Examination of Witnesses (Questions 335
- 339)
TUESDAY 4 MARCH 2008
MR IAIN
WRIGHT MP AND
KEVIN BRENNAN
MP
Q335 Chairman: We now have as our
witnesses the ministers in the Department of Communities and Local
Government, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities
and Local Government, Iain Wright, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State for Children, Schools and Families, Kevin Brennan. Welcome
ministers. May I start with you, Mr Wright? Other than the sanctuary
scheme, can you give examples of outreach initiatives which your
department funds?
Mr Wright: Chairman, that is a
big question and forgive me if I go on at length about this. There
is whole range of things that we support, financially and otherwise,
in our department. I would mention the £150 million that
we have given in respect of the next three years to local authorities
in terms of homelessness services, which could incorporate, to
some extent, domestic violence. That is the biggest ever cash
injection in respect of homelessness services and demonstrates
this department's and this government's priority in respect of
that. In terms of other resource-based funding, I would mention
the Supporting People initiative, which has been a huge success.
It is going up in terms of the amount of money that has been given
in respect of domestic violence issues.
Q336 Chairman: We are coming on to
that slightly later. You talked about a cash injection. What was
the amount of cash?
Mr Wright: One hundred and fifty
million pounds for local authorities. If I may go on Chairman,
in terms of capital funding, there is an issue with regard to
refuges for women and, in conjunction with the Housing Corporation,
the department has invested £34 million to provide 511 new
and refurbished units, and only last week the Housing Corporation
continued this work by announcing another six million pounds for
a further 113 units in the next comprehensive spending review.
Then there is the wider issue, Chairman, about housing supply
and making sure that there is the available housing for victims
of domestic violence to be provided, and I think that is an important
point and that is a wider issue, whether we have got the homes
available to meet the needs of the population.
Q337 Chairman: Ministers, some say
that sanctuary schemes are just being used by local authorities
as easy alternatives to finding refuge spaces. What evidence is
there that the schemes really do make a difference, they make
women safer and are what victims want?
Mr Wright: That final point, Chairman,
is the key point, because I do not think a sanctuary scheme should
go ahead unless it has got the express consent of the victim.
That is absolutely important. I do think sanctuary schemes are
an important consideration in terms of domestic violence. It provides
continuity, it provides stability, it makes sure that children
who may be involved in domestic violence have the stability of
going to the same school, which continues the point that I should
imagine Kevin Brennan will want to talk about. Anecdotally, and
I appreciate the limitations of this, the scheme has been a success.
In Harrow, for example, we have got something like an 80% success
rate in the ratio of referral to actual completion and people
that have been involved in it have said it has been a huge success.
Similarly, in Barnett, 90% of all people who have been part of
the sanctuary scheme have expressed it as being a success. I appreciate
that there are limitations with regard to that, I also accept
that it is rather anecdotal, and so I am keen to commission research
to have a broader evidence-based evaluation of the sanctuary schemes.
As you hinted at in your question, Chairman, the sort of thing
that victims are not forced into and it is being considered in
a comprehensive and systematic manner, so that, and I am being
rather flippant here, forgive me, it is not just a case of, "We
will give you an extra lock", this needs to be done very
much in consultation with: what are the risks involved, how does
this address the individual needs of the victim and how we can
move forward?
Chairman: Mr Russell, do you have a supplementary
based on our visit to your constituency?
Q338 Bob Russell: I would invite
the Minister to go and see for himself and roll-out the best practice
across the country, because it is quite clear there are insufficient
places for women who are at serious risk and also the children
in many cases.
Mr Wright: I understand that point,
Chairman, and in terms of what Mr Russell is saying, as I said,
we are keen to increase as much as possible the amount of spaces
available, and that is a wider and more fundamental issue. Given
the importance of domestic violence as an issue, I still think
it is an important point about the increase in housing supply,
because we do need to have the houses that meet the needs of the
population in the twenty-first century in this country. One of
those things will be that we need to make sure that women, predominantly
women, although I recognise it is not just women, who are fleeing
domestic violence have appropriate accommodation to go into. It
is absolutely key and something that my department, and me personally
as a minister, would wish to support.
Q339 Ms Buck: As you said, the issue
is setting sanctuary in a wider context of housing supply, but
the survey done by Women's Aid found that two-thirds of those
who responded said that women were actually waiting longer than
they were two years ago for moving on from sanctuary accommodation
into sustained temporary or permanent accommodation. Why is that?
Mr Wright: I think there will
be an element of silting up in the system. I can understand that.
There is an issue with regards to housing supply, which we have
already touched upon. I am keen to make sure that the sanctuary
scheme does work effectively. As I said, I think that provides
an element of stability, but, as I said, the wider and more fundamental
issue of housing supply is something that we need to address,
certainly in the urban areas, and certainly we have had letters
and met about things like how to borrow accommodation. It is very
important we have an holistic approach to this. I would suggest,
Chairman, that we make sure that it is not just meeting the accommodation
needs, important though that is, it is making sure that any connections
that a victim may have in terms of family support in a particular
area is addressed as well, and that is why out-of-borough accommodation
is quite an important point that we have corresponded about.
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