HC Deb 03 November 1986 vol 103 cc776-82

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn. — [Mr. Ryder.]

9.58 pm
Mr. Chris Smith (Islington, South and Finsbury)

In January 1986 the working party established by the Metropolitan police into domestic violence against women in their own homes reported to Scotland Yard. That working party, which had seven serving police officers headed by a chief inspector and three outside members, produced an illuminating, interesting and positive report. The report has not yet been published or implemented. I have received a copy of it, and with that in mind I have requested this debate. It reveals the staggering scale of the problem.

The report says that the statistics about the number of incidents of violence against women by their husbands or partners in their own homes in the metropolis are inadequate and inaccurate. It estimates that something like 28,000 calls a year about incidents of domestic violence are made to police stations in London. It records that those calls probably represent only a quarter to a third of the overall number of incidents that occur. That is because many women are understandably reluctant to call outside help, let alone police help, in such difficult and dangerous circumstances.

It being Ten o'clock, the motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Ryder.]

Mr. Smith

Looking at the statistics in the report, we can only conclude that there must be something like 100,000 incidents of domestic violence in London each year. That is a staggering problem and the House and the Metropolitan police should be worried about it. A working party was established, it took a great deal of evidence from outside organisations, and it produced a remarkable report. I commend the Metropolitan police for having established that working party. I also commend the working party for producing a report couched in remarkably progressive language. It puts forward a series of sensible and important recommendations. However, that report has remained on desks in Scotland Yard and presumably in the Home Office—because, of course, the Home Secretary is the police authority for the metropolis—for the past 10 months. Why is it that with a problem of such importance and when so many women throughout London are at risk no action has been taken since January?

The report contains some urgent recommendations, many of which could have been implemented immediately. One must ask why the delay has occurred. Has the delay been at Scotland Yard or at the Home Office? Is Scotland Yard, as it has been quoted in some newspapers in the last few days as saying, waiting for some national policy directive from the Home Office? Has the delay occurred because no one has understood and appreciated the importance of the issue that is under discussion?

Can the Minister tell us exactly how the delay has occurred and whether it will be possible for the recommendations in the report to be implemented as rapidly as the Home Office and Scotland Yard between them can manage?

What needs to be done? First, attitudes need to change. The report is a damning indictment of the attitude of many police officers in the metropolis towards domestic violence. It is quite clear from passages in the report that many serving police officers see violence against a woman in her own home as less worthy of their attention and less important than, for example, violence on the street. That cannot be the case. Violence is violence whether it happens within the confines of one's own home or on the streets of London. The police response in each case must be one of concern for the victim and a desire to prevent any further occurrence of such violence.

The report contains some staggering comments and I shall read one or two of them because they are illuminating. The report says: What is of importance is the persistent trend to underreport to police coupled with the fact that many of those who had reported to police find them unhelpful. It quotes an article which says: The Police emerged as the least helpful of all the main agencies to which women turned for help before going to the refuge … Except in cases of very severe injury, the helpfulness of the police reflected neither the severity of the injuries, nor the frequency with which the woman had been assaulted in the past. Under the training section, the report says: Knowledge of the law and police procedure is somewhat vague as far as many District officers are concerned, to say nothing of the lack of empathy expressed towards victims of domestic violence during their encounters with the police. Further on, the report says: There seems to be generally a sense of frustration when the Police are called to incidents of domestic violence, particularly if there has to be more than one call to the same home. There appears to be little understanding of the predicament of the woman living in violent or potentially violent situations. There are many other examples of such criticism, but just one more, which is perhaps the most revealing paragraph in the report, will suffice. It says: On being questioned, many Police Officers felt that Domestic Violence should not be part of their work at all. Any situation of that kind was seen as being (generally) just a waste of time. (Another view of this kind of work was that it was no help whatsoever when applying for other posts or promotion). It is quite clear from the report, which, it should be remembered, has been prepared by the police, that police attitudes to domestic violence fall far short of the seriousness with which the problem ought to be addressed.

