§ Ms ShipleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 8 April 1998,Official Report, column 259, if his Department will assess the advantages of recording separately court proceedings relating to domestic violence. [40577]
§ Mr. MichaelAs part of developing our strategy on domestic violence, we have been looking at how best to define domestic violence, whether it is possible to collect statistics in a form which would be more helpful in 397W illustrating its prevalence and nature, and how any such statistics might be collected and recorded. In the meantime, statistics on court proceedings will continue to be based on the specific offence in respect of which proceedings were brought, rather than the context in which that offence was committed.