Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of levels of funding for local domestic abuse (a) services, (b) counselling and (c) advocacy support.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Ministry of Justice is quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25. £154 million of funding has been committed per annum across this Spending Review period, totalling a minimum of £460 million over three years (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive). This is up from £41 million in 2009/10. This multi-year funding allows victim support services, and those commissioning them, to build resilience into services and ensure consistency in the support that victims receive.
Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced new statutory duties on local authorities to ensure that all victims, including their children, have access to support within safe accommodation when they need it. This includes counselling and advocacy support.
Since 2021, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has committed over £507 million, including £129.7 million in 2024/25, to councils across England to fund this duty. Funding from April 2025 will be determined at the next Spending Review.
This is a locally led duty. Each council must work closely with their Local Partnership Board to assess the needs of victims locally and commission the right safe accommodation support services needed to meet the identified need.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to increase the level of support available to victims of domestic abuse who are waiting for their trials to begin.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We are doing more than ever to ensure victims continue to receive the support they need as we work hard to ensure swift justice.
The Government recognises that support services play a vital role, and that Independent Domestic Violence Advisors can be critical to helping victims of domestic abuse at all stages of the criminal justice system. This includes when they are waiting for their trial to begin.
We are quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25, up from £41m in 2009/10. The funding will allow us to increase the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisers by 300 to over 1,000, a 43% increase over this spending review period (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive).
To ensure that there is clarity on what victims can and should expect from the criminal justice system response, on 8 November 2023 we reintroduced the Victims and Prisoners Bill, alongside a wider package of measures designed to improve victims' experiences of the criminal justice system.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - Devizes)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the replacement programme for the suspended Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme in June 2022 will be implemented; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the likelihood that perpetrators of domestic abuse who have not joined a new programme are still able to have regular contact with their victims before course completion.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is actively considering options to address the current lack of Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programmes in the family court. We are working with providers and the domestic abuse sector to explore interim arrangements, including potential new referral mechanisms, ahead of developing a revised model of support for domestic abuse cases in the family court.
The welfare of the child is the paramount consideration in any decision made by the court regarding child arrangements and the Government is working closely with stakeholders across the system to understand the impact the current change in provision has had on children and families. A timetable for the introduction of the new domestic abuse intervention offer will be confirmed in due course.
The Government has introduced a number of protections for survivors of domestic abuse in the family court. The Domestic Abuse Act prohibits cross-examination of victims by perpetrators and provides automatic eligibility for special measures for victims of domestic abuse in the family courts. The Act also makes it clear that ‘barring orders’ are available where further proceedings would risk causing harm, particularly where proceedings could be a form of continuing domestic abuse
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure (a) accessible and (b) culturally sensitive support is available for survivors of domestic abuse.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling domestic abuse is a key Government priority. It is deeply harmful, not only because of the profound effect it can have on victims, survivors and their loved ones, but also because of the harm it inflicts on wider society.
The importance of specialised provision, which is able to provide culturally sensitive support was clearly made in the Violence Against Women and Girls Call for Evidence which we ran in 2021.The Call for Evidence elicited an unprecedented 180,000 responses, and underpins both the National Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan.
There was a clear call “for support to be tailored to specific forms of violence against women and girls or specific groups of victims and survivors (including men and boys, people from different ethnicities and LGBT people) to ensure all victims and survivors were able to access appropriate and effective support.”
This is why the Domestic Abuse Plan, commits to over £140 million for supporting victims of which £47 million will be ringfenced for community-based services to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Furthermore, we will ensure this funding is accessible to the range of organisations and agencies working with victims and survivors, and have sought input from the sector to support the government do this.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 107146 on Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes, what progress her Department has made on delivery of the flexible fund in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan .
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Government is committed to delivering the ‘flexible fund’ that was set out in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan published in March 2022. The Plan made several multi-year commitments covering the duration of this Parliament, including the flexible fund.
