Labour: Placing Women’s Safety Centre Stage
December 2014 Labour: Placing Women’s Safety Centre Stage
December 2014
Contents
Foreword from Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP Executive Summary Introduction from Vera Baird QC
Chapter 1: The changing face of women's services Chapter 2: Impact of commissioning Chapter 3: Access to justice - the impact of Legal Aid reforms Chapter 4: Defining domestic violence Chapter 5: Understanding the needs of Black Asian and minority ethnic Women Chapter 6 Prostitution law and policy Chapter 7: A Labour future for women's safety: Legislative consultation Appendix: A. Consultation on proposals for legislation B. The North East Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy
‘Everywoman Safe, Everywhere’, a Commission on Women’s Safety chaired by Vera Baird QC, is a consultation established to investigate the impact of the Tory-led Government’s policies on women’s safety and to make recommendations to the Labour Party on the direction of future Labour policy in this area. This report - drawn from submissions and evidence gathering sessions around the country – is a summary of the findings and recommendations to date.
1 Foreword Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
In the last few years, as the policies of the Coalition Government have begun to take hold, I have heard a series of increasingly worrying stories about women’s safety from around the country.
Of a young mother forced to shelter with her baby in internet cafes when she was turned away from a refuge. Of women trying to get justice after being abused, but being forced to pay for the evidence they need to access legal aid. And of the address of a safe house being published in the local paper when jobs were being advertised there, exposing not only the inexperience of the service provider, but also the location of vulnerable women to their abusers.
As the Women’s Safety Commission report in 2012 pointed out, it has become clear that these are not isolated incidents, but rather a consequence of a Government that is pursuing chaotic funding and policy changes, without evaluating their cumulative impact on women’s safety. To date, the Government are still refusing to carry out a proper audit of the impact of their policies on women’s safety.
Labour believes that the safety of women is far too important to turn a blind eye. Services tackling Violence Against Women and Girls must be integrated across Government and that’s why we have appointed the very first Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls, Seema Malhotra MP, who is working hard to drive this agenda across the whole Labour team. From the work that Mary Creagh MP and Maria Eagle MP have done to campaign against the deregulation of taxi licensing, to Gloria De Piero MP, who has been reaching out to young women and listening to their needs and concerns, Labour is working in a range of areas to protect and support women.
Few people have a stronger track record of championing the survivors of domestic and sexual violence than Vera Baird QC, former Solicitor General and Labour’s Police and Crime Commissioner in Northumbria.
That’s why I invited her to chair the Women’s Safety Commission and I have asked her in this report to consider specifically how the State’s legislative and service delivery response to domestic and sexual violence could be improved. I am very grateful to Vera for all of her work gathering evidence from across the country, for this report and for the future work of the Women’s Safety Commission.
In the weeks ahead, as we build towards the general election, I and my colleagues in the Labour Party will be considering this set of recommendations very carefully. We know that in the current financial climate, budgets are tight and we must do more with less. Nonetheless, we must have the strongest possible policies in place if women and girls are to feel safe and secure.
That is why, today, I will commit to:
• Appointing a Minister for Violence Against Women and Girls and a new Commissioner to tackle domestic and sexual violence, to integrate the protection of women and girls across Government • Establishing a new National Refuge Fund, ensuring that women and children have somewhere to turn when they are in need • Continuing to provide funding stability for Rape Crisis Centres around the country • Strengthening domestic violence laws, so that fewer offenders are able to slip through the net • Introducing a new duty to report allegations or signs of child abuse to the police
2 • Making sex and relationships education a compulsory part of the curriculum in schools
But we want to build further on these commitments. Over the coming months, Vera will be consulting on the proposals put forward in this report. Labour’s Zero-Based Review has already identified, cuts, savings and revenue-raising measures that will allow us to channel more funding into refuge provision and we will expand this programme of work to ensure we can better support and protect women in the future. Working with colleagues in the trade union movement, we’ll be looking at how employers can improve personal safety in the workplace and better support survivors of violence in their workforce. And we believe, in particular, that we should be working hard to ensure the devastating legacy of domestic and sexual violence is not passed on to a new generation.
Yet, something about modern culture seems to be normalising it.
One in six teenagers in relationships say they've experienced sexual violence. One in three teenage girls say they've had to put up with unwanted groping or harassment in school itself. Shockingly, in 2012, the Children's Commissioner said that 2,400 children are the victims of sexual exploitation by groups and gangs - with further 16,500 identified as being at risk.
The digital age means that violent, abusive or sexual images are only ever a few clicks away, and being exposed to these can have a profound effect on young people's understanding of sex and relationships. From sexually explicit text messages, to violent threats and online bullying via social media, young people today have a different world to navigate than previous generations.
Our next phase of work will therefore look at these issues, starting with a series of girls’ safety summits - considering how the digital era is influencing the relationships young men and women have with each other; asking what impact cultural influences are having on young people’s attitudes towards domestic and sexual abuse.
I hope that even more people will become involved in the months ahead. The message must be loud and clear: we must place women’s safety centre-stage.
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP Shadow Home Secretary
10th December 2014
3 Executive Summary
Everywoman Safe Everywhere, the Commission on Women’s Safety, was established in November 2011, in response to concerns that, not only were government policies disproportionately impacting upon women economically, but may be risking their safety too.
In March 2012, the Commission published its first report, which provided a comprehensive analysis of the cumulative impact of the Government’s funding and policy changes on women’s safety – from commissioning upheaval and legal aid cuts, to housing and welfare reform. It painted a stark picture of chaotic reforms that were putting women’s services – and ultimately women’s safety – at risk.
To follow this analysis, in November 2012, the Commission published a call for evidence on a new Domestic and Sexual Violence Board. Rather than continue with complacency, and an assumption that everything possible was being done to tackle violence against women and girls, our idea was that a national board could deliver new oversight and leadership, to tackle this challenging issue.
This report is a response to that call for evidence. Through evidence gathering and literature reviews, it provides an update on the funding and policy changes that we looked at in our first report, finding that:
• Refuges continue to close or are being threatened with closure – in Gloucestershire, Cheshire, Dorset, Sheffield, Nottingham, Somerset, Leeds and Leicestershire, to name but a few. In some areas, there is now no refuge provision at all.
• The number of specialist refuge services has also declined over the last four years – from 187 to 155, according to estimates by Women’s Aid. And of the 247 refuges registered on UK RefugesOnline who were telephoned in June 2013, only 16 per cent offered 24 hour support.
• The scrapping of the Welfare Assistance Fund has left local authorities struggling to provide women who have left abusive relationships with basic amenities to start a new life – including, bedding, cooking equipment, school shoes.
• A lack of expertise in commissioning is leading to local authorities ring-fencing refuge beds for local women only, despite the refuge movement being built on the premise that women may need to move to a new, safe area when fleeing abuse.
• 43 per cent of domestic violence survivors do not have the prescribed forms of evidence to access legal aid and the ‘exceptional funding’ intended to provide a safety net for women who are unable to meet the evidence threshold was only granted in 6 cases, up to July 2014.
• All regions have lost services supporting children living with domestic abuse, with the biggest losses occurring in the South West, South East and West Midlands.
• There is a significant theoretical shortfall of around 36,500 places on perpetrator programmes, in order to meet current demand from referring agencies.
• Prosecutions and convictions - for domestic violence and rape - are down under this Government.
4 Using the evidence gathered - from women’s organisation, service providers, colleagues in the trade union movement, sector specialists, Labour candidates and MPs and ordinary women up and down the country - the Commission has begun the task of fleshing out our proposals to the Labour Party for a new Commissioner with responsibility for tackling violence against women and girls, as well as developing proposals for inclusion in Labour’s 2015 Violence Against Women and Girls Bill, recently announced by Shadow Home Secretary Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP.
Details of these proposals can be found in Appendix A. During the autumn, we want to consult further and refine them, and welcome comments and views.
We believe that, if the safety of all women is to be at the heart of a more progressive society, services tackling Violence Against Women and Girls must be at the heart of the welfare state. And from the evidence we have gathered, our recommendations to the Labour Party moving forward are clear:
End the postcode lottery of access to services:
• Introduce a statutory obligation on Government, local authorities and other responsible bodies at the local level, to develop integrated domestic and sexual violence strategies.
• Establish a new Commissioner to tackle violence against women and girls, with clear oversight for domestic and sexual violence, to – amongst other responsibilities – develop minimum standards of service provision at all levels.
• Ensure clear service standards are embedded in the commissioning process and the delivery of support services, reflecting a comprehensive understanding of service-user needs.
• Establish a new, national refuge fund to provide vital support for women and children in need.
• Sustain the Rape Support Fund to provide sustainable income over 3 year cycles for rape crisis centres.
• Act to preserve women-only specialist support services, ensuring service commissioners comply with the Equality Act 2010, with regard to protected groups and commissioning for substantive equality, so that commissioning of generic services is not at the expense of specialist women-centred services that have a track record of success.
Ensure better access to legal aid
• Extend the evidence criteria for legal aid to include information from Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, women’s support organisations and police call-out records in response to domestic violence incidents
• Eliminate charging for evidence required for legal aid– as recommended by the CEDAW committee in July 2014
5 • Improve women’s ability to access legal advice and representation in vital family law proceedings
Improve the criminal justice response
• Work with criminal justice agencies to improve successful prosecution rates for survivors with mental health needs or learning disabilities experiencing all forms of violence
• Utilise MARACs to identify high-risk perpetrators, in order to direct them towards the Integrated Offender Management model of support
• Reject the restorative justice model as a method of dealing with perpetrators in domestic and sexual violence cases
Support specialist services
• Develop and pilot a one stop shop for safe and easy access to support and guidance for different minority communities, making the best use of existing mainstream outlets such as GPs, Sure Starts and community centres
• Ensure information is made available that is easy to access and understand, to reduce communication barriers for women seeking help and support
• Work with different communities to tackle gender stereotypes and ensure there is no cultural excuse for violence against women and girls
• Pilot an education programme and other early interventions to inform young BAME women of their choices and young men of the impact of their actions
• Develop clear service standards for the service provision of specialist support services for BAME women, building on best practice commissioning and existing standards where appropriate
• Produce a compact for key agencies to sign to agree to working more creatively together to improve the wrap around support for women with complex and multiple needs who suffer domestic violence
Other
• Legislate for a broad review of the international evidence of the links between prostitution, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, looking specifically at what action can be taken to reduce demand for sexual services from those who are being exploited, stop people being trafficked into sexual slavery and reduce sexual exploitation
• Ensure a better breakdown in domestic violence statistics, so intimate-partner violence, family violence, and so-called honour violence are delineated
6
Introduction Vera Baird QC
Making women safe is something on which the Labour Government spent time and resources and the next Labour Government intends to put this issue fully centre stage and to drive improvement and change.
