HC Deb 13 July 2000 vol 353 cc665-6W
Mr. Kidney

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress in reducing the incidence of domestic violence in England. [129937]

Mr. Boateng

The Government have made available from the Crime Reduction Programme £7 million for projects addressing domestic violence and rape and sexual assault by known perpetrators. I was pleased to announce the successful bids on 10 July. Of these, 25, costing a total of £5.3 million, deal with aspects of domestic violence. We expect this major commitment to lead to more women reporting these offences and in the longer term to a significant fall in the actual number of offences being committed.

This initiative complements a range of Government measures to ensure that the problem of domestic violence is tackled effectively, including in the last four months new multi-agency guidance, a new resources manual for Health Service professionals and a new Home Office Circular to

Table 1: Percentage change in recorded crime rates 1996–97 to 1998–99 and percentage change in police numbers
Number offences per 100,000 population Police numbers
1996–97 1998–99 Percentage change Percentage change Fall/rise
1 Kent 9,140 7,040 -23 -1.8 Fall 1
2 Gwent 10,477 8,508 -19 0.3 Rise
3 Gloucestershire 9,583 7,867 -18 -2.5 Fall 2
4 Lincolnshire 7,796 6,412 -18 -4.8 Fall 3
5 Northumbria 11,201 9,271 -17 4.4 Rise
6 West Mercia 7,367 6,166 -16 -0.8 Fall 4
7 South Yorkshire 11,248 9,538 -15 0.3 Rise
8 Hampshire 7,666 6,525 -15 0.6 Rise
9 Bedfordshire 9,341 7,957 -15 -4.8 Fall 5
10 Cleveland 13,358 11,465 -14 -3.0 Fall 6
11 Lancashire 8,585 7,379 -14 -0.1 Fall 7
12 Cambridgeshire 9,713 8,379 -14 -2.1 Fall 8
13 Avon and Somerset 10,323 8,926 -14 0.4 Rise
14 Surrey 5,355 4,638 -13 2.6 Rise
15 Devon and Cornwall 6,573 5,703 -13 0.8 Rise
16 Hertfordshire 6,110 5,307 -13 -2.0 Fall 9
17 Essex 6,578 5,722 -13 -2.4 Fall 10
18 Durham 8,326 7,262 -13 7.4 Rise
19 North Wales 6,375 5,575 -13 1.6 Rise
20 Nottinghamshire 13,575 11,983 -12 -4.2 Fall 11
21 North Yorkshire 7,341 6,558 -11 -0.1 Fall 12
22 Metropolitan Police District 11,264 10,084 -10 -2.3 Fall 1

the police. Our other initiatives and commitments are set out in the joint Home Office/Women's Unit publication, "Living with Fear: an integrated approach to tackling violence against women", published in June 1999.