Domestic Violence

HC Deb 01 May 2001 vol 367 cc574-5W

Ms Moran

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the measures he has taken to tackle domestic violence since May 1997. [159419]

Mr. Hutton

We are committed to raising awareness of domestic violence and its impact on children, to tackling domestic violence on every front, and to ensuring that women and children are safeguarded and protected from abuse.

In March 2000 we launched the "Domestic violence: A resource manual for health care professionals", and we are providing funding (from 2000–01 to 2002–03) under the Section 64 Scheme to the Women's Aid Federation of England for their health and domestic violence awareness project to help implement the resource manual.

Our NHS Direct East Midlands domestic violence pilot project aims to produce protocols for good practice, and train staff to be able to deal with victims of domestic abuse sensitively and refer them to appropriate agencies.

We have also held preliminary discussions with representatives of the Royal Colleges to discuss a programme of education and training on aspects of domestic violence for health professionals.

Recent work by the Department in relation to child protection in the context of domestic violence includes the "Making an impact—children and domestic violence training pack" which we published in 1998 to raise awareness about the impact on children of domestic violence and to develop professional understanding of how best to offer help and support.

There is an undertaking in "Working together to safeguard children" our revised inter-agency guidance to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, published in 1999, to commission overview reports at least every two years, drawing out key findings of case reviews and their implications for policy and practice. The first overview report will have child protection in the context of domestic violence as its central theme. We have commissioned this report and it will be published later this year.

In addition, we have provided Section 64 funding to a number of voluntary organisations for a range of projects designed to assist survivors of domestic violence and children caught up in such violence.