Everywoman Safe Everywhere, the Labour Women's Safety Commission showed how, even by the time of its interim report in March 2012, the Tory-led Coalition Government was impacting on women disproportionately, both economically but additionally as to their personal safety. We took evidence about cuts to public spending, legal aid, local government and the police and about the chaos developing in the commissioning of services. We called for a national review of the cumulative impact of all this on women. We knew that the Coalition Government, would be forced, if they looked, to agree with our findings and we hoped to persuade them to change tack or at least to lessen the downward pressure. That call was never heard; no government review ever happened and the violence against women sector now reports itself to be in a critical state and desperate for focus to be renewed.
In this report we have re-examined the impact of cuts and bad policy, two years further down the line and asked the violence against women and girls sector to tell us what would bring positive change. On the threshold of a General Election in May 2015, the Women's Safety Commission will go further in this paper and make our own assessment of the viability of the current position and put forward radical new directions for the Labour Party to consider in order, once and for all, to bring violence against women and girls and the need for consistent, professional services to tackle it, irremovably into the mainstream of policy and of Government.
We have spoken to many organisations and experts over the last few months and we have received written submissions from women and men around the country on the status of services which safeguard the personal safety of women. It has become clear that the impact of the cuts on women's safety in 2012 was merely the beginning and that ever since the situation has been deteriorating.
We have seen and continue to see:
• Support services for women survivors of violence facing funding challenges on an unprecedented and damaging scale. • Refuge provision reducing to a level that sees many women fleeing violence turn to the streets for shelter in emergency situations. • Specialist providers of services being hit particularly hard with reductions in services for BAME women, young women and women with disabilities. • Reducing number and effectiveness of Specialist Domestic Violence Courts. • Injurious changes to the commissioning landscape with the transfer of key responsibilities. • Ill-conceived policy changes made in isolation causing further risk. • Transformation of legal aid and the significant impact it is having on access to justice for those vulnerable women most in need of support. • Women disproportionately affected by changes to the welfare system, reducing household income and limiting choices to move on and seek help. • A worryingly sexualised depiction of women within popular culture with more women and young girls experiencing sexual harassment.
7 • The absence of women from positions of influence across the media, business and public life.
This picture is one of a Britain that has a growing uncertainty about our ability to ensure everywoman is safe, as cuts to services, restrictions to income and the persistence of inequalities in British society go unchallenged and which may leave women at greater risk of experiencing harassment, fear and violence.
Our report asks the next Labour Government to do more than just reverse the last five years decline in provision, by initiating a change of gear that will put tackling violence against women and girls at the heart of our modern welfare state.
We propose a statutory obligation on Government and local authorities to develop integrated domestic and sexual violence strategies, and the establishing of a Violence Against Women and Girls Commissioner to drive their implementation and bring national standards of service to all.
We are proposing reform of how services are commissioned, refocussing on the practical need for specialist women-centred services with a track record of success.
We are pleased that Yvette, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, has already accepted our further recommendation of a new, national refuge fund to ensure the provision of the safe places that women and children need and has also committed to continue the national Rape Support Fund on a regular 3 year cycle, to give rape crisis centres real security.
We must give better access to legal aid by, at the very least, widening the categories of evidence required to support an allegation of domestic abuse and banning charges which are currently made, in particular by the medical profession, for providing such evidence.
We can drive change in the criminal justice response, in particular by videoing evidence and cross examination of adult complainants away from the oppressive atmosphere of the courts, as we should imminently do for victims of child sexual abuse. Good outcomes at court positively influence future decision-making by prosecutors and police and in my full-time role as Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria, I have a team of volunteer observers watching every rape trial in Newcastle Crown Court so we can look for further improvements, such as banning rape myths from trials through judges giving juries clear directions at the start of the case.
This report is about fixing the issue of violence against woman and girls, in all its myriad forms, putting it at the heart of the modern public services that Ed Miliband’s Premiership will deliver. Next we should work on a strategy for preventing VAWG in coming generations, so that we are also equipped to drive a lasting legacy of culture change.
Vera Baird QC
8 Chapter 1: The changing face of women’s services Yvette Cooper – “The clock has been turned back for victims of domestic violence”
There is no doubt that support for victims of domestic and sexual violence has worsened under the Coalition Government. There are a number of factors behind this decline – the lack of leadership from the Home Office, poor commissioning practice, cuts to legal aid and changes the benefit system, which have made it harder for women to leave their abusers and rebuild their lives.
Professor Sylvia Walby, in 2009, estimated that domestic violence alone costs the public purse £16 billion per year. Yet, services which provide women and girls with support to disclose sexual violence or leave violent and abusive relationships, navigate the criminal justice system and recover and rebuild their lives, have always received a tiny fraction in funding of the estimated cost of violence against women and girls.
A combination of legislative changes, commissioning chaos and unprecedented funding challenges, both locally and nationally, have played a huge part in weakening almost all forms of support services for women since 2010. There is a growing sense of crisis amongst those who work with women escaping violent relationships, recovering from sexual assault, FGM or trying to leave a forced marriage.
Refuges are cutting services or closing altogether. Rape victims are waiting months for counselling. And despite warm words from the Government and strong recommendations from the Home Affairs Select Committee, too little is being done to support those who have survived or are at risk of FGM or forced marriage. There is an increasing concern about the loss of specialist services - those whose primary business is preventing violence against women and girls and who can support BAME, LGBT and disabled women. These are being seen as services which can be cut and replaced with cheaper services from providers whose primary business is, for instance, to provide generic housing services, perhaps with some support attached. This has led to a reduction in expertise about domestic and sexual abuse, a cut in the quality and level of support for women who are often fleeing profound trauma and an increasing inability to offer long-term, meaningful help.
Local cuts
Services to protect against and prevent domestic and sexual violence are largely provided at local level. Budgets to fund the services are set using local and national commissioning processes.
Aside from services supporting victims of trafficking, rape and the families of murder victims, the Government has ended the central funding of support services for violence against women and has, instead, devolved responsibility for funding to the local level. However, data collected by False Economy and analysed by Towers and Walby suggests that 31 per cent of the funding to the domestic violence and sexual abuse sector from local authorities was cut between 2010/11 and 2011/12 – a reduction from £7.8 million to £5.4 million.1
Local authorities have faced average cuts of 27 per cent in funding from central Government since 2010. But support services for victims of violence have been cut disproportionately – by an average of 31 per cent.
1 10 Towers, Jude and Walby, Sylvia (2012) ‘Measuring the impact of cuts in public expenditure on the provision of services to prevent violence against women and girls. Northern Rock Foundation and Trust for London. http://www.nr-foundation.org.uk/resources/publications/domestic-abuse-research-reports/
9
One of the main sources of funding for refuge-run services has been the Supporting People programme – which is administered by local authorities. But this has been drastically cut since 2010 and is no longer ring-fenced. This has resulted in councils in some parts of the country making cuts of up to 50 per cent in their spending on Supporting People projects.
Earlier this year, Worcester county council cut funding for domestic abuse services by 50 per cent. Local authority spending on VAWG services in the North East has decreased by 9.2 per cent.
Beyond direct support, there is also discretionary locally-allocated funding, such as the £347million local welfare assistance fund. Devolved to local authorities, this is used to help people facing crisis. It has been used by many local authorities to provide women who have left abusive relationships with basic amenities to start a new life – bedding, cooking equipment, school shoes, food vouchers. This was scrapped last year, despite local authorities warning this would make it harder to offer support to the most vulnerable families, including those affected by domestic abuse.
This has hit accommodation-based support, like refuges, particularly hard. Support of this kind relies on core funding to maintain and manage a series of properties.
In some cases local authorities are looking to close the gap in their budgets by turning away from refuges. In some areas, like Devon, there is now no refuge provision at all. It has been replaced with floating support services, focused on trying to prevent violence, working with the perpetrators and offering help to try to keep women in their homes. However well-intentioned, these alternative services cannot come to the aid of a woman who is forced to flee. Women's Aid estimate, on the basis of annual survey returns, that 27,900 women in need of refuge-accommodation were turned away in 2012 and 7,085 women were turned away from non-refuge services in that same year.
In other areas where the continuing need for refuges is acknowledged, there have nonetheless been cuts through funding pressures. Refuges have either closed, or are being threatened with closure, in Gloucestershire, Cheshire, Dorset, Sheffield, Nottingham, Somerset, Leeds and Leicestershire2. Women’s Aid estimate that the number of specialist refuge services have decreased from 187 to 155 over the last four years3. An alarming number of refuges are funding services from their reserves, which is not sustainable.
Emerging recommendation: Local specialist services that have a track record of successfully helping women and children need central support. Labour should establish a new, national refuge fund to provide vital support for women and children in need.
There is also concern about loss of quality and expertise. For some time now, organisations like Women’s Aid and Refuge, who have worked for over thirty years with victims of violence, have been warning of decisions being made by local authorities to close specialist services which offer expert, tailored support to female victims of domestic violence and, instead, offering temporary accommodation with local housing providers or in B&Bs. Women's Aid, in a research project completed this year, 'A Growing Crisis of Unmet Need' showed that, for instance, in the north west, 10 independent services were lost but 17 housing association/generic non-refuge services were gained. Of the 247 refuges registered on UK RefugesOnline who were telephoned in June 2013, only 16 per cent now offer 24 hour support.
