Domestic Abuse Bill

Written evidence submitted by the Local Government Association (LGA) (DAB22)

1. About the Local Government Association (LGA)

1.1. The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We are a politically-led, cross party membership organisation, representing councils from England and Wales.

1.2. Our role is to support, promote and improve local government, and raise national awareness of the work of councils. Our ultimate ambition is to support councils to deliver local solutions to national problems.

2. Summary

2.1. Domestic abuse is a horrendous crime and councils want to do all they can to tackle and prevent it. As part of our #CouncilsCan campaign, the LGA has been calling for greater action to reduce and eventually eliminate domestic abuse and it is positive to see the Domestic Abuse Bill being taken forward.

2.2. It is important to acknowledge that the coronavirus outbreak is a particularly worrying time for victims of domestic abuse. In particular, the social-distancing measures required could have a serious effect on domestic abuse victims and increase exposure to those perpetrating the crime.

2.3. Whilst there has been a welcome emphasis from Government on tackling domestic abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic, we would like to see this commitment go even further. We support the Home Affairs Select Committee’s recommendation for the Government to set out a full COVID-19 cross-Government strategy on domestic abuse, to cover both the period of lockdown and the period immediately after lockdown, when the need for support is also likely to be acute.

2.4. Many councils are working closely with their partners in the police, health services and wider domestic abuse sector, to reassure people at risk and provide support and guidance. The LGA has also produced guidance to support councils to tackle domestic abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic [1] .

2.5. We support the creation of a statutory definition of domestic abuse, and the inclusion of economic abuse within this. We are also pleased to see the establishment of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner role.

2.6. Alongside the Bill’s focus on crisis interventions and criminal justice, tackling domestic abuse requires a cross-government response incorporating health, housing and education. We need an equal focus on, and funding for, prevention and early intervention measures that aim to prevent domestic abuse happening in the first place.

2.7. While it is correct that we should prioritise and support victims, breaking the cycle of domestic abuse will also mean stopping perpetrators from reoffending. This requires funding and investment to be put towards evidence-based perpetrator programmes. We are supporting the call for a National Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Strategy, as part of the joint campaign with the domestic abuse sector. [2]

2.8. The Government has announced that it intends to introduce a legal duty on local authorities to deliver accommodation-based support to victims of domestic abuse. We welcome the Government’s commitment to fund this type of support, as safe accommodation and support clearly plays a critical and necessary role in how we respond to domestic abuse.

2.9. However, there seems to be a disconnect with the funding made available during the COVID-19 pandemic. Local authorities were not eligible to bid into any of the Government’s COVID-19 funds allocated for combatting domestic abuse, and funding was diverted through Police and Crime Commissioners for victim support. It seems contradictory for local authorities to be the only agency to have a statutory duty placed upon them, when none of the extraordinary funding announced in the COVID-19 pandemic has been eligible for local authorities to bid into.

2.10. There should be a Government commitment for community-based services to be fully funded, in order to mitigate against unintended consequences of the accommodation-based duty.

2.11. We are calling for the key learning and best practice from Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) to be shared on a national level. This learning should contribute towards the Commissioner’s Annual Report.

2.12. With domestic abuse a factor in most child protection cases, we would like to see more emphasis on how children can be supported when they have experienced domestic abuse. There must be greater investment in child and adolescent mental health services and early intervention work to mitigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences based around domestic abuse.

2.13. This legislation comes at a time when, even prior to the eventual long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, local government’s services, particularly children’s services, were already facing unprecedented demand. Councils have worked hard to protect budgets for essential child protection services, but funding pressures have led to difficult decisions in other parts of the service. This has reduced vital early intervention work and is leaving children and young people unable to access the support they need.

2.14. For the Bill to be a success in tackling domestic abuse and creating consistency of service provision, it must be underpinned by adequate, long-term funding for councils.

3. Coronavirus pandemic

3.1. The coronavirus outbreak is a particularly worrying time for victims of domestic abuse. In particular, the social-distancing measures required could have a serious effect on domestic abuse victims and increase exposure to those perpetrating the crime.

3.2. The isolation of families could exacerbate domestic abuse, as victims of abuse will have to remain in the home with perpetrators. This means that there will be fewer opportunities to identify risks associated with new cases of domestic abuse. It is vitally important this is recognised, and we do everything possible to help tackle domestic abuse.

3.3. There have also been different themes of domestic abuse which have be en increasingly reported during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example abuse of young people (18 years old to 24 years old) living at home with parents, LGBTQ+ phobic issues, parents abused by adult children, people contacting services about housemates who are not family or partners behaving in abusive ways for the first time.

