Domestic Violence
CRIME & REDUCTION DISORDER PARTNERSHIP CONFERENCE
MANCHESTER, 12 JUNE
Thank you for inviting me to speak here today. This is going to be a practical conference. The workshops you attend this afternoon will give you the practical tools to develop and deliver successful local strategies to tackle domestic violence.
My role this morning is to provide the context for that work. To tell you that there is, in Government, a renewed commitment to tackling domestic violence. And to tell you how that renewed commitment is leading to concrete action.
Of course it is right that we should make the issue of domestic violence a priority. Emma began the conference by highlighting some of the appalling statistics relating to domestic violence. They bear repeating.
Domestic violence accounts for 25% of recorded violent crime
Two women a week die at the hands of a partner or ex-partner
A man is who is violent to his wife is 70% more likely to be violent to his children than a man who is not violent
We have a clear moral duty to do all we can to prevent this violence. But we have positive legal duties too – to protect victims and prevent crime – arising from the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
We need to prevent domestic violence where we can. This is a long term challenge, to which changing attitudes is key. Changing the attitudes of young people in particular. Recent research reveals that 1 in 5 young men and 1 in 10 young women think that violence towards a partner is acceptable in some situations, for example if that partner has slept with someone else.
We need to protect victims. This means intervening early before domestic violence escalates – we know that the biggest predictor of future violence is past violence. And it means ensuring that the police and criminal justice system responds effectively.
And we need to support victims. By giving them access to safe accommodation and helping them re-build their lives.
So what are we doing?
Ministers from across Government have come together on a dedicated inter-Ministerial Group to lead co-ordinated and concerted action across Departmental boundaries. The Group is led by Lord Falconer at the Home Office and includes the Solicitor General Harriet Harman, Ministers from ODPM, Health and Education, and myself, representing the Lord Chancellor's Department.
The Group has looked broadly across the full range of policy and practice. We have focused in particular on education and awareness raising; early identification and intervention through the health system; the response from the police and CPS; safe accommodation choices for victims; and the interface between the civil, criminal and family law courts.
Across Government we have already:
Produced a resource pack for schools covering domestic violence, bullying and harassment.
Worked on safe and innovative ways of getting information to the victims of domestic violence, leading to the 'black cabs' initiative in London where taxi receipts and tip-up seats in cabs have helpline numbers.
Announced a £2m joint initiative with Comic Relief to establish the first ever national 24 hour freephone helpline, backed up by a 'Refuges Online' IT database of refuge places and local services for the victims of domestic violence. This is a unique partnership between Government and the voluntary sector; we hope that the new helpline and database will go live towards the end of the year.
We know that pregnancy is a risk factor for domestic violence – 30% of all domestic violence begins in pregnancy, and existing violence often escalates. We have set up a pilot programme in Bristol to establish the effectiveness of routine screening for domestic violence in an ante-natal setting.
Announced investment in new refuge provision: £8.9/7/7m from ODPM, plus £9.9m this year from Housing Corporation.
Invested almost £13m since 2000 in the development and evaluation of projects around the country addressing domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. These projects are working with police and other agencies to identify measures that work to reduce these crimes and support victims.
The handling of domestic violence cases by the police and the CPS has improved significantly over recent years.
The police have been making strenuous efforts to improve their response to domestic violence. Centrex, sponsored by the Association of Chief Police Officers, have rolled out a National Modular Training Package on Domestic Violence. Most police forces now have either specialist domestic violence units or domestic violence co-ordinators. The police are also developing and refining their procedures to provide simpler and more reliable assessments of the risk offenders pose to their victims.
Over the last few years there has been a step-change in the way in which the CPS handles domestic violence cases and the quality of their liaison with police forces over those cases. In November 2001, the CPS issued a revised policy on prosecuting cases of domestic violence. At the same time, the CPS established a national network of Domestic Violence Co-ordinators. Dedicated domestic violence training has been delivered to prosecutors on a local basis. There will be a dedicated national training programme this year that will include input from the voluntary sector and Centrex.
We want to improve this response further. Her Majesty's CPS Inspectorate and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies are currently conducting a joint thematic review of police and CPS handling of domestic violence cases. We look forward to the recommendations of that review.
In my own area, we have been improving the response of the courts to domestic violence cases, and in particular the interface between civil and criminal courts.
The effects of domestic violence ripple throughout the family and children are particularly vulnerable. So last year we changed the law so that when a court is considering whether to grant contact, it must consider the harm a child may suffer not just from experiencing domestic violence but also from witnessing it. In addition, we are making £2.5m available through the Children's Fund to develop and expand the provision of child contact services. These services are crucial to ensure that where contact is awarded it can be supervised – and safe – contact.