The first and major question that we have to ask the Home Office and Scotland Yard is, "Will you please ensure by all means possible that serving police officers throughout the force treat violence against women in their own home with the seriousness that it deserves?" Changing the attitudes that are revealed by the report is crucial. It is a task of the utmost priority for the Home Office.

Secondly, and allied to changing attitudes, there is the need to change the training programme and the procedures for new recruits and existing officers in the Metropolitan police. It is by training that the police can become able to deal sensitively and appropriately with such difficult and often delicate situations as arise when there is domestic violence.

The third aim should be to change the keeping of records. Throughout the report, there is criticism of how current record keeping practices are ignored and inadequate. There must be proper record keeping so that we can all know exactly the extent of the problem and the success or failure of the police in assisting the victims of domestic violence.

Fourthly, a simple proposal in the report reveals that, at the moment, police mileage allowance regulations forbid a police vehicle being used to transport a woman who has just been the victim of an assault in her home to a safe refuge. A police car in London cannot be used to take her to safety. Surely that is nonsense. The police could improve matters overnight by changing the regulations so that cars can be used for that purpose. The report says that that has already been done in Cleveland. That bit of good practice should be used here as of tomorrow. I hope that the Minister will be able to give a commitment to that effect.

Fifthly, we must ensure that police officers know about all the other referral agencies that are available to help victims of domestic violence. It is surely right and proper that the widest possible range of advice and counselling should be available in such difficult circumstances, and the police—because they are often the first agency to be called to the scene—must be able to refer to other suitable, proper and good agencies.

The final recommendation that I draw to the Home Secretary's attention is the recommendation that as third parties to a dispute the police should be more prepared to prosecute the violent man. The report quotes extensively from Canadian experience in Ontario where this has been attempted and been found to be very successful indeed. Frequently it is difficult for a woman in such circumstances to bring her own prosecution. Often there is a need to try to heal the relationship as well as to attempt to prevent any recurrence of the violence. In those circumstances it is surely helpful that any prosecution aimed at preventing a further occurrence should come not from the woman herself but from the police.

That is now possible under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. The police have the power to bring that sort of prosecution. Evidence from Canada suggests that it could be very successful in reducing the level of violence and in helping to resolve the problem when it occurs.

Mr. John Whitfield (Dewsbury)

Except in the most extreme case, are not the matters to which the hon. Gentleman has referred in his excellent speech matters for the social services rather than the concern of our hard-pressed police forces?

Mr. Smith

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman fails to recognise the severity of the problem in many cases. He also fails to understand that in many of these instances the police are the first line of call because they are a 24-hour service, and very few other agencies are. Therefore, it is surely important for the police to have the knowledge of how to deal with these instances and occurrences.

What is more, I am sure the hon Gentleman would agree that when violence is occasioned, it is a crime. The police are supposed to fight crime as well as to deter it. Where violence occurs against a women in her home, it is still violence, just as it is if it occurs outside the home.

Of course, other agencies must be involved, and ultimately we are talking not just about police involvement, but about social services involvement, voluntary agency involvement and probably probation involvement. However, the police are part and parcel of that multi-agency approach which will be needed. Where violence is occasioned to a person, the police can and must be involved. Sadly, the hon. Gentleman failed to acknowledge that extremely important point.

Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)

Surely it is worth noting that especially in the last two or thee years the police have become involved in areas where hitherto they have not been involved—for example, on the rugby field. There was also a recent incident on the football field. Previously such violence went unnoticed, or at least it was not tackled by the police, yet increasingly they are now moving into such areas. If they can do that, surely they should move into the area that my hon. Friend is describing so well.