3.4. We welcome the letter from Domestic Abuse Minister, Victoria Atkins MP, to Carolyn Harris MP which outlined that the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice will test whether it is possible to increase the upper age limit in a future review, as the Crime Survey for England and Wales relating to domestic abuse does not currently account for victims over the age of 74. [3]

3.5. Many councils are working with their partners in the police, health services and wider domestic abuse sector, to reassure people at risk and provide support and guidance. For example, some good case studies include Devon and Cornwall [4] , Southwark and other London boroughs [5] , St Helens [6] , Sutton [7] , Middlesbrough [8] and South Yorkshire Police [9] .

3.6. We have produced guidance ‘Tackling domestic abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic [10] ’. This document aims to provide a range of resources which offer help, guidance and support to tackle domestic abuse. It provides a brief overview of domestic abuse and outlines how councils can provide help and support to domestic abuse victims during the COVID-19 pandemic, and tackle perpetrators’ abusive behaviour.

3.7. The Government’s campaign #YouAreNotAlone is positive. It helps to provide consistent messaging across the entire domestic abuse sector, including national and local government, the police and healthcare services to emphasise that, regardless of the restrictions related to coronavirus, help is available for domestic abuse victims and the police will respond to any emergency calls.

3.8. The Government’s announcement that an additional £2 million will be provided to immediately bolster domestic abuse helplines and online support is also positive. It will be vital that the funding made available for domestic abuse services matches and keeps pace with the level of need identified by the wider domestic abuse sector.

3.9. We continue to work closely with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, the Government, councils and the wider domestic abuse sector and partners to help tackle this important issue. It will be important that the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on levels of domestic abuse, children who have been exposed to it and the funding available to councils to respond to these are closely monitored.

4. Domestic Abuse Commissioner

4.1. The LGA supports the creation of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner post and welcomes the appointment of Nicole Jacobs. In another area of councils’ work, we have worked closely and constructively with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and hope to replicate this relationship with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner.

4.2. It will be vital both that the Commissioner is able to operate fully independently, and that there is sufficient parliamentary time to consider the reports submitted by the Commissioner. We would support consideration of the Commissioner’s findings by a select committee, so that there is added weight to any recommendations.

4.3. We are also calling for the key learning and best practice from Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) to be shared at a national level. Any findings or recommendations should contribute towards the Commissioner’s Annual Report. This isn’t being done currently and it could help identify key areas of improvement that could help to save lives and protect domestic abuse victims.

4.4. The Commissioner should be the ‘ultimate critical friend’ to the Government, councils, local agencies and all our partners. This should be facilitated through a supportive and collaborative relationship, with the necessary powers to hold key partners to account. However, the Commissioner must avoid being too prescriptive; there is no one size fits all approach to tackling this issue.

5. Victim support and housing

5.1. The Government has announced that it intends to introduce a legal duty on local authorities to deliver accommodation-based support to victims of domestic abuse. We welcome the Government’s commitment to fund this type of support, as safe accommodation and support clearly plays a critical and necessary role in how we respond to domestic abuse.

5.2. Support for victims of domestic abuse must be viewed within the wider context of community-based support for domestic abuse victims. Where possible, victims of domestic abuse should be supported to remain in their own home if it is safe to do so. We have some concern that a legal duty on local authorities to provide domestic abuse accommodation-based services may come at the expense of other domestic abuse initiatives or create a perverse incentive to enter accommodation-based services if that is the main route to accessing support.

5.3. Wherever it is appropriate and safe to do so we should avoid the double injustice of uprooting the lives of adults and children subject to domestic abuse by moving them from their family home and focus on disrupting the life and lifestyle of the perpetrators of abuse.

5.4. It is also important to note that there seems to be a disconnect with the funding made available during the COVID-19 pandemic and the proposed measures in the Domestic Abuse Bill. Local authorities were not eligible to bid into any of the Government COVID-19 funds, and funding was diverted through Police and Crime Commissioners for victim support. It seems contradictory for local authorities to be the only agency to have a statutory duty placed upon them, when none of the extraordinary funding announced in the COVID-19 pandemic has been eligible for local authorities to bid into.

5.5. Government departments have signposted to the £3.2 billion provided to local authorities for immediate COVID-19 pressures, as funding that can be used to support domestic abuse victims. Councils are still responding to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government survey on how this funding is being allocated, but many councils continue to face spiralling cost and demand pressures at the same time as seeing a huge drop in income. There is unlikely to be any significant funding available for domestic abuse services, when councils will need up to four times the funding they have been allocated by government so far to cover the costs of COVID-19.

