. The change will also not apply to sentences subject to release at the discretion of the Parole Board or to offences which currently attract automatic release from an SDS at the two-thirds point (certain serious sexual and violent offences).
If victims are part of the Victim Contact Scheme (VCS) or Victim Notification Scheme (VNS), they will be informed about a change to an offender’s release date. Victims of a sexual, violent or terrorism offence are eligible for the VCS where an offender receives a specified custodial sentence of 12 months or more. They are eligible for the VNS if they are a victim of a stalking or harassment offence regardless of the length of the custodial sentence. This includes breach of a restraining order.
For victims of domestic abuse, there are national helplines that victims can also contact for more immediate help and support, which do offer translation services if your first language is not English. These are 24 hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline; the Men’s advice line for domestic abuse; and the 24 hour National Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence helpline in Wales.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to extend the Domestic Violence Indefinite Leave to Remain and Destitution Domestic Violence Concession to all migrant victims of domestic abuse regardless of immigration status.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this government and our mission is to halve levels of violence against women and girls within a decade.
We are reviewing all the issues impacting migrant victims of domestic abuse including the scope of both the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (formerly the Destitution Domestic Violence Concession) and the provisions of Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse (formerly Domestic Violence Indefinite Leave to Remain).
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to reform child maintenance services by (a) abolishing fees for survivors of violence against women and girls and (b) implementing robust enforcement measures for non-paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included removing Direct Pay and changing the charging structure, with all CMS cases managed in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster. The consultation also explores how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported.
This Government has extended the consultation to the 30 September 2024 to ensure full stakeholder engagement can take place. We will then consider the next steps for CMS.
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in protecting victims of domestic abuse when using their service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is assessing how it can provide statistics on domestic abuse now the application fee exemption statistics are no longer published. The Department's Chief Statistician will oversee the development of these statistics to make sure they meet the Code of Practice for Statistics.
The Department takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) offers an accessible, safe, and secure service for all parents. All CMS caseworkers receive training on how to identify the different types of abuse, including financial abuse and how they can appropriately support and signpost victims and survivors.
The CMS reviews its domestic abuse training regularly to ensure caseworkers are equipped to support parents in vulnerable situations and the Department will continue to meet stakeholders regularly to maintain an open dialogue on how to improve the service.
There are several secure ways to receive maintenance directly without having to divulge sensitive personal details, including for victims of domestic abuse and other vulnerable parents. The CMS can help arrange for payments to be made to bank accounts that cannot be traced to a physical location which helps to protect the parent’s location. The CMS does not put parents directly in touch with each other, nor does it share their current location via correspondence.
A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included removing Direct Pay and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster and explore how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported. This follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act receiving royal assent in July 2023.
The consultation has been extended to the 30 September 2024 to ensure full stakeholder engagement can take place.