Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to tackle domestic abuse.

Norman Baker

The Coalition Government’s approach to tackling domestic violence and abuse is
set out in its Violence against Women and Girls Action Plan, updated in March
2014. It is a subject we take very seriously.

In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
Constabulary (HMIC) to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with domestic
violence and abuse. HMIC’s report exposed significant failings. The Home
Secretary is establishing a new national oversight group, which she will chair, and on which I will sit, to ensure HMIC’s recommendations are acted upon.
The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it
clear that every police force must have an action plan in place by September
2014, to improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the police and other agencies have
the tools necessary to tackle domestic violence, to bring offenders to justice
and to ensure victims have the support they need to rebuild their lives. The
Government accordingly announced the national roll-out of Domestic Violence
Protection Orders and the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme
from 8 March 2014.