Helen Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) chief constables and (b) organisations dealing with violence against women on the training requirements for police officers when coercive control becomes a criminal offence; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone

We are committed to ensuring the police and other frontline agencies have the
tools they need to respond effectively to domestic abuse. That is why on 18
December, the Home Secretary announced her intention to create a specific
offence of domestic abuse.

The offence will not come into force until frontline agencies are properly
trained to operate it effectively. An implementation plan, which will consider
funding issues, is currently being developed with the police and College of
Policing. The College is working with CAADA (Co-ordinated Action Against
Domestic Abuse) to pilot an intensive programme of training including domestic
abuse and coercive control. An evaluation will be carried out following the
pilot to ensure that the training will make a significant contribution to long
term improvements to policing of domestic abuse and will be an important factor
in driving a culture change in the police so that domestic abuse is treated as
the serious crime that it is.

The new offence of ‘coercive and controlling behaviour’, as well as the wider
issue of training for police officers on domestic abuse, has been discussed
at the National Oversight Group on domestic abuse, established and chaired by
the Home Secretary. The purpose of the group is to implement and monitor activity
against the recommendations coming out of HMIC’s review of domestic abuse and includes
both Chief Constable and Third Sector representation.