My Department is doing a lot of work on how we can facilitate information sharing between the civil, family and criminal law systems. We are also watching closely the development of 'cluster courts' in various parts of the country – we want to see how these early courts work so we can assess the pros and cons of expanding this approach.
We will be building on this work with the publication of a consultation paper shortly. This paper will set out our overall strategy on domestic violence, and include specific proposals on changes to the law to improve protection for victims. These proposals will build on those set out in the White Paper Justice For All for example:
putting domestic violence murder reviews on a statutory footing;
extending the range of restraining orders; and
making the breach of a non-molestation or occupation order a criminal offence.
We have made a commitment to follow this consultation paper with a draft Bill.
Many of the legislative proposals will be focused on the criminal justice system, but the crucial thing about our strategy is that it cuts across all Departmental boundaries.
'Joining up' our policies and strategies is an over-used phrase but it is something that must become reality if we are to make a real impact in this area. That's true in relation to partnerships at the centre of Government. It's doubly true in relation to local partnerships like yours.
You're here today to think in practical terms about how your local partnerships can develop effective policies and strategies to tackle domestic violence. You'll hear later from the experts – the people who've been there and done it – but to my mind the absolute key is the engagement of all the right people at a local level.
Think about how multi-faceted a domestic violence strategy is.
Preventing domestic violence in the longer term: that's about changing attitudes, and starting young – with the education system. How can you engage with local education leaders and schools?
Intervening early where domestic violence is happening. That may be about schools picking up on the underlying reasons for kids truanting or under-performing; it may be about midwives, GPs or other health practitioners having a policy of routine enquiry. I'd like to see more PCTs actively engaging in local partnerships. There is some excellent practice around the country.
Protecting victims. That's about an effective police response. And each element of the criminal justice system – courts, CPS, the Prison and Probation Services – working together.
Supporting victims. This encompasses the work of so many agencies – Local Authority Housing, Homelessness and Social Services officials, the fantastic voluntary sector providers of refuge and other services, in some cases Mental Health, alcohol and drug abuse services, Jobcentre Plus.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the agencies who may need to be engaged at a local level – but it gives you an idea of the breadth of a truly holistic domestic violence strategy. I recommend if you have the chance that you talk to both Sue Bridges and Rachel Martin during the course of the day – informally, as well as in the workshops, about the strategies they have put in place in Cheshire and Devon. These are excellent examples of what can be achieved at local level.
We are committed to supporting local partnerships deliver. The Home Secretary announced earlier this year that there would be funding over the Spending Review period for CDRPs to improve local performance on domestic violence. Decisions on the allocation of this funding will be made shortly.
We also want to support you in learning from good practice that is going on elsewhere. There's no point in you re-inventing the wheel, and though every local area is different, there's always something you can learn from what others have done. This conference is part of that process. But we will also be looking to help partnerships by:
publishing early next year comprehensive best practice guidance based on the evaluations of our Violence Against Women Crime Reduction Projects (we have given these projects an extra £2m this year);
circulating a range of policies and strategies which have proved effective;
helping you out on data collection and collation – a major issue for domestic violence – this afternoon's workshop is a start on that;
supporting you if your local authority is attracted to a local PSA on domestic violence; and
using the Crime Reduction College's website to publicise as wide a range of local good practice as possible – this is something we'll be building up over the summer.
And my own Department is looking specifically at how to encourage courts to become involved in local domestic violence partnerships. We are currently developing guidance and templates, based on the experience of 15 very actively involved local courts, on how courts can best be involved in this work. Once the guidance is ready, we will disseminate it widely.
It is my hope that the courts will gradually take a more proactive role locally in the promotion of inter-agency liaison on domestic violence issues. I am keenly aware of the demands already placed on the court service and I am not suggesting that every court should set up a group on domestic violence.
But I would certainly encourage those of you who chair an inter-agency group to contact your local court and seek their participation in your work.
If there's other ways of sharing best practice which we could help you with, please let us know. We want to hear from you how central Government can help you tackle the barriers to local partnership working.
In conclusion:
I hope you will find the next presentation and the workshops in the afternoon useful. The practitioners who are delivering the workshops are responsible for some exemplary domestic violence practice and have a wealth of experience to share with you.
I hope you will respond to our consultation paper – the more responses we receive from frontline agencies and partnerships, the better informed our strategy and legislation will be.
And finally I hope you have taken from my contribution this morning the message that the Government is committed to taking effective action to tackle what is a common and appalling crime.
Last update: 05/08/03