HC Deb 12 May 1989 vol 152 cc562-6W
Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will consult police chief constables about the value of appointing domestic violence liaison officers in every division;

(2) if he will request police forces to have available an information leaflet on sources of help for victims of domestic violence and to offer it when appropriate.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

We shall be exploring with chief officers the scope for fresh guidance to the police about these and other issues identified in the recent Home Office research study on domestic violence.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what protection is available to victims of domestic violence if the case goes to court and the assailant is released before the court hearing; and if he has any plans to increase protection.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

A defendant may be released on bail subject to any conditions which are considered necessary to prevent his interfering with witnesses or committing offences. If he breaches the conditions of bail, he may be re-arrested. The police also have discretion to provide suitable protection to the victims or witnesses of alleged offences where they consider it necessary. We have no plans to increase the existing protection provided by the police and courts.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many areas the police are involved in a multi-agency approach to the problem of domestic violence; and if he will take steps to encourage such development.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Comprehensive information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, but I understand that the majority of police forces have arrangements which include helping victims of domestic violence to contact other agencies which can provide help and support. We shall be considering with the police whether anything more needs to be done.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will request police chief constables to record domestic violence incidents separately and to ensure that a note is taken of whether violence is used or threatened;

(2) if he will take steps to improve the police system of recording statistics on domestic disputes and domestic violence: and if he will ensure that a record is kept of the number and nature of calls for assistance coming from individual households where there have been allegations of domestic violence.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

We shall include the collection and use of records of domestic violence in discussions with chief officers.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set up a comprehensive national survey, backed up by local surveys, of domestic violence so as to provide improved information on its prevalence, nature, causes, handling by the authorities, and effect on the victim and enable the identification of more effective preventative measures.

Mr. John Patten

The ministerial group on women's issues will consider the need for further research when it meets next month.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria he has given to the police to use when assessing which cases of domestic violence are passed to the Crown prosecution service for its decision on prosecution.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

None. The criteria to be applied when considering whether charges should be brought in cases involving domestic violence are the same as for any other offence.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set up a research study to investigate whether there is any difference in the likelihood of a police arrest when violence is domestic rather than non-domestic.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

My right hon. Friend will consider the possibility of research in the context of discussions with chief officers about domestic violence.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any information on the proportion of requests for assistance from the police that are due to a domestic dispute.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

No. Home Office records relate only to recorded crime, and not to all incidents to which the police are called.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is planning to reduce the escalation of domestic violence in the light of the finding in his Department's research study, "Domestic Violence", that domestic violence escalates over time.

Mr. John Patten

I would refer the right hon. Member to the reply given yesterday to a question from the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr. Sheerman).

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has regarding the percentage of cases of spousal homicide in which there had been earlier requests to the police for assistance.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

None. The information routinely collected on homicide cases does not enable us to establish whether the homicide was preceded by previous calls for police help.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the police force has received training in the handling of domestic violence; who has the responsibility for providing the training; who advises on its content; and who monitors how successful it is.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

All new entrants to the police service in England and Wales receive a basic training in dealing with offences of domestic violence as part of their initial training at district training centres. For more senior ranks, there is a session on domestic violence in the inspectors' management development course. These courses will be monitored by the central planning and training unit and the forces themselves.

The provision of further training in forces is a matter for chief officers to decide. They will devise and update any training on the basis of their analysis of operational and training needs in their force area. Chief officers may invite other agencies—such as victim support schemes—to participate in in-force training if they consider that this would make a constructive contribution to the quality of training provided.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek information from the Tottenham police force regarding the effectiveness of its multi-agency approach to tackling domestic violence.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Evaluating the effectiveness of the Tottenham unit is primarily a matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. We shall, however, be seeking further information about the specialist units set up by the Metropolitan police, and about initiatives in other force areas, as part of our review of procedures to deal with domestic violence.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ask the Metropolitan police for a report on the effects of their 1987 guidelines which called for domestic violence to be treated as seriously as assaults occurring in the street.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Implementation of force orders within the Metropolitan police district is the responsibility of the Commissioner. I understand from the Commissioner that the force order relating to domestic violence is currently the subject of a full evaluation which is due to be completed by the autumn. My right hon. Friend is asking to be advised of the outcome.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if there have been any police deaths when police have been called to assist with alleged domestic violence.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Records for the years 1977 to 1987 show that 24 police officers were victims of homicide and that none of them died as a result of being called to incidents of alleged domestic violence. Records for 1988 and 1989 are not yet available.

