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Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab):
I welcome the Government's determination to ensure that victims of domestic violence get the support and protection that they need, as is exemplified by the Bill. Will my right hon. Friend consider whether improvements could be made by adopting recommendations proposed by the Women's National Commission? May I especially highlight the plight of victims of domestic violence who are subject to immigration control? Will the Government consider
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making an exemption to the no-recourse-to-public-funds rule in such cases so that people may receive the support that they need with housing and living costs in women's refuges, and so that eventually, hopefully, money may be recovered from the victims' sponsors?
Mr. Blunkett: I said when I made my statement that we are deeply aware of, and sympathetic to, those who suffer domestic violence and are captured due to the way in which they were brought into the country or because they acted as a sponsor. Although we are mindful of the need for robust controls so that we do not create a loophole that could be opened by those who may cleverly exploit even sensible alterations to the system, we need to support such individuals. We must do that by increasing resources for refuges and the availability of funding for people at the time they try to get help. The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale, East (Paul Goggins), will address that matter over the next few weeks and months. He will be able to say more in Committee about how we may help individuals without helping exploiters to find new routes by which they may cause other people misery.
It is important to understand the extent of domestic violence in terms of overall violence. When we talk about domestic violence, we are not talking about the low-level violent activity that constitutes the bulk of violence recorded in the statistics. Domestic violence accounts for almost one in five of the total incidents of violence. Much of it is deep-seated and born of aggression, and it leads to considerable emotional and physical damage to individuals. That is why the consensus behind the need to recognise and respond to that problem has been welcome, although we must support the victims of all crime, of course. The Bill will support victims of domestic violence by building on measures that have already been implemented. We have created rights that did not exist and put in place resources that were not available seven years ago, which meant that the infinitesimal contribution for victims in general was substantially expanded. I shall say more about the victims' fund later and how we can develop it so that it makes a worthwhile contribution to linking what we are doing on a number of things. For instance, alcohol was mentioned in Home Office questions. There is no question whatsoever but that a very high proportion of domestic violence is not necessarily caused, but is fostered and accelerated, by the misuse of alcohol. What we do in relation to that part of our agenda on education and moderation will make an important contribution.
The preparation for parenting in schools and colleges is a critical element, with 30 per cent. of domestic violence victims experiencing the start of that violence during pregnancy. An understanding by men of parenting issues—a basic understanding of their responsibilities—is therefore crucial to reducing domestic violence at that stage when love and care are desired and needed more than ever. That is also part of changing a wider culture of sheer selfishness. It plays into, and is crucial to, the equality agenda, not simply in
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terms of structures, but in terms of changing equality in practice, so that people accept both responsibility and duty with respect to how they address each other.
Mr. Michael Clapham (Barnsley, West and Penistone) (Lab): Does my right hon. Friend intend to instruct the crime reduction partnerships to draw up a strategy on how they intend to tackle domestic violence so that it covers all those things that he just mentioned?
Mr. Blunkett: I congratulate my hon. Friend on the part he has played as chairman of his crime reduction partnership and on his involvement in a prolonged effort to get joined-up thinking on local action. As one in five violent acts take place in the home and the domestic situation, when we ask crime reduction partnerships to adopt a programme on violence as a whole—developed nationally but implemented and adapted locally—we will expect them to accept that fundamental to the joined-up programme is the recognition that domestic violence has a prominent place in the strategy.
We have outlined three parts to that strategy. Obviously, one of them is prevention, and the way in which the education information campaign and a change in culture can play their part. Another is the protection and justice elements, which mean protecting people by intervening and by changing the law. We want to change the perception of what is acceptable and people's willingness to come forward when affected by domestic violence.
The third part of the strategy is the support element, which affects the ability to bring people to justice and to gain justice generally, in terms of both protecting people and of enabling people to escape, rather than feeling captured, as they so often were from an economic and a social and family perspective. Deterring, tackling root causes wherever we can, sending the right signals and ensuring that enforcement is in place all form part of the programme.
Mr. Hilton Dawson (Lancaster and Wyre) (Lab): In rightly pursuing the cultural change that would make all forms of violence unacceptable in our society, does my right hon. Friend think it important for the Government to support changes that outlaw the ancient defence of reasonable chastisement and give children the same protection from violence under the law as is enjoyed by adults?