2 http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/03/domestic-violence-refuge-crisis-women-closure-safe- houses 3 http://www.womensaid.org.uk/page.asp?section=0001000100100022§ionTitle=SOS
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Organisations specifically supporting BME women have been disproportionately cut, according to a member survey from Imkaan, with losses of between £20,000 and £30,0000.
In many cases, we are being told how equality legislation is being cited as a reason to close refuges which only accept women and children and not male victims. The number of women's services now required to support men has increased by 29 in the last two years.
There are two issues here. First, an all-female environment, creating networks of peer support and employing specialists who understand the dynamics and impact of domestic and sexual abuse, is important for women, who have newly left a life in which trauma and suffering were inflicted by a male (89 per cent of domestic violence victims are women4 and the main perpetrators of partner violence are men). Residential services where both men and women can stay are uncomfortable in that way.
Second, while support provision for male victims is important, Women's Aid's Annual Survey shows that 5 or fewer men contacted the refuge services now providing support for men, in 2011-12. The definition of domestic violence, which currently includes family violence, such as brother on brother assault, is capable of distorting the numbers of males likely to need accommodation services and the refuges which do deal with men find that they require different kinds of provision.
Gender-neutral services appear not to serve either gender well and they can contribute to a loss of specialist expertise. We return to this misinterpretation of the Equality legislation when we discuss commissioning. As a footnote, a service review in the Midlands, which led to the replacement of local authority-funded BME services with generic provision, was followed by a private funder coming forward. The generic provider now refers high need and complex cases regularly back to the original BME service.
All of these cuts and harms to services are in the context that demand is on the rise – with some providers citing a rise in referrals of over 25 per cent. The estimated 750,000 children living with domestic violence are suffering too – at least 35 services for children have been shut across England and Wales in the last four years.
Rape and sexual abuse
The Rape Support Fund is held centrally by the Ministry of Justice and has given rape crisis centres sustainable income over three years. This is preferable to previous year-long funding arrangement and a welcome development.
Emerging recommendation: Sustain the Rape Support Fund, to provide sustainable income over 3 year cycles for rape crisis centres.
Rape Crisis Centres, however, also rely on local funding to sustain them and there is likely to be as patchy a local understanding of the needs of women victims of sexual violence amongst local funding providers as the refuge movement has experienced in its field. Almost half of rape crisis centres surveyed in 2012 reported being challenged by local commissioners about providing women-only services. In a similar way to refuges, there has been a real misunderstanding of equality legislation and a trend towards fragmented commissioning frameworks which favour generic, large
4 Walby and Ors, 2004
11 providers offering lower unit costs, but which lack expertise on violence against women. This has been exacerbated by the Government’s commissioning reforms.
Rape Crisis services are distinct from Sexual Assault and Referral Centres (SARCs), which are usually jointly funded by the police and health services. SARCs offer support to women and men survivors, usually of recent sexual assault, provide health and medical checks and crisis intervention, short- term counselling and aim to improve the forensic response to survivors of sexual violence. SARCs are an important element in the (limited) range of service provision available but should be viewed as complementary to Rape Crisis Centres, not alternatives. This is often not the case, and SARCs are prioritised over Rape Crisis Centre non-statutory service provision by local statutory funders/commissioners, who do not understand the difference between the two services. This depicts just some of the basic challenges local services face.
The very worrying trend is that, as cuts and changes to funding decisions are made, the demand on Rape Crisis continues to grow. For example last year5:
• 32,688 service users received a service from a Rape Crisis Centre, a 16 per cent increase on the previous year • The service responded to over 130,000 helpline calls and over 30,000 service users received ongoing support • Rape Crisis provided 300,000 sessions of support compared to 176,099 three years previously
The cuts on the ground
Across the country, national and local funding cuts have resulted in a sustained loss of community- based services. A Women’s Aid study in 2013 made some shocking discoveries6:
• All regions lost children’s services – the biggest losses were in the South West, which lost seven of its 24 children’s services (29 per cent), the South East lost six of its 32 services (19 per cent) and the West Midlands lost five of its 22 services (22 per cent) in 2010-13 • All areas, bar the East of England, lost resettlement services: the biggest loses were in the South West, which lost five of its 25 services (20 per cent) and the West Midlands, which lost five of 32 services (16 per cent) • Almost all areas lost floating support services; only two retained current service provision • All areas apart from the East Midlands have gained services for men: a national increase of 25 per cent since 2011 • There has been an increase in emergency bed spaces by 98 since 2010
The Women’s Aid study also found significant regional variations between the nature of service providers – in some areas, such as the South East of England, there was over a 20 per cent drop in specialist support services for victims of domestic abuse and across the country in 2013, there were 71 less specialist providers of non-refuge domestic violence support services compared to three years earlier.
There does not seem to be a sensible correlation – demand grows on an unprecedented scale and, at the same time, funding goes down. We are all more than aware that we are now in a society
5 Correspondence with the Chair of Rape Crisis England and Wales, 21 August 2014 6http://www.womensaid.org.uk/page.asp?section=00010001001400130004§ionTitle=Growing+Crisis+of+ Unmet+Need
12 where we have to do more with less. The challenge going forward is for those poorer performing local areas to match the innovation and provision of the best performing areas, to protect those women who are already some of the most vulnerable in our society.
Moving Forward
As the Women’s Safety Commission’s first interim report pointed out, it is shocking that no assessment has yet been made by the Government of the cumulative impact of funding and policy changes – some of which will be discussed in subsequent chapters – on women’s safety. Local provision is more patchy than ever as chaotic public service changes unfold, yet no safeguards have been put in place to keep women safe.
We believe, therefore, that it is time for a national body with clear oversight for domestic and sexual violence, underpinned by statutory strategies for tackling violence against women and girls at the national and local level, with clear minimum standards for service provision.
Emerging recommendation: Introduce a statutory obligation on Government, local authorities and other responsible bodies at the local level, to develop integrated domestic and sexual violence strategies.
Emerging recommendation: Establish a new Commissioner to tackle violence against women and girls, with clear oversight for domestic and sexual violence, to – amongst other responsibilities – develop minimum standards of service provision at all levels.
More detail on our position on the Commissioner’s role and responsibilities, alongside our proposals for what should be included in a Violence Against Women and Girls Bill are set out for consultation in Appendix A.
13 Chapter 2: Impact of commissioning
The previous chapter set out some of the damage which has been and continues to be imposed on local women's safety services, not only by the funding cuts discussed in the previous chapter, but also by an essentially price-based commissioning agenda, in which a range of local agencies, often without knowledge or expertise in the field, struggle to purchase effective services without any common direction, standard or targets.
The passage of two years since the Women's Safety Commission's interim report has confirmed the trends then observed and we re-iterate the basic need for successful commissioning of services for women. Our study shows that there are four main issues of serious concern:
• The commissioning of services without any national quality framework, leading to differing service standards in different local areas, made more acute by a diminution in local expertise • An increasing pattern of large contracts for generic, gender-neutral services for the lowest unit cost, which can cause the loss of local connections and specialist expertise • The changing commissioning landscape, where a period of flux has made it difficult to retain quality commissioners in the right place, with knowledge and experience of the issues • A misinterpretation of the Equality Act, which has seen a decline in gender-specific services tackling violence against women and girls
Undermining national standards
The localism agenda sees local bodies having more autonomy in determining the minimum level of support that survivors of violence can expect to receive, and setting differing priorities in a range of areas that are crucial to women’s safety, including community safety and housing.
There are some things we can be sure about in commissioning effective women’s services, and the need for clear quality standards is one of those which is currently entirely lacking. In May this year, Women’s Aid set out succinct and clear quality standards for organisations in order to be suitable to provide services, in their ‘Guide to successful commissioning of services that support women and children survivors of violence’7. The Women’s Safety Commission accepts those recommended standards for organisations subject to the commissioning process:
• Safety, security and dignity - The organisation offers prompt targeted responses within a safe environment, maximising service user engagement and reducing short and medium term risk. • Rights and access - The organisation promotes equality and diversity and operates within a human rights framework, ensuring access for those most in need and maximising disclosure and recovery. • Physical and emotional health - The organisation addresses the immediate and longer term physical and mental health needs of service users, reducing their need to access health services in the future and promoting long term recovery and well-being. • Stability, resilience and autonomy - The organisation supports service users to develop stability, resilience and a sense of agency for their lasting independence and recovery, and to prevent future harm and need for services.
7http://www.womensaid.org.uk/page.asp?section=0001000100350003§ionTitle=Successful+Commissioni ng
14 • Children and young people - Where services are delivered to women with children, or to young people, the organisation addresses the safety, educational and health needs of children and young people living with domestic violence and its effects, reducing their need for services in the future and equipping them to move on to adult lives free from violence. • Prevention - The organisation works in partnerships to challenge social tolerance of gender inequality and domestic violence and improve responses to survivors in order to reduce the long term prevalence of violence against women and girls. • Accountability and leadership - Transparent decision-making and meaningful service user involvement to secure the trust and engagement of service users and achieve positive long term outcomes for women and children.
Strategic intent
The strategic and political intention to systematically tackle violence against women and girls was first drawn together in Labour's original cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in 2009. The Coalition goverment claimed to be continuing this approach with its ‘Call to end violence against women and girls – strategic vision’8 and associated action plans. But, in truth in the past four years, that strategic and political intention has very rarely made its way into the provision of support services that are desperately needed to improve the safety of women across the country and in particular to support some of the most vulnerable women in our society.
We have seen other strategic shifts to place women’s safety centre stage. We have seen, for example, the introduction of NICE guidelines on domestic violence and abuse9 for health services, social care and the organisations they work with, so they can respond effectively. We have also seen major improvements in the efforts of housing providers to improve the way they respond to domestic abuse, most notably through the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance, whose mission to develop a set of national standards for housing providers has just been launched.
With all of this renewed focus on women’s safety, we are nonetheless hearing about and seeing women experiencing failings in delivery and support on the ground. The reason is that leadership, policy imperatives and quality standards do not consistently reach out beyond the words of a strategy and into reality.
