Introduction
1.The Domestic Abuse Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 3 March 2020 and passed on 6 July. The Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on 7 July.
2.The Bill seeks to raise awareness and understanding of domestic abuse; improve the effectiveness of the justice system in providing protection for victims of domestic abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice; and strengthen the support for victims of abuse and their children provided by other statutory agencies.
Pre-legislative scrutiny
3.The Bill was preceded by a public consultation on the Government’s approach to tackling domestic abuse, which received more than 3,200 responses.1 A draft bill was published in January 2019 and subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee of both Houses, which reported on 14 June 2019.2 The Government responded to that report on 16 July 2019 and again on 3 March 2020.3
4.We have repeatedly emphasised the value of effective pre-legislative scrutiny as a means of enhancing the capacity of Parliament to influence and improve legislation at a formative stage.4 The opportunity for parliamentarians to assess the merits of a legislative proposal, and to take account of expert evidence and stakeholder views, leads to better legislation. We welcome the extensive consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny that this Bill has received.
Measures unrelated to domestic abuse
5.Clauses 65, 66 and 67 introduce potentially wide-ranging changes to criminal law beyond the context solely of domestic abuse.
6.Clause 65 provides that the defence of consent for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification is not available to offences involving the serious infliction of harm. It puts the ruling of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords in R v Brown, as qualified in later cases, on a statutory footing.5 The judgment has been a matter of disagreement, with some commentators considering it excessively paternalistic. Putting the judgment in statute would prevent further evolution or qualification of the rule by judges under the common law defence.
7.Clause 66 extends the circumstances under which a UK national, or a person habitually resident in the UK, can be prosecuted for the commission of certain violent offences committed abroad. Clause 67 makes provision for Northern Ireland analogous to that in Clause 66 in respect of England and Wales.
8.We do not doubt the need for these provisions in the context of domestic abuse. However, the House may wish to consider whether these potentially significant reforms, insofar as they extend beyond the otherwise relatively narrow focus of this Bill, should be the subject of separate criminal justice legislation in order to improve the attention and scrutiny they receive.
1 Home Office, Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse: Consultation Response and Draft Bill, January 2019, CP 15
2 Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill, First Report of Session 2017-19 (HL Paper 378 / HC 2075)
3 Home Office, Response to the Report from the Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill, 16 July 2019, CP 137; Further Government Response to the Report from the Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill, 3 March 2020, CP 214
4 Constitution Committee, Parliament and the Legislative Process (14th Report, Session 2003–04, HL Paper 173); Pre-Legislative Scrutiny in the 2006–07 Session (4th Report, Session 2007–08, HL Paper 43); Pre-Legislative Scrutiny in the 2006–07 Session: Follow-up (8th Report, Session 2007–08, HL Paper 129); Pre-Legislative Scrutiny in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 Sessions (8th Report, Session 2009–10, HL Paper 78); The Legislative Process: Preparing Legislation for Parliament (4th Report, Session 2017–19, HL Paper 27).
5 R v Brown [1993] 2 WLR 556