Mr. Blunkett: My right hon. Friend the Minister for Children is, of course, in a dialogue on that issue. My hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Wyre (Mr. Dawson) is assiduous in making his views known and in pressing on the problem. He has undoubtedly achieved much in drawing people's attention to it, including that of my right hon. Friend.
My own view is that of course we must protect, but we must build in responsibility in the family, to engineer and direct the relationships rather than allowing responsibility to lie solely with the Government. In relation to domestic violence and familial homicide and actions around that, which touch on the most obvious and terrible end of violence to children, we want to ensure that where we need to intervene—we certainly need to do so in such cases—we do so from the point of
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view of the three elements of prevention, protection and support, and by engaging with the legislation in order to provide proper enforcement, which I shall come to in a moment.
I want to stress, because it is really important, that the Government cannot do this alone. It is not the responsibility solely of Government. Whether considering the abuse of children or their chastisement, the matter should not rest with legislation or direction. It has to rest with the acceptable teaching of parenting—how to bring order and discipline into the family to create a framework for life that does not involve us constantly having to intervene in family relationships.
Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge) (Lab): Will my right hon. Friend look at the funding for services for children and particularly those who have been traumatised by domestic violence? Cambridge Women's Aid, which runs some excellent groups to deal with the problem, has told me that it feels that such services are very underfunded. I would be grateful if he investigated that.
Mr. Blunkett: There is a considerable problem over funding the right services with the right kind of urgent response. That is true—we are endeavouring to address it jointly with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health—in respect of the emotional needs of children who are affected by trauma. That obviously relates to domestic violence cases, as it does to murder or considerable abuse in the family more broadly. Early intervention and the quick and effective provision of services can make the most enormous difference to the life chances of children—rather than their returning to the trauma throughout the rest of their lives. There is a cross-Government, cross-departmental and agency issue that needs to be addressed not simply in my hon. Friend's constituency but across the country. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health is addressing it urgently.
The pilot scheme "No Witness, No Justice" is working well. The £36 million provided over three years is money well spent, and it is linked to ensuring that, as with the 44,000 more offences brought to justice over the past year, people have greater confidence in the services and are prepared to use them. The £70 million going this year into delivering the domestic violence strategy is a start in ensuring that there are services not simply for those affected by domestic violence but for victims of rape and sexual assault. I have been to a number of centres recently where a joined-up service is being provided, and I hope that we shall see that across the country in due course.
Let me say where we are on the victim's fund, which takes us into the broader issue of how to assist victims. My hon. Friend inadvertently led me into that; I did not plan that with her. We need desperately to add to the £650 million plus that goes into broader services for victims. We have the £30 million going into Victim Support, which of course celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. That compares with the £11.7 million that went into the organisation seven years ago. I think that the start that we are making by establishing a new victim's fund in addition to those contributions will be welcomed by everyone. A sum of £4 million from asset recovery will be made available immediately to kick-
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start the new fund. A great deal more can be done to recover criminal assets and invest them in the community, not least in victim and witness support. The consultation ended on 12 January, and I want to set out the way in which we will proceed.
We will, of course, press ahead with administrative efficiencies and the streamlining of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. We could save money by operating the fund more efficiently, then invest it more effectively. It would make sense to combine lower-level awards. At the moment, it costs as much to administer some awards as to deliver them. We intend to legislate to empower the authority to recover money from offenders, and seek to link that to new powers in the legislation that we shall shortly introduce to set up the serious organised crime agency. We will improve the enforcement of compensation orders which, at present, are not linked to fines, so we cannot use powers in the Courts Act 2003 to enforce collection. That does not make sense, so we want to introduce corrections legislation, and intend to press ahead with surcharges on both criminal convictions and fixed-penalty notices.
We expect people who are committed to custody to pay a minimum of £30 in a levy or surcharge, but that depends on whether we can use the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. We will change the regulations on earnings of people in prison to make that possible. In addition, we will levy a contribution from people who are subject to fines. Substantial fines of more than £1,000 will be subject to a £30 surcharge, and fines under £1,000 to a £15 surcharge. There would be a £10 surcharge on fixed penalty notices. There has been considerable lobbying in relation to criminal, as opposed to civil, fixed penalty notices for drivers. There is no proposed surcharge for parking offences, which are a civil offence.
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