Written Evidence Jan. 24 2024
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: people with learning or physical disabilities and autistic people, mental health step-down units and domestic
Oral Evidence Jan. 24 2024
Inquiry: Safeguarding vulnerable claimantsFound: These would include things like having a named domestic abuse adviser within different jobcentres
Found: We provide a national network of 46 refuges, communit y outreach programmes, child support services
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what (a) financial and (b) other support his Department is providing to women's refuges in City of Durham constituency.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has provided £3,531,383 since 2021/22 to County Durham and have committed a further £1,216,337 for 2024/25. This funding is for County Durham to commission support for victims of domestic abuse who are residing in refuges and other types of domestic abuse safe accommodation locally.
Statutory Guidance and Regulations provide further details to local authorities on how the duties should be delivered on the ground. The Department continues to work closely with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, the domestic abuse sector and the LGA in supporting local authorities, including best practice workshops.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure consistency of support across regions for victims of domestic violence.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Violence Against Women and Girls National Statement of Expectations sets out how local areas should commission effective services. It also aims to increase understanding of the need for specialist services and the value of those designed, and delivered by and for the users and communities they aim to serve (for example victims and survivors from ethnic minority backgrounds, deaf and disabled victims and survivors, and LGBT victims and survivors).
The Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s report on meeting the needs of victims across England and Wales has been useful in highlighting the importance of nationwide provision and specialist support. We have and will continue to use her findings in commissioning and funding decisions.
The Domestic Abuse Act introduced a legal duty on Tier 1 local authorities to provide support for victims of domestic abuse and their children within safe accommodation, including refuges. Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities have allocated £127.3 million in 2023/24 to LAs to discharge this duty.
Ministry of Justice is also this year (23/24) providing £21 million of ringfenced funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCS) for community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services. This is in addition to the ‘Core’ funding MoJ provides to PCCs to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need.
In November 2023, we renewed the commitment to support victims of domestic abuse with a further £2 million investment into the Flexible Fund until March 2025, announced in the Autumn Statement. The Home Office Fund will enable direct payments to victims across England and Wales to help them flee abuse and re-establish long-term safety and independence and builds on a trial of the scheme in 2023.
Oral Evidence Dec. 19 2023
Committee: Health and Social Care Committee (Department: Department of Health and Social Care)Found: may be familiar with the exact detail: “The first point of our five-point plan will be to end the abuse
Dec. 16 2023
Source Page: Correspondence in relation to offshore wind: FOI releaseFound: Times12 Charities hail domestic abuse campaign for shift from victim -blaming Charities have praised
Dec. 14 2023
Source Page: Domestic abuse leavers fund- Child Poverty Action Group: FOI releaseFound: Domestic abuse leavers fund- Child Poverty Action Group: FOI release
Oral Evidence Dec. 06 2023
Inquiry: Impact of the rising cost of living on womenFound: women worried about financial pressures—managing bills, paying for food—and debts in relation to domestic
Mentions:
1: Nigel Evans (Con - Ribble Valley) abuse” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2020;“victim” has the meaning - Speech Link
2: None by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. - Speech Link
3: None The Government’s Domestic Abuse Act 2021 granted the Domestic Abuse Commissioner comparable powers, so - Speech Link
4: Apsana Begum (Lab - Poplar and Limehouse) abuse services, considering both counselling and advocacy services and refuges. - Speech Link