Loss of key expertise
The commissioning landscape has been subject to major change and disruption over recent years. Recently, the health sector has been fundamentally reformed into local Clinical Commissioning Groups and Public Health directorships, with Health and Wellbeing Boards having oversight, some involvement in Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) and over-arching roles for Public and National Health England. There are now Police and Crime Commissioners with responsibility for police budgets, sharing priorities with CSPs and developing effective and efficient criminal justice services locally. Local authorities are still very important, but those with the specific responsibility for women's safety services are not easy to find amongst these key agencies on a commissioning map. This state of flux has made it very difficult to retain quality service commissioners in the right places, with appropriate local sector knowledge and experience of the issues.
8 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/call-to-end-violence-against-women-and-girls-strategic-vision 9 http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ph50
15 As commissioning bodies, in particular local authorities, themselves suffer cuts and lose specialists, such as domestic violence coordinators and Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, they lose the capacity to make decisions on that area of work with an understanding that reflects reality. Commissioners in local authorities without access to specialist knowledge too often do not understand the scale of the issue or the nature of the service provision in demand. Those responsible for making crucial funding decisions in local government about which service to save, reduce or cut have, in many cases, been advised by people who have no direct knowledge, experience or understanding of the vital support services that are needed to improve women’s safety and protect them from further harm.
The dynamics of violence against women and girls are not straightforward. It has been for many years, in effect, a private sphere of crime which, even though it is in the headlines frequently, is still not widely discussed or understood. The menu of services which make up a sufficiency of local provision is complex, including refuges, outreach services, floating support, IDVA provision, alongside specific sexual abuse services such as ISVAs, Rape Crisis Centres and Sexual Assault Referral Centres. The author recently discussed the future funding of an IDVA service with a leading local politician, who thought that it was a Rape Crisis Centre. If the need for these services is difficult to understand and staffing expertise is not present, it is probably self evident that violence against women and girls work can be little valued, readily overlooked or not at all prioritised
Given the ongoing uncertainty of funding settlements, funding to service providers is almost always short-term, meaning community and voluntary sector organisations are spending significant elements of their time and resources finding funding and responding to monitoring and evaluation requirements.
This lack of expertise may have contributed to some commissioners’ failure to ‘get’ domestic abuse. They commission ‘efficient’ forms of support, such as outreach preventative work and support in the community, rather than what victims actually need. Although current commissioning has to stretch meagre funding in the current climate, offering victims an hour or two a week of outreach support alone will not make them safe. The nature of domestic violence is a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviours intended to undermine the victim and it often takes a safe haven and substantial support for recovery.
It has been well-known since the publication of Home Office research as part of the British Crime Survey in 2004 that statistically, by far the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship and when a women and her children are most likely to be killed is when she seeks help and attempts to leave10. It is crucial that she is able to leave her home and find a confidential place of safety away from the perpetrator. Without that, women will be forced to return to the perpetrator, just to ensure that she and her children are not homeless.
Localism, funding cuts and lack of expertise combine in some cases to further undermine the specialist support services that women need to keep them safe. We have seen local authorities ring- fencing refuge spaces for local women only or, in some cases, dedicating only 10 per cent of their bed spaces for women who reside outside of their area, in order to assuage their ratepayers. Yet, the refuge movement was built on the premise that women may need to travel to get away from abuse and this is particularly relevant for those fleeing forced marriage and honor based violence.
10http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130128103514/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/hors 276.pdf
16 For example, Businesswoman ‘F’ was suffering from extremely persistent domestic and sexual violence and abuse and, with the help of her employer, carefully planned to move to another branch of the business without telling anyone where she had gone. This could not have been achieved without the availability of temporary supportive accommodation in the location of the other branch office, but it was achieved here and F is convinced that the move saved her life.
The network of refuges enables the safe passage of families across local authority boundaries and it’s based on good will and mutual understanding. If this breaks down, there could be catastrophic consequences for the most at-risk victims and is an especially acute example of lack of understanding of the problem amongst some of those that commission support services.
Emerging recommendation – ensure clear service standards are embedded in the commissioning process and delivery of support services, reflecting a comprehensive understanding of service-user needs.
The rise of gender-neutral services
It is evident that commissioning specialist services to ensure women’s ongoing safety in cases of domestic and sexual violence and abuse is essential.
The Equality Act 2010 established the Public Sector Equality Duty, which requires both commissioners and service providers to consider the needs of people with protected characteristics, which include sex, race and sexual orientation. The statute itself provides that service may be provided separately for men and women, or be provided for one gender only (Schedule 3) in order that services can be tailored to the needs of users.
As the Equality and Human Rights Commissions notes:
“What the Public Sector Equality Duty does not mean is that single sex services should be cut, have funding withdrawn or that any new services should not be funded. Neither does it mean that services should be provided on the same scale for both men and women. For example, because women make up the majority of victims of domestic violence and rape, it may not be appropriate for a local council to fund or provide refuge services on an equal basis for men and for women.”
However, the legislation has been over analysed and misinterpreted by many public bodies, who have taken it to mean that they must treat everyone the same, irrespective of need.
The evidence is clear - domestic abuse in intimate partner relationships is twice as prevalent against women as against men. Women are more likely to be a victim of domestic abuse and violence and therefore, to meet this support need, there should be tailored provision for women – and men - to assist them on the road to long-term recovery.
Unfortunately, since the Equality Act was introduced, the current Government has taken innumerable steps to neutralise its impact. We have seen a move from gender specific services and a rise in gender neutral services – something that the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women particularly highlighted on her trip to the UK earlier this year. Rashida Manjoo felt it was of great concern that policies and practices on equality broadly, and those on violence in particular, are gender neutral, and aim for equal treatment for all, thereby diregarding the need for special
17 measures which acknowledge difference, and which also recognise that women are disproportionately impacted by violence, inequality and discrimination.11
We have seen the UN Special Rapporteur’s observations reflected in the reduction in the number of women-only refuge facilities across the country and in response to commissioners, who will only fund if provision for male victims is included, irrespective of demand.
Emerging recommendation – Preserve women-only specialist support services, ensuring service commissioners comply with the Equality Act 2010, with regard to protected groups and commissioning for substantive equality, so that commissioning of generic services is not at the expense of specialist women-centred services that have a track record of success.
Support for those women with multiple needs
The lack of understanding of the specialist services needed to protect and support women, and the shift to more gender neutral services is having a particularly significant impact on those women with multiple and complex needs, including those with mental health issues, learning disabilities or drug and alcohol dependencies.
Women’s Aid have made some important observations, that many domestic violence organisations do not have sufficient resources to offer a complete service to women with complex or multiple needs. Organisations should, however, be working towards more inclusive provision, either within their current services, or by developing specialist service provision. 12
Emerging recommendation – produce a compact for key agencies to sign to agree to working more creatively together to improve the wrap around support for women with complex and multiple needs who suffer domestic violence.
Emerging recommendation – work with criminal justice agencies to improve successful prosecution rates for survivors with mental health needs or learning disabilities experiencing all forms of violence.
11 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14514&LangID=E 12 http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence- articles.asp?section=00010001002200040001&itemid=941
18 Chapter 3: Access to Justice - the impact of Legal Aid reforms
Our interim report in 2012, highlighted the risk that the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO), which significantly cut legal aid provision, would remove access to justice for many thousands of women suffering or trying to escape from domestic abuse. Our concerns were correct.
On 1 April 2013, LASPO came into force, removing legal aid for most private family law matters. It is still possible to get legal aid for injunction applications for domestic violence and for forced marriage by simply applying with a statement of what has happened. However, there is no legal aid for other essential proceedings in family disputes, such as for divorce, to settle the financial and property arrangements between the parties or for applications about parenting arrangements for children. The only way in which legal aid will be allowed for any of those proceedings is if the party who says that there has been domestic violence can provide additional evidence of it through one of the specific documents prescribed by the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012.13 These documents include a letter from GP or from the police, though it is well-known that many victims of domestic violence do not seek medical help and do not report to the police. There have also been many incidences of doctors in particular, charging a fee for such letters, which many complainants have been unable to afford.
To provide insight into the impact these reforms have had, we have spoken to legal professionals, experts in the women’s sector and with women in need of support. We suggest that the current view from the frontline is bleak. In particular, Women’s Aid research,14 conducted a year after the introduction of LASPO, highlights some worrying trends:
• 43 per cent of domestic violence survivors did not have the prescribed forms of evidence to access legal aid.
• Of those who did have evidence, the most common forms came from a health professional referral to a Multi-Agency Referral Assessment Conference (MARAC) or an assessment by social services and 23 per cent of respondents had to wait longer than 2 weeks to get copies of their evidence. 46.5 per cent of respondents took no action in relation to their family law problem as a result of not being able to apply for legal aid.
• 33 per cent of respondents had to travel between 5 and 15 miles to find a legal aid solicitor. 13 per cent had to travel more than 15 miles.
• 32.1 per cent paid a solicitor privately and 25 per cent represented themselves at court.
When women do, against the odds, find the strength to leave an abusive relationship, specialist legal support is desperately needed if they are to get justice and be able to guarantee their future safety and that of their children. By excluding them from publicly funded legal support, such women are put into an impossible position. The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women on 15 April 2014,15 criticised the UK Government, finding that access to justice is severely lacking for such victims, echoing findings by the UN CEDAW Committee state examination in July 2013. These reports are highly critical of access to justice in the UK for putting women's safety at risk.
13 http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/legal-aid/funding-code/evidence-requirements-private-family-law- matters-guidance.pdf http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/3098/regulation/33/made 14 http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/pdfs/Policy/Evidencing_domestic_violence_III.pdf 15 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14514&LangID=E
19 Eligibility and the evidence test
There is confusion about entitlement and the legal aid eligibility criteria for family cases fail to reflect women’s experiences of domestic violence.
Many of the prescribed forms of evidence16 needed to access legal aid in domestic violence cases can only be used if the incidents they describe have occurred in the past 24 months and many would only be available if a women had sought help for every violent occurrence, contrary to what is well known about the difficulties women have in speaking out against their abuser.
