§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the total number of places in women's refuges available:
- (a) in England and Wales;
- (b) in Great Britain;
what proportions these figures represent:
- (a) of the number of places available on 1 May, 1997;
- (b) of the number of places recommended by the Home Affairs Select Committee in 1975; and how many of these refuges employ a specialist children's worker. [HL2323]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe latest figures available show that in 1999 there are 357 bedspaces available in women's refuges in Wales and 330 in Scotland; in 1998, there were 7,270 places in England.
It is not known how many refuge places were available in England on 1 May 1997, but in Wales there were 340 and in Scotland 319.
The 1975 recommendation was made by the Select Committee on Violence in Marriage and related to "family spaces" in refuges rather than the number of individual bedspaces. At that time they recommended 5,580 such spaces, based on one space per 10,000 of the population. On the same calculation, using the latest (1997) population figures, this would equate to 4,930 spaces in England, 290 in Wales and 510 in Scotland.
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, together with the Department of Health and the Women's Unit, has commissioned a comprehensive survey of the accommodation and support services in England and Wales for households; experiencing domestic violence, including the availability of specialist children's workers. Full information from this survey will be available in spring 2000.