Mr. Smith

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We cannot have one standard of law, justice and violence prevention for inside the home or on the football field and another for outside. This is something about which many women have been concerned for a long time. The traditional male attitude is that there is a privacy to the home and there are rights connected with marriage that somehow protect the man when being violent towards his wife or partner. That attitude must be changed. Violence towards one's partner is just as bad and reprehensible as violence to a stranger in the street.

The Ontario experience shows that when the police decide to prosecute it assists in reducing violence and preventing further cases of assault. The report recommends that a pilot project should be established in one London district. I hope that the Home Office and Scotland Yard will carefully consider the implementation of that recommendation as soon as possible.

I have drawn those six basic recommendations from the Metropolitan police's report. I cannot stress too stongly that this is the Metropolitan police's own report which was published in January 1986. I shall add three other recommendations to those of the Metropolitan police. First, there ought to be — certainly for London—a 24-hour telephone line made available for women. They should be able to phone in with any account of violence, rape or difficulty that they have experienced. That line should be specifically for women, and it should be handled by women at the other end of the line. That would increase dramatically women's confidence in reporting incidents of this kind to the police. That must be for the better.

Secondly, I hope that the Home Office will commit itself to increasing the proportion of women officers within the Metropolitan police force. At the moment, 10 per cent. of the Metropolitan police are women. Of 26 commanders, only two are women. The standing, culture and nature of the Metropolitan police would be greatly improved if there were more women officers. I hope that the Home Office has it in mind to increase the proportion of women who form part of the Metropolitan police.

Thirdly, a greater number of safe refuges is also needed for women who are subjected to violence. That involves money and resources. It means setting up refuges and ensuring that they are properly run and staffed and that space is made available in them for women who have been subjected to violence. I hope that the Government are committed to assisting that process.

This report has lain on the table for far too long. The problem is massive and urgent. Many women fear the threat of violence and they risk violence and assault within their homes. All of us ought to be concerned about preventing and deterring violence and we ought to try to assist in preventing it. The report offers a way of doing so. I hope that the Home Office and Scotland Yard will tonight commit themselves to taking immediate steps to provide help in a much more rapid and sensitive way than I fear has happened since this report was published.

10.19 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Douglas Hogg)

I am very grateful to the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Smith) for having adopted this subject for the Adjournment debate. He has argued his points in a remarkably cogent, lucid and persuasive manner. If some of his hon. Friends did likewise, they would carry more weight in this place.

The hon. Gentleman is right to focus on violence to women. For a whole variety of reasons, this country is more conscious than it has been in the past that this is a major problem and that not all of us have responded in entirely the way that one would have wished. However, I am afraid that I shall have to disappoint the hon. Gentleman to some extent. I shall not give the authoritative commitment that he has invited me to give.

The hon. Gentleman referred to the report prepared by the Metropolitan police. I shall start by making a number of preliminary remarks about that report. First, as the hon. Gentleman knows, the report was made by the Metropolitan police; it is not a Home Office document. I do not accept that there has been any delay by the Home Office in any regard.

Secondly, I think that the hon. Gentleman will agree that the fact that the Metropolitan police commissioned the report and invited outsiders to serve on the working group demonstrates the force's willingness to look at its practices and procedures with a critical eye. The Metropolitan police are willing to introduce changes when they are necessary.

Thirdly, the implementation of the report is a matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, who will, doubtless, wish to consider the report in the context of the Home Office circular that was issued last month. Because this is a matter for the commissioner, it would be wrong for me to seek, at least at this stage, to express a positive view on any recommendation. However, I was pleased to hear the positive declaration of intent made today by Detective Superintendent Street on "The World at One" programme on which the hon. Gentleman also appeared. I welcome the positive statement by the superintendent that he regards the recommendations as "relevant and necessary" and that the Metropolitan police intend to put them into practice. That seemed to me to be a positive way forward and I support it.

After those preliminary remarks, I wish to consider what the police are doing about domestic violence and what more they should be doing. All of us who have practised law, as I think the hon. Gentleman has—

Mr. Chris Smith

indicated dissent.