In contrast, an overwhelming allegation of domestic violence, supported by impeccable witness evidence, will not qualify for legal aid. Nor will one supported by evidence from refuge records; from outreach support; that the perpetrator has participated in a perpetrator programme; that he gave an undertaking to a court not to assault the victim; nor even if there are photographs of injuries.
The seemingly random types of evidence which will demonstrate a case seem less a test of the merits and more a deliberate barrier to eligibility. They are clearly an extra practical barrier, deterring victims still further from leaving violent relationships. The Ministry of Justice has been deluged with evidence, case studies, and reports about the high numbers of genuine victims who are unable to get the evidence needed to qualify for legal aid.
The 55th United Nations CEDAW enquiry was additionally unhappy that victims often have to pay to get such evidence – such as a letter from their GP - and the committee urged the government to carry out a further assessment of the impact of legal aid reforms on access to justice for women victims of violence.
The UK Government asserts that a fallback category of 'exceptional funding' will provide a safety net for women who are unable to provide evidence of domestic abuse. However, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed, by letter to a northern practitioner, that between the start of the new regime in April 2014 until the end of July, there were 193 exceptional funding applications for family law matters, of which only 6 succeeded. That is hardly a safety net. It should be noted too that the application forms are so complex that it takes a legal professional an average of half a day to complete them, for which there is no funding.
The courts have forced some changes to LASPO. The proposed ‘residence test,’ originally to be implemented from August 2014, would have excluded women who did not have lawful residence in the UK for more than 12 months from access to legal aid - potentially a huge cohort of the most vulnerable victims of trafficking or forced marriage. However the Divisional Court ruled17 that the ‘residence’ test is “discriminatory” and “unlawful.”
The Ministry of Justice seems determined to confine eligibility by insisting on the narrow types of evidence prescribed by the Act, though they have been told by experts that it is too hard to obtain. There are relatively easy solutions, such as allowing a professional, such as an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor, to provide support for a claim. As well as pursuing these solutions, including the two recommended below, we believe a future Labour government should ultimately aim to remove the evidence requirements for the provision of legal aid for the representation of victims of
16 http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/legal-aid/funding-code/evidence-requirements-private-family-law- matters-guidance.pdf 17 http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2014/2365.html
20 domestic violence, so that they can be publically funded in family and protective legal proceedings where there is no other way to promote justice,
Emerging Recommendation: Extend the evidence criteria for legal aid to include information from Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, women’s support organisations and police call-out records in response to domestic violence incidents
Emerging Recommendation: Eliminate charging for evidence required for legal aid which is used as proof of a victim’s abuse – as recommended by the CEDAW committee in July 2014
Courts and representation
The only alternative if women are refused legal aid is for them to represent themselves.
The emotional impact on a woman of chronic domestic abuse can lead to enduring psychological problems, such as agoraphobia, depression, paranoia, intense insecurity, inability to trust people and extremely low self-worth. Anyone suffering such symptoms would find it hard, if not impossible, to be a litigant on their own behalf. Even without these problems, it is almost impossible to imagine representing oneself in complex court proceedings, being the sole advocate for your own justice and perhaps for that of your children. Worse still, women are forced to attend mediation with their abuser before the case can get into court. Perpetrators are also unlikely to receive legal aid, so unless private funding is available, he too will appear in person and she will have to argue her case face to face with him in court and face being cross examined in person by someone who has historically abused her. This is quite close to the state obliging her to suffer a further episode of abuse in order to escape it.
Litigants in person inevitably delay justice, dramatically increasing the time which cases take to get through the courts and costing more for the public purse. There is also more risk. No quiet work can be done behind the scenes by a legal representative to curb the behaviour of an angry or volatile client or to discourage them from bringing their male friends to court to intimidate the victim. There is no obvious way to limit the lengthy, often non-evidential, off the point and sometimes abusive arguments that can be embarked upon.
Judges, on the whole, have been very accommodating of litigants in person and the challenges and delay they can bring, but it is hard to see that they can continue to deal with this sustainably – and this is certainly not the way to serve swift or sure justice.
Emerging recommendation: Improve women’s ability to access legal advice and representation in vital family law proceedings to enable them to safe and equal futures for themselves and their families.
This requires serious consideration of the removal of the arbitrary evidence criteria for eligibility where domestic violence is alleged and a return to the ordinary principle that the Legal Aid Authority will determine whether the case merits legal aid on all the evidence available.
The availability of legal advisers
The legal aid cuts have heavily affected law firms and advice agencies. Many private law firms that would have dealt with cases that are now unable to meet the criteria for legal aid support have closed and others are under severe pressure. The campaign group Liberty has described the situation as a battle between Government savings and legal professionals facing ever increasing demand for legal assistance from those who desperately need it.
21 The Director of the Law Centre’s Network, during oral evidence to the Justice Select Committee in July 2014, said that 9 Law Centres have closed and other Law Centres have lost so much of their income from legal aid that they can only target specific groups of clients and no longer have an open door policy.
Local Authority support has been critical to keeping Law Centres operating, but they too have suffered huge budget cuts.
A Justice Committee Inquiry, reviewing the impact of changes under LASPO, heard oral evidence from a wide range of experts, including Citizens Advice, the Law Centres Network, and the Bar Council, which suggests that the legal aid reforms have turned back the clock, failing the vulnerable people for whom legal aid provision is so sorely needed.
The evidence provided to the Justice Committee suggests that LASPO has:
• Allowed problems to escalate for vulnerable people as, in many cases, time is spent assessing, means testing and proving eligibility before legal help can be provided.
• Led to many thousands of vulnerable people slipping through the net – clear advice and guidance is not readily available and referrals can often be very difficult to make.
• Heightened concerns over the decreasing number of legal aid practitioners, with 92 per cent of Citizens Advice Bureaus across the country finding it difficult to find someone to represent a litigant once they have proved to be eligible.18
• Left many people and community workers with the belief that legal aid is unavailable across the board, so that many vulnerable people are not seeking help at all – requests for legal help have dropped significantly.
• Seen litigants in person going through a very long, drawn out and emotionally charged journey that could have been minimised by a small amount of legal advice and guidance at the beginning.
• Introduced a complex and difficult to navigate ‘exceptional funding scheme’ which cannot work as a ‘safety net’ for the most vulnerable litigants.
• Increased the number of 'McKenzie Friends,' both semi and non-professional, appearing in court in support of litigants in person. McKenzie Friends are not regulated and cannot be held accountable – leaving vulnerable people at risk of abuse and exploitation. There is evidence of unqualified McKenzie Friends charging for ‘legal advice' on issues as complex as international child abduction and pushing their own agenda, such as that of Father’s 4 Justice, rather than that of the litigant.
• A widespread failure to meet International law and convention obligations by the state, as described eloquently by Sir James Munby in QvQ.
On completion of her mission to the UK and Northern Ireland, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls called for urgent action to address the adverse impacts of
18 http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/justice- committee/impact-of-changes-to-civil-legal-aid-under-laspo/oral/11320.html
22 changes in funding and services19. She identified that women’s access to justice is limited and many women do not consider the criminal justice system as a viable option to obtain remedies.
The findings of this mission also echo the findings and conclusions of the 55th United Nations CEDAW enquiry concerning the UK,20 which found very little to praise about the new LASPO Act and reforms of legal aid and who urged the UK government to undertake a further assessment of the impact of legal aid reforms and access to justice.
These legal aid reforms were misguided and are not achieving what was described as their primary objective - to provide publicly funded legal support for those most vulnerable and in need. Women face very bleak choices – stay in an abusive relationship at great risk, perhaps to children as well; represent themselves at court in a web of complex legal proceedings; or fund legal representation themselves with a likelihood of falling into debt. This inequality, unfairness and discrimination cannot continue.
19 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14514&LangID=E 20 http://www.unwomenuk.org/government-urged-to-take-further-action-on-women per centE2 per cent80 per cent99s-equality/
23 Chapter 4: Defining Domestic Violence: Coercive control
Domestic Violence Law Reform
There has been a recent campaign, by leading violence against women services, including Paladin, Women's Aid and the Sara Charlton Charitable Foundation to change current criminal law to create an offence of domestic violence. In effect, this would tackle the pattern - well recognised in the sector - of a course of conduct by which power and control are exerted over a victim by physical, psychological, financial and other forms of abuse. This would be an offence of exercising ' coercive control'. Following a period of consultation, the Government has recently announced its intention to introduce such an offence.
Currently, although domestic violence is defined and data of its incidence is collected, there is no criminal offence of domestic violence. Instead, offences are prosecuted according to the level of injury caused by individual acts of violence on the victim. Although there is already provision in the criminal law to recognise psychiatric injury (if there is expert evidence of it), it is rarely prosecuted in practice.
Indeed, prosecution of domestic violence assaults of any kind are relatively rare. Whilst figures are frequently considered in connection with the level of rape prosecutions between report and court, (around 6 per cent) the same counting for domestic violence cases is 3 per cent.21
There are many reasons for such a low prosecution rate, but an important one is that the statutory authorities have for too long failed to recognise the pattern which domestic abuse takes and therefore fail to appreciate its ongoing effects on the victim. This can lead to reluctance to take forward a prosecution if the victim will not support it and to reacting to abrasive conduct from her as if she were a wrongdoer, when both may be caused by her fear of the perpetrator, her inability to see a way out, or even her frustration at the police failure to understand.
Further, police can become habituated to attending abusive situations, in the same home, making it easy to trivialise less serious incidents, which ought to be taken seriously as evidence of a pattern of coercive control.
For instance, a senior police officer recently expressed the view, publicly, that a community resolution is an appropriate mechanism to deal with 'minor domestic violence'. He did not appreciate the potential significance of 'minor' acts, which may occur in a context where a perpetrator has already imposed such fear on his victim that it is not necessary to assault her further to impose his will. There is a case to argue, therefore, that the criminal law should recognise an offence of domestic abuse as a pattern of coercive control, in order to ensure that the importance and seriousness of the pattern is identified and understood.
