§ 23. Jim KnightTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State if he will make a statement on the Cabinet Office's recent forum on the economic cost of domestic violence. [49366]
§ Mrs. RocheWe suspect that the economic cost of domestic violence to our public services and to our communities is vast. We want to understand the true scale of these costs nationally and recently I hosted a roundtable to begin research on this issue.
At this roundtable, I brought together a wide range of interested parties. This included experts from the field of domestic violence, representatives from across our public services including health, social services, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service as well as the TUC and the Director General of the CBI.
We are now in the process of commissioning this research. It is envisaged that we will undertake a comprehensive economic audit of the costs incurred as a result of domestic violence by public services, agencies and private business.