5.6. Some councils have warned that they will soon face the prospect of issuing section 114 reports. Under existing regulations, Chief Finance Officers will need to consider issuing section 114 reports if the Government does not provide sufficient guarantee and certainty that funding, and liquidity will be available as and when needed. This would lead to spending blocks and in-year cuts to the vital local services that are supporting communities through this crisis and the national effort to beat the COVID-19 pandemic.

5.7. Whilst there has been a welcome emphasis on tackling domestic abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic and several funding announcements, many Government departments have worked separately from one another, rather than taking a cross-Government approach. It would be useful to have a dedicated Ministerial lead within the Cabinet Office, rather than Government departments working in siloes.

5.8. It is vital that there is a coordinated and comprehensive approach taken across the whole of Government and through the Domestic Abuse Bill, rather than a piecemeal approach focusing on specific aspects of the response to domestic abuse.

6. Early intervention and prevention

6.1. Alongside the proposed new duty and the Bill’s focus on criminal justice measures, there is a pressing need to focus on early intervention and prevention. We need to intervene in cases of domestic abuse before the point of a crisis response and implement programmes and approaches that seek to minimise and eradicate domestic abuse in the long term.

6.2. We welcome the progress which has already been made towards a Safe Spaces model to offer help through pharmacies. It’s also positive to see that many large supermarkets, retailers, post offices, garages and other outlets have been working in partnership with their local authority and the police to raise awareness of the National Domestic Abuse helpline.

6.3. It will be important to invest in key frontline professionals to enable them to spot the warning signs and work closely with schools to inform them when a child has witnessed a domestic abuse incident. It also means speaking to children earlier and consistently about what a healthy relationship looks like. We welcome the new requirement for schools to teach Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), which will help children to understand healthy relationships. The Government should also invest in the necessary resources and training to make this effective.

6.4. We are also supportive of the Safe Lives recommendation to increase the number of Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) in all acute hospital settings, particularly A&E and maternity. The role of the hospital-based IDVA is to provide immediate support and advice to victims of domestic violence within hospital; to link individuals and families to longer-term community-based support; and to provide hospital staff with expert training so that they have the confidence to ask about domestic abuse.

6.5. Given that domestic abuse costs the NHS £1.73 billion a year [11] , it’s imperative that health providers are part of the long-term solution to tackle domestic abuse. The Safe Lives report ‘A Cry for Health’ found that nine out of ten victims of domestic abuse reported improvements in safety following an intervention by a hospital IDVA. This intervention is particularly important as the report shows 51 per cent of hospital patients, who have experienced domestic abuse, have children in their households. [12] Advocacy plays a crucial role in supporting victims of domestic abuse and in order to be sustainable, the Government needs to invest in these services.

6.6. To stop domestic abuse from occurring we need to take co-ordinated and urgent action against the perpetrators of abuse. Unfortunately, there is currently limited analysis of which interventions are most effective in changing the behaviour of perpetrators, making it difficult for agencies to select and deploy interventions. Councils have also found that perpetrator programmes which aim to change offenders' behaviour and stop reoffending have often lacked funding or are only commissioned as part of temporary pilot schemes.

6.7. There needs to be a focused effort across agencies to develop and test interventions. Once interventions are identified, they need to be made available for all levels of risk and need, particularly at the stage of early intervention. More needs to be done to develop an evidence base that is extensive and rigorous enough to justify investment.

6.8. For this reason, we support the introduction of a National Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Strategy, as part of the joint campaign with the domestic abuse sector. [13] [1] There needs to be a range of quality assured perpetrator interventions available across England and Wales, provided by both voluntary and statutory sector, that address the whole range of perpetrators. These should not be alternatives to a criminal justice response. Different approaches will be required, taking into account the different kinds of risk perpetrators pose, offending profiles, needs, and trauma history. The pre-legislative committee on the Domestic Abuse Bill also noted the need for investment in perpetrator programmes and for cooperation with expert providers.

7. Local government funding

7.1. Councils want to do all that they can to work with partners to tackle and prevent domestic abuse, but pressures on local government funding and services create challenges for them in doing so. Local services face significant cost pressures due to demand and inflation alone, and many of these pressures fall on services - such as children’s services and housing - which are vital in terms of providing support to victims and their families and trying to prevent domestic abuse in the future.

7.2. In order to support victims and tackle domestic abuse, we need adequate and sustainable long-term funding for key services, including the new accommodation-based support for victims, children’s services and others.

7.3. A long-term sustainable funding settlement should be announced before emergency funding runs out on 31 October 2020. There also needs to be contingency planning for a surge in domestic abuse referrals post- lockdown. There should be a Government commitment for community-based services to be fully funded, in order to mitigate against unintended consequences of the accommodation-based duty.

May 2020