The contrary argument is that the definition of domestic violence, and not the definition of the criminal offence, should be changed and agencies trained in the new definition. This, in turn, will lead to better understanding of the pattern of coercive control, so that agencies will be much more likely to implement the current law, which, seen through the new prism, is sufficient to meet the need.
Problems with the current definition of domestic violence
21 Hester, Marianne (2009) Who does what to whom ? Gender and domestic violence perpetrators (Univ of Bristol VAWRG).
24
The term ‘domestic violence’ emerged in the mid-1970s in the UK to describe violence and abuse within intimate relationships, which most women’s groups providing support noted was a variable and ongoing combination of physical, sexual and psychological abuse - a ‘course of conduct’. 22
By 2005 there was a cross-government definition: “Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality. This includes issues of concern to black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, such as so called ‘honour based violence’, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage.”23
In March 2013, this was expanded to: “Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass, but is not limited to, the following types of abuse: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional. Controlling behaviour is: a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour. Coercive behaviour is: an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.”24
This definition, which is not a legal definition, includes so called ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage, and is clear that victims are not confined to one gender or ethnic group.25
The three key welcome changes introduced in the March 2013 definition are:
• reducing the age from 18 to 16, which is welcome and has proved effective; • including coercive and controlling behaviour within the definition; and • adding the ‘pattern’ to the existing ‘any incident’ approach.
However, the current definition has been criticized as it does not include a gendered-analysis of male violence against women, particularly by current or former intimate partners. While intimate- partner violence also occurs against men (by women or by other men in same sex relationships), it is now well established that gender-based violence is both a cause and a consequence of women’s inequality.26
By not being underpinned by a gendered-analysis, the definition, like those before it, often conflates family violence and intimate partner violence. This skews data by including wider family violence in the figures, thereby giving rise to the statistical distortion represented by the common figures that 'one in 4 women and one in 6 men' suffers from domestic violence. On the whole, the public views
22 http://www.troubleandstrife.org/2014/04/time-for-a-rethink-why-the-current-government-definition-of- domestic-violence-is-a-problem/ 23 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/28/pdfs/ukpga_20040028_en.pdf 24 Information for Local Areas on the change to the Definition of Domestic Violence and Abuse (HM Government, March 2013 Page 2)
25 Ibid 26 United Nations, 1993 http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm
25 domestic violence as partner violence, yet domestic violence figures will invariably include violence between brothers, or fathers and sons.
Emerging recommendation: Ensure a better breakdown in the statistics, so intimate-partner violence, family violence, and so-called honour violence are delineated.
Partner and ex-partner violence are overwhelmingly inflicted by men on women. Men are twice as likely to use physical violence, to threaten or to harass their partners.27 Though there is undoubtedly some partner violence by women on men, much partner violence against men is by male partners. This confusion is important in itself, but it is especially so in that it impacts on public spending allocations on domestic abuse services and helps to provoke the misrepresentation of the Equality Act provisions discussed earlier.
However, the UK definition takes a gender-neutral approach, masking the gender-based nature of violence in intimate relationships.28 It also downgrades the forms of violence disproportionately experienced by minority ethnic women, by taking it out of the definition and making it a footnote. Importantly for the issue of establishing a new offence of domestic violence or coercive control, the 2013 definition attaches the concepts of coercion and control - essentially drawn from and applicable to the pattern of male on female partner violence - to non-gendered violence and family violence too. It assumes that the dynamics in intimate partner violence (IPV) are the same as those of violence by family members (e.g. between siblings, between parents and children) and of FGM, forced marriage and ‘honour’- based violence, which is unlikely to be the case.
As Professor Liz Kelly puts it: “Coercive control is a concept developed to make sense of the many subtle and not so subtle ways in which men impose their will in heterosexual relationships, and it draws on cultural norms about both masculinity and femininity. This cannot be simply read across into other relationships which are often generational, in which the issues of gender and sexuality play out differently.”29
For these reasons amongst others, it is imperative that further consideration is given to introducing a gendered angle to the definition of domestic violence, which encompasses the pattern of coercive control peculiar to that type of abuse, given that it underpins a significant majority of intimate partner violence. Without that change, there will remain a further barrier for criminal justice agencies to overcome when developing a realistic understanding of what is happening when they respond to apparently incident-based issues.
A new criminal offence?
The Government have recently announced their intention to write a new offence of coercive control into the criminal law – a move which Labour has been supportive of. How practical would it be to do so and how would the new offence be used to benefit current complainants? Is there a
27 Hester, Marianne (2009) Who does what to whom? Gender and domestic violence perpetrators (University of Bristol VAWRG). 28 The Gender Violence (Comprehensive Protection Measures) Act (Fundamental Law 1 dated December 28th, 2004, published in the BOE nº 313 on December 29th, 2004). This law is identified by the European Commission.
29 http://www.troubleandstrife.org/2014/04/time-for-a-rethink-why-the-current-government-definition-of- domestic-violence-is-a-problem/
26 criminalisation gap which ensures that the pattern of domestic violence and control remains outside the reach of existing criminal law?
The Women’s Safety Commission’s position is to lean towards the introduction of an offence of coercive control and we look forward to seeing – and scrutinising – the Government’s proposals. Here, we merely set out the arguments on both sides and invite responses.
The argument in favour of a new offence is that laws used to prosecute domestic violence – including assault, burglary, property, breach of a restraining order, rape, kidnapping and murder – do not describe its essence. The totality of the behaviour and the non-physical manifestations of power and control that define an abusive relationship do real harm to victims, but are not recognised in criminal law.
Evidence about domestic abuse is well-known, even though levels are hugely under-reported. On average, two women are murdered each week in England and Wales by their current or former partner. In 2012/13, 1.2 million women were estimated to have experienced domestic violence in England and Wales. Research by Women’s Aid shows that most women report violence to the police after it has been going on for between 6 months and 5 years,30 yet each reported episode is treated as an isolated incident and therefore a low level misdemeanour. According to research by Professor Marianne Hester,31 53 per cent of men whose cases are reported to police in the UK have been reported for at least 3 other assaults against their partner, and usually more, but serially abusive men are no more likely to be punished than men reported for a single incident. The CPS generally prosecutes for a single incident, with a focus on the injury.32
Living in a violent household is horrific for children. At least 750,000 children witness domestic violence every year and in around half of all domestic violence situations, the children are being directly abused themselves. A study of 139 child abuse cases in England between 2009-11 found that almost two-thirds had domestic violence as a risk factor.33
After separation, the very same controlling behavior which was exerted in the relationship, is then criminalised as stalking. However, it is well-known that separation can be the most dangerous time for abused women and the conduct, which is seen as criminal afterwards, is merely a continuation of what went before.
Criminalising the pattern of domestic abuse itself, it is argued, would increase public understanding of the problem.
30 Women’s Aid Federation England Annual Survey of Domestic Violence Services, 2012, responses of 507 women, 70 per cent of those interviewed while living in a refuge in 2012. 31 Hester, M, Nicole Westmarland, Geetanjali Gangoli (2006) Domestic Violence Perpetrators: Identifying Needs to Inform Early Intervention.
32 Hester, M (2009). Who Does What to Whom? Gender and Domestic Violence Perpetrators: Identifying Needs to Inform Early Intervention’ Violence Against Women Research Group School for Policy Studies. University of Bristol. 33 Neglect and Serious Case Reviews: A report from the University of East Anglia commissioned by NSPCC (January 2013).
27 “It will strengthen families and communities throughout the UK by recognising partner abuse for what it is, a systematic strategy to violate women’s basic human rights to security, independence, dignity and equality‘’ (Professor Evan Stark 20/09/13). 34
It would also ensure that the police and the courts identify and take into account a pattern of behaviour and subsequently have the tools they need to respond appropriately to partner abuse.
Advocates of a new offence of domestic violence point to this type of legislative reform elsewhere in Europe. Spain, France, Portugal and Sweden have enacted laws with reference to intimate partner violence, introducing gender-based definitions of domestic violence into their criminal codes. For example, the offence of ‘gross violation of a woman’s integrity’ was introduced in Sweden in 1998.35
The United States government has criminalised domestic violence, as enacted by the Violence Against Women Act 1994. Between 1993-2010, the rate of intimate partner violence is estimated to have declined by 67 per cent. Reporting of domestic violence incidents has increased by 51 per cent, which has led to a greater number of arrests.36 Within six years of its implementation, it is estimated that the Act has saved $12.6 billion dollars across the United States.37
However there are counter arguments to the creation of a new offence from other agencies, most notably from Refuge, which has campaigned for a more robust criminal justice response to domestic violence for decades and acknowledges that serious failings continue. However, these agencies are not convinced that the introduction of a new offence of domestic violence or of coercive control is either a sufficient or workable solution.
Even though ‘coercive control’ has been a familiar concept within the domestic violence arena for almost forty years, differences have been noted in the way it is understood and applied.38 It is therefore likely to take considerable training amongst agencies, alongside the creation of extremely clear guidelines to ensure ‘coercive control’ is identified accurately. Evan Stark (quoted above) cautions that:
“If taken alone, many tactics used in coercive control could typify a “bad” marriage. So it is critical to recognize that it is the combination of these tactics into a pattern of domination that comprises the offence, not the acts themselves. Front-line responders will determine appropriate interventions based on the particular combination of violence, intimidation, humiliation, isolation and control they encounter39…..coercion entails the use of force or threats to compel or dispel a particular response. In
34 Presentation by Professor Evan Stark, 21 October 2013 at Amnesty International, Human Rights Action Centre. 35 European Commission/Directorate General for Justice, Feasibility study to assess the possibilities, opportunities and needs to standardise national legislation on violence against women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence, Brussels, 2010. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/funding/daphne3/daphne_feasibility_study_2010_en.pdf 36 “Intimate Partner Violence in the U.S.” U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Jan. 2008.; Cassandra Archer et al., Institute for Law and Justice, National Evaluation of the Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies Program 14 (Nov. 2002). 37 Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. (2003). Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Atlanta, GA. 38 Kuennan, T (2007) Analyzing the Impact of Coercion on Domestic Violence Victims. How Much is Too Much. 22 BERKLEY J. GENDER L. & JUST 2 39 Stark, E (2012) Re-presenting Battered Women: Coercive Control and the Defense of Liberty. http://www.stopvaw.org/uploads/evan_stark_article_final_100812.pdf
28 addition to causing immediate pain, injury, fear, or death, coercion can have long-term physical, behavioral, or psychological consequences.” 40
These agencies do not dispute that coercive and controlling behaviours are extremely serious and damaging forms of abuse, which should be taken into account when considering apparently minor assaults or incidents reported to the police or others. However, they are concerned that a discrete offence of coercive control may be difficult for the criminal justice system to understand and implement. It is argued that evidencing behaviours that are already criminal, such as stalking, harassment and particularly psychiatric injury is complex, but may be easier than evidencing behaviours, such as financial abuse, isolation or humiliation, even when these occur in a persistent, patterned manner sufficient to constitute a 'course of conduct'.
