§ Q2. Mr. Ashleyasked the Prime Minister if he will make one Minister responsible for co-ordinating Government policies regarding giving advice and assistance to wives who have been subjected to violence.
§ The Prime MinisterI recognise that this is a grave and complex problem involving more than one Government Department. But the Departments concerned are working closely together and see no advantage in making one Minister responsible.
§ Mr. AshleyI welcome and warmly appreciate that recognition of the importance of the problem. Is the Prime Minister aware that I have a dossier of cruelty, compiled in part from some remarkable letters which I have received from all over the country and in part by the Chiswick Aid Group, giving evidence of real brutality against certain women and children? I can show the Prime Minister examples of pregnant women giving birth to deformed and disabled children as a result of violence by their husbands. There have been a number of serious allegations against certain police officers for neglecting their responsibilities to certain women and children, and equally serious allegations against some social service departments. If I give that dossier to the Prime Minister, will he consult his right hon. Friends the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Social Services with a view to finding the best means of dealing with the problem of domestic brutality which so far has remained undiscovered under the guise of normal domestic disputes?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. If the hon. Gentleman will let me have all the 250 information in his possession, I shall arrange for all of it to be investigated immediately. The Chiswick Women's Aid Group has sent a copy of its very full and detailed report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services. As a result, he is now considering whether he should issue guidelines to local authorities about the aspects of the problem that the report raises. These are largely the difficulties of providing accommodation for women who find themselves in this very unhappy position. As for criminal charges, if the police have failed to take action these matters can of course be investigated. But many people understand that, when the police make an investigation, often they find it difficult to get evidence. For understandable reasons, many such women refuse to give evidence against their husbands.
§ Mrs. KnightWill my right hon. Friend bear in mind that the danger that these women are in is often considerably prolonged because it can take so long for a grievous bodily harm charge to come before the court? Can my right hon. Friend imagine what it means to a woman who has been attacked viciously by her husband and has also had her children attacked to have to remain in the house for many months because the case against her husband is held up in the court backlog? Will my right hon. Friend don the mantle of Sir Galahad and at least see what can be done about this?
§ The Prime MinisterCertainly, I will see whether the processes in the courts can be expedited in these cases. But the House is well aware of the difficulties involved in this. It raises the other aspect to which the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) addressed himself and to which the Chiswick Women's Aid Group has addressed itself, which is the problem of providing accommodation in the meantime for women who have undergone this experience and want to be away from their husbands.