Since the Plan was published, detailed work has been underway on how such a fund could be operationalised. This includes considering the advantages and disadvantages of the fund making direct cash payments to victims and survivors, as opposed to domestic abuse charities purchasing goods and services on behalf of victims and survivors.
If the fund were to make cash payments, we have considered how to ensure they solely benefit victims and survivors. This is particularly important in cases of economic abuse, where perpetrators control the finances of those they abuse.
Further details on how the ‘flexible fund’ will be delivered should be made in the coming months.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to introduce new funding aimed at increasing access to support for victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling domestic abuse is a key Government priority. It is deeply harmful, not only because of the profound effect it can have on victims, survivors and their loved ones, but also because of the harm it inflicts on wider society.
In July 2021 the government published the cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online and on the streets. This was followed by a complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, published in March 2022 and which seeks to transform the whole of society’s response to domestic abuse.
Within the Domestic Abuse Plan, the government commits to investing over £230 million, over a three-year period, into tackling these heinous crimes. This includes over £140 million for supporting victims of which £47 million will be ringfenced for community-based services to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an emergency fund for those impacted by domestic abuse to provide them with the resources required to flee the perpetrators of that abuse in the context of the increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for this Government. A key part of this is making sure victims and survivors get the support they need.
The Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which we published in March, invests over £230 million, including over £140 million specifically for supporting victims and survivors. The commitments in the Plan include doubling funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline.
The Plan also committed to establish trials of a ‘flexible fund’, which charities could use to provide extra money to victims and survivors in light of the increased cost of living.
More widely, the Government is providing direct Cost of Living Payments to more than 8 million UK households on means tested benefits. These payments will be tax-free, will not count towards the benefit cap, and will not have any impact on existing benefit awards. The Government also is protecting the most vulnerable in society, many of whom face the biggest challenge making their incomes stretch, by increasing benefits in line with inflation. This means that they will rise by September Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation – 10.1%.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment of the consequences for her policies she has made of the recommendation of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner of a flexible national funding pot, to help enable survivors of domestic abuse to escape abuse.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for this Government. A central part of this is making sure victims and survivors get the support they need.
The Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which we published in March, invests over £230 million, including over £140 million specifically for supporting victims and survivors.
This included a commitment to establish trials of a ‘flexible fund’. In the Plan, we committed to making funds available to charities, who would have discretion on how they could be used to support victims and survivors.
Delivery of the ‘flexible fund’ by charities could involve cash payments being made to victims and survivors, in the same way proposed by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner. These payments could help victims and survivors to leave an abuser.
The Government has also noted the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s report mapping provision of support services for domestic abuse victims and survivors. across England and Wales. A full response will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will list the recipients in each local authority of funding under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 including how much each recipient was awarded.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not hold information on the breakdown of funding between services in each local authority. Under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 each local authority is required to commission the right support in safe accommodation to meet local needs in line with their local strategy, working with their domestic abuse local partnership board.
So far, local authorities are in receipt of two years of new burdens funding for the delivery of their duties - £125 million in both 2021/22 and 2022/23. This has enabled local authorities to plan for and commission support services to meet the needs of victims.
Funding allocation for both 2021/22 and 2022/23 can be found in the following links below:
2021/22- https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/funding-allocation-methods-new-domestic-abuse-duty
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many (a) in house local authority and (b) independent domestic abuse services that have received funding under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 broken down by local authority.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not hold information on the breakdown of funding between services in each local authority. Under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 each local authority is required to commission the right support in safe accommodation to meet local needs in line with their local strategy, working with their domestic abuse local partnership board.
So far, local authorities are in receipt of two years of new burdens funding for the delivery of their duties - £125 million in both 2021/22 and 2022/23. This has enabled local authorities to plan for and commission support services to meet the needs of victims.
Funding allocation for both 2021/22 and 2022/23 can be found in the following links below:
2021/22- https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/funding-allocation-methods-new-domestic-abuse-duty