There are a vast range of controlling behaviours used by domestic perpetrators, some of which might meet the threshold for coercion, whilst some might not. The Government had not yet published the details of its proposals for a new offence of coercive control as this report went to print, and the creation of an exhaustive list of controlling behaviours that meet the as-yet unspecified criteria for coercive control, may prove difficult. Deciding what constitutes a legal threshold for this behaviour may be even more so.
Context will be an important factor, as articulated by Kuennan41 and by the Magistrates Association who, in discussing whether coercive control ought to be included in a new definition of domestic violence, state:
“What constitutes coercive control will have to be viewed in the context of the relationship and the effect on the ‘victim’. This contextual element may be difficult to put into legislation as it will depend on a number of factors such as the ‘power’ relationship and relative psychological robustness of those involved".42
In addition, coercive control often takes place in private, without the benefit of third party corroboration and so can present evidential difficulties.
Furthermore, Refuge knows through contact with victims of domestic violence that very often police officers and other professionals within the criminal justice system do not respond to domestic violence with the seriousness and urgency it deserves, even when it constitutes serious physical harm. The concern is that creating a separate category of victim-specific 'domestic violence' crimes could lead to it being treated less seriously, with the risk that even physical offences may be downgraded.
The Women’s Safety Commission urges the Government to take these concerns into account in the new coercive control legislation, which we look forward to reviewing.
Effective criminalisation of Psychological Abuse
Currently, it is possible to prosecute perpetrators who inflict psychiatric injury through non-physical forms of abuse, make threats, stalk, harass or falsely imprison women, yet successful prosecutions,
40 Stark, E (2012) ibid 41 Kuennan, T (2007) Analyzing the Impact of Coercion on Domestic Violence Victims. How Much is Too Much. 22 BERKLEY J. GENDER L. & JUST 2 42 http://www.magistrates- association.org.uk/dox/consultations/1333550516_domestic_violence_consultation_response.pdf
29 particularly for psychiatric injury, are rare. The Government has recently announced that the new offence of coercive control will criminalise psychological abuse of this kind.
Achieving prosecution under this new law would need to require objective evidence that the abuse had occurred, as is already the case under current law which allows cases of psychiatric injury to be brought to the criminal courts43 as Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm, although this is rarely done. CPS guidelines make clear that: “In any case where psychiatric injury is relied upon as the basis for an allegation of ABH, and the matter is not admitted by the defence, expert evidence must be called by the prosecution (R v Chan-Fook 99 Cr. App. R. 147, CA)”.44
For psychological harm to amount to ABH, it must be of sufficient severity to meet criteria for a psychiatric condition45 of which post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often the diagnosis for abused women. International criteria have been recently expanded to introduce ‘complicated post- traumatic stress’ which is particularly prevalent amongst those abused by known individuals in intimate contexts. This change would increase the likelihood that abused women will be able to obtain a diagnosis of psychiatric injury – and bring a case for non-physical, psychological injury in the criminal courts under existing legislation.
43 Ireland vs Burstow [1997] 44http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/offences_against_the_person/#a08 45 Refuge was involved with the case of R v Dhaliwal (2006) CA - a case which collapsed because the law could not accept that the psychological harm suffered by Mrs Dhaliwal equated with psychiatric injury and therefore ABH.
30 Chapter 5: Understanding the needs of Black Asian and minority ethnic women
For many Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women suffering domestic abuse and violence, there are additional challenges to accessing advice and support. In many cases, violence and abuse is not questioned or challenged in their family setting, often with women experiencing isolation in the most severe forms, as language and cultural differences compound their fear and feeling of remoteness.
Many of the BAME women and specialist support services we have listened to over the course of our study have described a picture of extreme vulnerability, where women suffering domestic abuse face further challenges of low or no personal income, poor quality housing, lack of education and a lack of confidence, knowledge and ability to leave the cycle of abuse. Further exacerbating the isolation and daily challenge are the wider problem of racism and marginalisation from society.
There is some lack of understanding on the part of the relevant statutory and voluntary agencies about the specific cultural challenges women in these circumstances can face. It is frequently the case that women experiencing domestic abuse cannot speak English and, therefore, even making a telephone call for assistance can pose a major barrier to the overall success of the cry for help. Chances of obtaining help from an outside agency are slim.
These issues should not be forgotten when considering the specific needs of BAME women and the specialist support service needed to prevent abuses and protect them from all forms of violence. In addition, there are crimes that disproportionately affect ethnic minority communities like FGM, forced marriage and honour-based violence. These practices are simply violence against women and girls, and although the context may differ, the root cause of gender inequality remains the same, regardless of the manifestation of that violence. But these issues, particularly forced marriage and honour violence often combine with other violence, such as domestic abuse, rape, sexual violence and imprisonment in the home.
We have heard stories of too many BAME women suffering from domestic abuse choosing not to engage with the mainstream sector through a lack of trust, and a fear of a lack of confidentiality by the key statutory and non-statutory agencies offering support. It seems that there is a fear of further isolation and racism when accessing support from a mainstream service.
When looking at the case for specialist support services for BAME victims of domestic abuse, the Aya Partnership found that the majority of women they talked to preferred a BAME service, not only to access support, but also to help them stay out of a violent relationship and make empowering choices.46 This demonstrates the importance of BAME specific services in providing safety for women and children over time, as well as at points of crisis. Providers of specialist support services for BAME women understand more deeply the cultural context within which they are experiencing violence and services are more tailored for that context.
Emerging recommendation - Develop and pilot a one stop shop for safe and easy access to support and guidance for different minority communities, making the best use of existing mainstream outlets such as GPs, Sure Starts and community centres.
46 http://web.ayaproject.org.uk/research-the-case-for-bme-specialist-womens-services-in-the-vawg-sector/
31 Emerging recommendation - Ensure information is made available that is easy to access and understand, to reduce communication barriers for women seeking help and support.
Preventing and protecting women now and in future generations
Work to prevent domestic and sexual violence and abuse in BAME communities must start, as in other communities, through early intervention, education and working with those from the communities themselves seeking culture change. In some cultures and communities, there is a belief that women exist to bear children, cook, clean and focus solely on family and domestic chores – often resulting in abuse when these boundaries are challenged and gender equality is strived for.47 In some communities, it is not accepted that women may want a life of their own – to work, to meet friends, to be educated, or even to wear make-up. This is not a situation where vulnerable women feel safe, secure or equal. It holds back their potential and that of their families.
Emerging recommendation – There is a need to develop a government response to work with different communities to tackle gender stereotypes and ensure there is no cultural excuse for violence against women.
We need early intervention and education to empower women to recognise when they are in an abusive relationship and to give them the tools to seek support and leave that relationship in safety. This is not something that will happen overnight, but something we must give great attention and a concerted effort to over a longer period. We want to protect women, both now and in future generations, and this will only come through the sustained effort of key agencies, support organisations and people who really understand the key issues BAME women face.
IMKAAN, the leading UK based black feminist organisation are exactly right - early intervention remains a missing link in much gender violence work. For example, services which are targeted at younger women and which address their specific vulnerabilities are limited. Yet it is these very services that are likely to provide the access point into mainstream provision. For health and criminal justice outcomes to be achieved, effective, specialist advocacy, accommodation, outreach and training services need to be developed and sustained.48
Emerging recommendation - Develop an education programme and other early interventions to inform young BAME women of their choices and young men of the impact of their actions.
Emerging recommendation - Invest in volunteers from BAME communities who can act as peers and help other women cope and recover from abusive relationships.
We recognise the difficulties that women face when accessing support to protect their safety, whether it be in the home, workplace or the community. It is vitally important that women have somewhere to turn, where they feel safe and where they can trust in someone to listen and deal sensitively with their disclosure. In the case of BAME women, cultural awareness in support is essential to building trust and, ultimately, to women accessing support services.
Our findings clearly demonstrate that a generic approach to addressing the safety needs of BAME women is deeply flawed. What is needed is as a holistic approach, which incorporates specialist ‘for women by women’ services, combined with mainstream support. This is the most effective way to help women and children to begin new lives free of violence and abuse.
47 http://www.womenssupportproject.co.uk/userfiles/file/resources/nationalresources/coercive-control.pdf 48 http://imkaan.org.uk/resources
32
Emerging recommendation – Develop clear service standards for the provision of specialist support services for BAME women, building on best practice commissioning and existing standards where appropriate.
The impact of funding and commissioning decisions on specialist support services
There is undoubtedly a very clear need for specialist support service. Therefore, it is important to try and understand if government spending cuts and emerging commissioning practices are having a particularly negative impact on the specialist support services BAME women rely on. From what we have learned in our research, we think this is the case.
In April of this year, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, on her visit to the UK, found that women from BAME communities, women belonging to the LGBTI community, and women with disabilities, are especially affected by the cut back to specialist service provision for victims of domestic abuse. The Special Rapporteur’s findings highlighted that women, for many reasons, often linked to entrenched discriminatory practices in the political, social and economic spheres, are more likely to depend on benefits and on support from an under-resourced, non-profit sector.49 This under-resourced, non-profit sector is providing the BAME specialised services that are being so disproportionately impacted, due to funding pressures, lack of understanding and the misinterpretation of the equalities legislation.