Mr. Hogg

The hon. Gentleman has not done so. I thought that he had. I am sure that he agrees that domestic violence is one of the most difficult problems that the police have to deal with.

It is right and necessary that hon. Members and Ministers should assert the basic proposition that an act of violence committed by one spouse against another is as much an offence as is an act of violence committed against a stranger. I do not wish any hon. Member to try to argue that violence against a spouse should be regarded as less serious than violence against a stranger.

Indeed, in many cases, especially those involving families with children or when there are continuing offences, the violence shown by one spouse to another is more serious than violence shown to a stranger. There are special reasons why that is so. In many cases, a wife depends on her husband for her home and income and for the home and income of her children. She has no escape. Frequently, when a spouse summons the police it is a cry for help at the end of a long period of provocation.

The Government recognised those facts and have introduced two substantive changes in the law this year to improve the position. The hon. Gentleman will know well that on 1 January the Police and Criminal Evidence Act came into force. In this context there are two provisions in the Act that are of special importance. First, we have enhanced the powers of arrest so that the police can arrest to prevent future and prospective violence. This is a great improvement on what was previously the position. Secondly, and perhaps equally as important, the Act provides that a spouse is not merely a competent witness but a compellable witness in a trial. The Government have, by their legislative programme, accepted many of the points that the hon. Gentleman has made and have changed the law so as to accommodate them.

The law itself cannot provide a complete answer to the problem and it is necessary for us all to face and recognise the difficulties that confront police officers. It often happens that police are called to homes by worried neighbours or distraught wives, and when they arrive at the scene the friction dies down and the police are perceived as being outsiders, to be treated with a degree of suspicion, if not hostility. There are a variety of reasons for this. Sometimes the victim may call the police as a sort of warning to her spouse. The noisy dispute which alerts neighbours may in reality be no more than that, a noisy dispute. Even when a spouse has been the subject of assault, quite frequently the desire for reconciliation is much stronger than the desire to have the man prosecuted. Therefore, we must recognise and accept the special problems that confront police officers in these circumstances.

When a police officer attends a scene it is often not clear to him whether an act of violence has occurred or whether one is likely to occur. A wife in tears and a broken chair may suggest violence, but it may suggest also a row in which the man broke his own property. I make the point to try to stress the evidential difficulties which face these officers and not to undermine the hon. Gentleman's arguments or those which I have advanced already.

Nor is it helpful to speak in terms of cases that the police might bring. Throughout the criminal law there is a range of cases that the police might bring, but for reasons of good public policy it is often desirable to proceed with no more than a caution. Frequently a caution is a sufficient response. We must be clear, however, that the safety of the spouse and that of her children must be the paramount consideration. At all times, and whenever the police attend the scene of an incident of this sort, they must be alert to the possibility of prospective violence.

It was on that basis that we responded to the recommendations of the Women's National Commission, which, as the hon. Gentleman will know, was chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Medway (Dame Peggy Fenner) and produced a most distinguished report. In response to the recommendations, the Government issued a circular on 15 October, a copy of which is now to be found in the Library. There are a number of matters I wish to mention because they go a long way to meet the hon. Gentleman's concern. First, we have asked the police to give priority in cases of domestic violence to the overriding need to ensure the safety of victims and to reduce the risk of further violence. This can be done by arresting the offender if necessary or desirable under the enhanced powers of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. We have asked chief police officers to consider providing practical help to victims by putting them in touch with local authority support agencies. We have recommended that substantial changes should be made in the practice of recording no crime. Incidents should be recorded as no crime only if there is positive evidence of fabrication or withdrawal. Insufficient evidence itself is not a reason for showing no crime.

In summary, the hon. Gentleman has raised an important matter. We recognise that it is important and I hope and believe that what we have done is part of a process whereby this problem and area of difficulty will be tackled and accordingly the life of victims will be a great deal better.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at half-past Ten o'clock.