Information about earlier homicides could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in the last year for which figures are available, what percentage of incidents involving non-domestic violence are eventually recorded as(a) crime reports and (b) incident reports; and what are the corresponding figures for domestic violence.

Mr. John Patten

I regret the information requested is not available. Some information about the incidence, reporting and recording of domestic violence is published in Home Office research study 107, "Domestic Violence: an overview of the literature".

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in the last period for which figures are available, in how many homicides was there(a) a female

Homicides currently recorded1 in England and Wales in which the victim was the partner2 of the principal suspect
Year Male victims Female victims
Killed by partner2 Killed by partner2
Total (= 100 per cent.) Number Percentage Total (= 100 per cent.) Number Percentage
1982 299 15 5 258 120 47
1983 255 18 7 227 96 42
1984 296 17 6 241 102 42
1985 281 16 6 256 116 45
1986 322 17 5 254 123 49
1987 395 23 6 240 92 38
1 As at 1 June 1988; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available.
2 Spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, former cohabitant, lover, or former lover.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in the last year for which figures are available, how many court orders were made under the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 to protect wives and children from violence; in what proportion of the cases a power of arrest was granted; and how many arrests were subsequently made.

Mr. John Patten

The available information relates to the number of orders made under sections 16(2), 16(3), 16(6)and 18 of the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 in England and Wales. The latest figures are for 1987 and can be found in "Home Office Statistical Bulletin 20/88", a copy of which is in the Library. Information is not collected centrally on the number of subsequent arrests.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is his estimate of the prevalence of assault arising from domestic dispute;

(2) what is his estimate, for the last year for which figures are available, of the proportion of the four types of assault, namely common assault, actual bodily harm, malicious wounding and grievous bodily harm, which arose from domestic disputes;

(3) if he will seek to improve the statistics about the prevalence of domestic violence by requesting a sample of chief constables to provide information on the total of all reports of domestic violence in a set period using all forms of police records;

(4) if he will take steps to enable the amount of violence that is domestic to be separately identified in the publication "Criminal Statistics".

Mr John Patten

An estimate of the national prevalence of domestic violence is not available. An ad hoc survey of offences of violence recorded by the police, identifying those offences which were domestic, was carried out in 1988 and it is hoped to publish estimates based on it later in the year.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what statistics he has on the number and percentage of times that allegedly assaulted women subsequently withdrew their complaints.

victim and (b) a male victim; and in what proportion, in each case, the murderer was a spouse, co-habitee or lover of the victim.

Mr. John Patten

Information on victims of homicide and their relationship to the subject is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (Chapter 4 of the latest issue, Cm. 498), a copy of which is in the Library. The table gives the figures requested for the years 1982–87.

Mr John Patten

The information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of domestic violence have been pursued by the Crown prosecution service since the service started operating; and what were the comparable figures of prosecutions by the police over the period immediately before the Crown prosecution service came into operation.

Mr. John Patten

It is not possible from the information held centrally by the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Home Office to identify prosecutions in this category.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will recommend to chief constables that unless there are exceptional circumstances there should be an arrest in all cases of life-threatening domestic violence.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

My right hon. Friend is confident that the police make full use of their powers of arrest where people's lives are at stake. It will, however, be one of the issues covered in discussions with chief officers about domestic violence.

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