§ Ms MoranTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the measures which he has taken to tackle domestic violence since May 1997. [159418]
§ Mr. BoatengThe most significant aspect of violence against women is domestic violence. It is a serious and abhorrent crime which the Government are determined to tackle effectively, and we have made it one of our key priorities. We have emphasised that the domestic context in which it occurs is an aggravating not a mitigating factor and that it is an issue which we expect the local crime reduction partnerships set up under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to cover in their audits of local problems and strategies for addressing them.
Since coming to office, we have undertaken a broad range of measures to reduce the level of domestic violence and strengthen support for victims.
I have mentioned the Crime and Disorder Act; other early measures were implementation of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and of Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996. We followed this with the successful "Break the Chain" publicity and awareness campaign for domestic violence survivors and those who might be able to help them.
Within the last year we have: issued multi-agency guidance to agencies dealing with domestic violence and specific guidance to Health Service professionals; issued a new Home Office circular to the police; included domestic violence within police Best Value performance indicators; provided £120 million additional capital funding for a new Safer Communities Supported Housing Fund for specified vulnerable groups, including the survivors of domestic violence; and, increased funding for Victim Support.
Last summer we provided £7 million under the Crime Reduction programme for a violence against women initiative addressing domestic violence and rape and sexual assault by known assailants. That money is currently funding for development and evaluation until March 2002, 34 projects that will help us identify what interventions in what circumstances are the most effective 615W and cost-effective in reducing crime. We have since announced, on 26 March, that we will be providing up to an extra £3.7 million to fund until March 2003 a further 24 projects addressing violence against women.
Other current initiatives include work with the Association of Chief Police Officers on a circular on effective use of provisions in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the evaluation of probation service domestic violence perpetrator programmes; the development of a domestic violence toolkit on the Home Office's crime reduction website; research on possible future publicity work; and, the inclusion in the British Crime Survey 2001 of a special module on domestic violence.