§ Ms MoranTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost to public funds of dealing with domestic violence in the last 12 months. [157547]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeWe have not, in the last 12 months, undertaken an assessment of the cost to public funds of dealing with domestic violence. We know that this cost is a significant one: the research study "Counting the costs; estimating the impact of domestic violence in the London Borough of Hackney" published by Crime Concern in 1998, estimated the total cost of providing services for the survivors of domestic violence in Greater London to be in the region of £278 million per annum. This gives a fair indication of the scale of the costs involved.
564WThe Government are determined to reduce all crimes of violence including domestic violence, which is a serious crime accounting for just under a quarter of all violent crime. Our strategy for doing so is set out in "fighting violent crime together: an action plan" which was published in January.