David Blunkett and Domestic Violence A report on a recent All Party Parliamentary Group meeting to consider new legislation on domestic violence with major implications for children.

There was a packed Committee Room in the House of Commons to hear the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, speak about the Government’s Domestic Violence Consultation Paper on 1st July 2003.

An All Party Matter

The Home Secretary began by recognising the tremendous commitment of people to attend the meeting. He stated that members of the APPG have a critical role in helping to get the legislation right. He stressed that it is not a party political matter and made the offer that he will work with and listen to all those of goodwill towards bringing the legislation to fruition in the next session of Parliament.

He noted that it is primarily, but not exclusively, women who are affected by domestic violence, although he did add that children can also be damaged emotionally by witnessing violence between the adults in their lives. Sadly, of course, as the litany of the names of dead children illustrates, children can also be fatally injured in incidents of domestic violence.

As a member of the APPG for Children, I had taken up an invitation to attend this meeting, having heard that the proposed legislation included references to smacking children. One strongly held view is that smacking can lead to the kinds of escalations into spirals of violence to children which end in tragedies, which make tabloid headlines for three days. Unfortunately this issue was not raised by the Home Secretary and I was not able to put a question about it.

Consultation

He re-affirmed that he wanted to consult widely and link with all victims of domestic violence. He mentioned three aims, prevention, protection and getting to grips with the perpetrators. He wanted to see the development of policy and education on family and parenting.

The viability of urging service providers to have good employer policies, to help parents and families will be looked at. The might of the TUC will be used to lobby all Trades Unions.

The Home Secretary recognised the need to match up with changes being included in the Green Paper on Children. There must be a bringing together of all aspects to ensure that standards and quality are raised. At present there is variability in the reporting from Guardians ad Litem, and parts of the Children Act 1989 which are not being used.

The Home Secretary pointed out that the Health Practice Forum would locate risk assessment in the NHS and that models of good practice and models of training are to be put on the NHS web site.

Current research shows that one in four women experience domestic violence at some time and that two women are killed in domestic incidents every week. There are those who believe that violence to their partners is sometimes acceptable and disturbingly a lot of young men think that violence to women is OK. Hidden in this research are the numbers of children who are witnessing scenes of violence regularly at home.

Protection

Turning to the protection of people from violence, the Home Secretary said that he was keen not to take steps which could not be implemented. However some changes could include making common assault an arrestable offence, offering anonymity to victims and setting up special courts to ensure people had a better experience of the Criminal Justice System. He also recognised the need for user friendly terminology and for new powers to be given to the Police to act when orders were breached. It is to be proposed that Orders can be imposed while waiting for a perpetrator to be charged with an offence.

The Home Secretary then took questions and representations from members before leaving.

The Cost

One participant asked about any plans to extend Legal Aid provision. It was pointed out that at present it can cost £2,000 to obtain a non-molestation order and that at present the consultation paper does not address the issue.

The Home Secretary acknowledged that many victims still suffer multiple deprivations in education, housing and health and that a major culture change must be driven onwards.

He stated that it was vital to engage and involve the Lord Chancellor’s Department in the consultation process. More resources are need for outreach and support work. At present children’s advocacy services are pitiful.

Questions and Points

One contributor asked that there should be a new determination that cultural and religious traditions should not be used as excuses for violence and cruelty in the home.

Concern was expressed that expert risk assessments for the Family Courts was not mentioned. At present Social Services Departments are very variable and their levels of response also differ.

It was hoped that the Government, as a major employer, would lead the way in producing a model policy and measures for the education and training of workers in the prevention of violence and protection from it.

It was felt that there would need to be massive injections of resources into helping refugees more.

A plea was made for restraining orders to prevent perpetrators making second attacks on their victims.

It was pointed out that training is needed, because unless professionals are able to relate to those crying out for help they will remain in difficulties.

The Home Secretary was urged to link domestic violence to other aspects of terrible violence, such as that linked to prostitution and pimping. He commended Harriet Harman who persisted in trying to get such issues joined up across Departments, especially for issues not yet on the main government agenda.

There was concern that asylum seekers can get a whole range of services, but there is no funding and no service provision for black or lesbian women, or gay, bi-sexual and trans-sexual groups, who experience domestic violence.

There was a call for a statutory body to monitor violence in lesbian and gay partnerships.

The Home Secretary welcomed these contributions and urged everyone to contribute to the debate in whatever for a they can in order to make it as full a consultative process as possible.

It was pointed out that in order to give good evidence for court cases people need good medical training. It was urged that members of police forces, other than the Metropolitan Police, should learn from them, together with nurses, doctors, teachers and other organisations.

The crucial importance of training together was also urged in order to gain cohesion between matters of domestic violence and Children at Risk.

There were concerns over the increase in Residence Orders being granted to violent men and also over issues of contact with violent parents. There was a call for amendments to the Children Act 1989 to insist on supervised contact in such cases.

The Home Secretary was told that more refuges were needed, but that they should also provide outreach, support, advocacy and legal help.

While it was noted that this might helpfully be in the Children at Risk Green Paper, it was also pointed out that refuges must meet the National Standards for the day care of the under 8s.

Finally a request was made for women to have access to funding for the costs of accommodation if they leave an abusive relationship.

The Home Secretary left at this point, but Home Office Minister Hazel Blears remained for the rest of the meeting.

The View of Women’s Aid

Nicola Harwin, the Director of Women’s Aid then spoke. She welcomed the consultation as a significant development after a long haul to get Domestic Violence on to the agenda. The full response of Women’s Aid could be found on their web site, but in short Women’s Aid endorsed all the proposals, but thought some things ought to go further.
For example survivors need to be asked what they want and if these proposals meet their needs.

There must be an effective co-ordinated response and a strategy, including the availability of advocacy for victims.

Attention needs to be paid to separation and child contact arrangements. More money had been made available for contact centres, but this does not go far enough. There can be difficulties in applying non-mandatory guidance.

Government Plans

Ms Harwin underlined the importance of learning from each other to get the best outcomes. She looked forward to the publication of the Green Paper (which at that time was still expected at the end of July). She hoped that it would inform the drafting of the domestic violence legislation by underpinning the need to deal with the family in the widest context and offering ways of helping with the prevention of the effects of violence on children.

Hazel Blears, Home Office Minister, gave further insight into the Government’s thinking on the issues raised.

She indicated that more needs to be done to hold perpetrators of violence accountable for their actions. This could be done by programmes in prisons and by more screening and risk assessments.

More support is also need in the workplace, for example to allow people time off to go to the Housing Department etc.

She was asked if the police have the capacity to carry out all the potential new arrests, when they are under pressure to meet burglary targets etc. It was pointed out that there are now 132,000 police in post, which is the largest number ever. There will also be a review of the National Policing Plan, when priorities will be checked.

It was also outlined that there is a London-wide strategy in place and a forum which will report to the Mayor of London on 25th November, to check who is achieving and where there is resistance to working together.

The Need for the Proper Use of Power

Finally it was suggested that since powerful men are often the perpetrators of violence, the time has come for other powerful men to take a lead in changing society by means of legislation. Everyone was thanked for the constructive and co-operative atmosphere in which the meeting had been held.