Domestic Violence: Victim Support

16. What steps her Department is taking to support victims of domestic violence.

Our cross-cutting Government strategy commits £1 billion over the next three years to support victims of violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse. That includes a £30 million uplift under this Government on refuge and safe accommodation for victims of domestic abuse, and millions extra on funding the domestic abuse perpetrator schemes, which specifically target the repeat offenders who pose the highest risk of harm.

After years of enduring domestic abuse, a constituent of mine came forward to Thames Valley police. She was badly let down by process and communication failures, resulting in the perpetrator avoiding prosecution despite a positive charging decision. She is now worried for her personal safety and has a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis. I appreciate what the Minister says she is doing to help victims of domestic violence, but what more can she do to make sure they are taken seriously so that other victims do not have the same experience as my constituent?

The hon. Gentleman makes an incredibly good point. We would save ourselves a lot of time and people a lot of harm if we just got it right in the first place. That is why the Government have invested £13.1 million specifically in a policing centre for tackling violence against women and girls, which seeks to look at all the gaps in the policing system and make nationwide standards against which the police will be held accountable.

In my constituency, I am grateful to Derbyshire Wish, which provides support services to victims of domestic violence and abuse. It uses my offices for free to speak with victims of domestic violence and abuse in a safe and neutral environment. What is the Minister doing to tackle domestic violence and abuse in rural communities, where isolation plays a significant part in it going undetected?

I pay tribute to the organisation in my hon. Friend’s constituency and to all such organisations across our constituencies, and I pay tribute to her for doing that work in her own surgery. I encourage everybody to do the same—I am sure many do. Rural communities experience domestic abuse the same as those in urban areas, but they have different needs that have to be met. That is why the Government—I invite her and all Members to join me in this—will work with Members from rural areas to consider what specifically needs to be done to make sure that, when police standards are written, that isolation is fully taken into account.

How the police respond to domestic violence incidents at the first instance oftentimes is critical for the criminal justice process, but also for interpreting events on the ground. I know the Minister—who in my view does a very good job, by the way—likes to look at best practice from across the world. Will she look at best practice in Europe, where academics have proven that when a male and a female officer respond to such incidents, the process of prosecuting is often far easier as a result of having, where possible, a mixed-gender patrol?

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that suggestion. I will ensure that our officials look up that particular study. I will do anything that shows an improvement in this area. It never surprises me that gender parity makes things better. That is another thing I have committed my life to.

I welcome the Government’s determination to tackle violence against women and girls and to support victims. Does the Minister agree that as well as improvements to our criminal justice system, improvements to our family justice system will play an important part in that?

While these are questions to the Home Office, and people will rightly bring questions about policing across the country, only 10% of domestic abuse victims will ever see the inside of a police station or interact with policing, so every other element of our system—including the family courts, the family justice system and our civil courts—absolutely has to play a part. Those things are a fundamental part of the violence against women and girls strategy.