IMKAAN has talked to BAME women across the country. In the current commissioning environment, BAME services are being forced to defend the need for culturally-specific services and are facing real pressure to survive.
A study carried out by the Women’s Resource Centre found that working across two or more aspects of inequality, such as gender and race, can make organisations more vulnerable when cuts are being implemented in both areas. For example, in addition to the cuts made to women’s services in general, the Afiya Trust found in recent research that councils have made £3 million in cuts to BAME support services in England.50
There is now a growing crisis of unmet need in BAME communities. In a member survey, IMKAAN found that services provided for black and minority ethnic (BAME) women have been disproportionately cut, with 47 per cent of services experiencing a significant loss of funding. The unmet need can result from funding decisions impacting on an array of support services out there. For example we have spoken to women who primarily accessed help and support through kind outreach workers at places like Sure Start centres and at local children’s play centres, all of which have been hollowed-out significantly under this current government. More than 400 Children’s Centres closed during the first two years of the Coalition Government51 – cutting off significant and vital lifelines for some of the most vulnerable women.
Through the disproportionate cuts to BAME women’s services, women are not only suffering from many forms of domestic abuse, but are suffering from multiple discrimination and a lack of specialist support to realistically guide them to safety.
49 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14514&LangID=E 50 http://thewomensresourcecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/London-report-FINAL-for-website.pdf 51 http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2013-02-13b.1009.0
33 The impact of recent legislative changes
We have seen some positive moves by the current government to better protect BAME women experiencing forced marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). We have seen forced marriage become a criminal offence52 and we have seen the first UK prosecution of a doctor responsible for carrying out FGM on a young women in London get underway.
The emphasis now on FGM and forced marriage as examples of domestic abuse in BAME communities is considerable. Talking to BAME women throughout our research we have found that many do think FGM is a major issue, but that it is one issue in the wider spectrum of abuse. Many women believe that there are many other prevalent tactics used by men to control women and girls at home and they include emotional abuse, using intimidation, using coercion and threats, financial abuse, using male privilege, using children, blaming and isolation. In taking forward the challenges of FGM and forced marriage, it is important to also continue to maintain focus on the prevalent and wider issues of domestic abuse.
It may be too early to tell the wider impact of the criminalisation of forced marriage and the further criminalisation of FGM and whether or not they have a follow-on effect on other forms of domestic abuse. What we have found is that many police forces up and down the country have geared up to understand the law changes and the new protections, are better prepared to handle disclosures, are more culturally aware and are better aware of the family sensitivities that cases of this nature have.
However, with no doubt the criminalisation of forced marriage is well-intentioned and will likely have some positive effects, we have learned from some victims that they think the new law is a quick fix solution to a complex and long-standing problem. Executive Director of the charity Forward believes that forced marriage is the new “taboo”,53 which indicates a long way to go in terms of prevention and protection. Tackling FGM through new improved laws is also well intended. However, a sustained education programme and health promotion is needed with the young, as well as among the elders of affected communities, to try and feed through key messages about the illegality of FGM and the long term impact on their daughters.
We are always eager to understand what more can be done to keep women safe and tackle domestic abuse in BAME communities and what we have learned through our work is that more than any new law, many women just need to feel accepted by the community, and have a safe place where they can speak confidently, without feeling judged. New laws are welcome to better prevent and protect, but they have to be sufficiently resourced, meaningful and easy to navigate in day to day life.
52 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/12/contents/enacted 53 http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/londoners-are-morally-ambiguous-about-forced-marriage-experts- warn-9063627.html
34 Chapter 6: Prostitution Law and Policy in the UK
Prostitution and the law currently in the UK
In the UK, selling or buying sex is not currently illegal. However many of the activities associated with it are, including loitering and soliciting for prostitution, causing or inciting prostitution for gain, keeping a brothel and placing an advert for prostitution within the vicinity of a public telephone box (also referred to as carding).
Whilst purchasing sex is not currently a criminal offence in the UK, some activities surrounding it are. Paying for sex in a public place or on the street, soliciting for the purposes of prostitution and kerb crawling, (that is, those who solicit for the purposes of obtaining sexual services and do so from, or in the vicinity of, a motor vehicle), are illegal. These are classed as summary offences, and conviction can result in a fine. These became offences much later than loitering or soliciting to sell sex and were introduced under the Sexual Offences Act 1985 in response to concerns around the need for legislation to address this aspect of prostitution. The Policing and Crime Act 2009 (S14) amended the Sexual Offences Act 2003 by adding Section 53A. This makes it a criminal offence to pay for the services of a person in prostitution who has been coerced.
The demand for sex has been highlighted as a nuisance to communities (Home Office, 2008, 2006) and a key motivating factor driving prostitution markets (ACPO, 2011). Addressing it is therefore seen as one way to disrupt sex markets (Home Office, 2006). Historically, however, there has been much less of an emphasis on targeting and arresting those buying sex (Matthews, 2005) and it is given little attention in the ACPO policing strategy (2011).
Policy context over recent years
Paying the Price (2004) was the first attempt by the UK government to scope the issues surrounding prostitution, whilst the subsequent A Coordinated Prostitution Strategy (2006) proposed the then- government’s strategy for addressing prostitution in England and Wales. The strategy challenged the assumption that prostitution is inevitable and aimed to disrupt sex markets and reduce on-street prostitution via a coordinated, partnership-based approach. Amongst other actions, a staged approach to policing on-street prostitution was proposed, to avoid further criminalisation of women, with the recognition that this approach is problematic (Home Office, 2006). Legislative amendments to the offences of loitering and soliciting were proposed, in order to provide more rehabilitative options through the criminal justice system. Such options included the introduction of ‘prostitute cautions’, conditional cautions and community orders, along with the continued use of interventions via the Drugs Intervention Programme (DIP).
The strategy was criticised for retaining criminal justice mechanisms and punitive measures (Phoenix, 2007; Clark, 2006) which meant that women would have to be arrested and charged before being diverted into support. Women who do not engage with these support services still face prosecution. The strategy has thus been criticised for being contradictory, oscillating between the desire to care via welfare-based interventions and punitively controlling prostitution (Phoenix, 2007).
Current UK policy and debates on prostitution
Prostitution policy in the UK is a highly polarised area of debate. Advocates on one side argue that prostitution is a form of work like any other and should be treated as a private, consenting choice and transaction between adults. Advocates on the other argue that prostitution is incompatible with
35 women’s dignity and equality, preys on vulnerable people (usually women and girls) and that the use of terms such as ‘choice’ and ‘consent’ in prostitution requires interrogation. Between these two poles there is, of course, a whole spectrum of views.
It is also the case that many of the terms used in debating policy on prostitution are not well understood. For example, decriminalisation to some advocates may mean the decriminalisation of the entirety of the prostitution/sex industry, including of mangers, promoters, pimps and buyers. For others, it means only part of the industry, such as the women involved in prostitution. Legalisation, for some, is used interchangeably with decriminalisation, whereas in fact legalisation is proactively setting up a regulatory regime to cover some or all aspects of prostitution and not merely a hands- off approach or decriminalisation of some or all of the industry. Similarly, not only is the term “sex worker” highly politicised, it is also used by some to cover managers and promoters of sex industry, telephone sex services, cleaners, maids and drivers, whereas others may mean only the women (or men) involved in prostitution. Debates may be misleading and at cross-purposes without clarification of terms.
The Coalition Government published A Review of Effective Practice in Responding to Prostitution (Home Office, 2011) which stated that it aimed to assist local authorities and partnerships in developing proactive and effective approaches. It recognised that law enforcement is important but also stressed the need to provide support to those involved in prostitution. It does not take any particular position on the issue.
This lack of a clear position, however, unfortunately means that there is no strategy, vision, direction or consistency to prostitution responses. This results in a serious lack of clarity and transparency for all concerned (APPG, 2014; Bindel et.al forthcoming; Eaves 2013). It constitutes a relative waste of what little resources are afforded to this contested area of work.
It occasions major fluctuations and contradictions in policy responses, not only between borough and county borders, but within them and between services. What this means is that in one borough, a local authority violence against women policy team (for instance) may be allocating resources to a campaign to challenge demand, decriminalise women and to support women into specialist exiting services. In neighbouring, or indeed in the very same borough, and even authority, at the same time, the police or the community safety team may be arresting women. This disperses and displaces them, alienates them from their support networks and services, drives them into alternative survival offending and entrenches them further in prostitution and the criminal justice system.
What is the Nordic Model and what is the rationale for such an approach?
The name “Nordic Model” derives from the fact that this approach was pioneered in Sweden (1999) in the context of the Anti-Violence Against Women Act and subsequently adopted by other Nordic states. A number of other countries are also considering whether this may be an appropriate response to the challenges posed. Some other countries which have taken a contrary approach, favouring some degree of regulation or legalisation, are currently reconsidering or backtracking on this approach. Amongst the reasons for this change of heart include the fact that authorities have noticed, that contrary to the aims of regulated prostitution models, there is little evidence that they reduce stigma against the women, reduce trafficking or increase women’s safety. On the contrary, authorities in such localities suggest that it provides a conducive context for a growth in trafficking and associated criminal activity and can lead to to a growth in sex tourist traffic which is generally considered undesirable.
36 The “Nordic model” stems from a human rights analysis of prostitution as incompatible with women’s dignity and equality, as outlined in Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Article 6 reads; “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.” Some experts also argue that prostitution should be viewed, in the light of UN CEDAW (arts 1, 2(f), and 5(a) and General recommendation 19 (1992)), as a “harmful cultural and traditional practice” (Winters B., et.al. 2002).
The “Nordic Model” recognises that entry into prostitution, experiences whilst in prostitution and barriers to exiting prostitution, often feature very high levels of abuse, coercion, poverty, homelessness, vulnerability, violence (including childhood violence) substance abuse and mental health issues. In one study (Bindel et. al. forthcoming), of 114 women in prostitution:
• 71 per cent of the sample described violence (sexual, physical and emotional) from buyers • 32 per cent of the sample had entered prostitution under the age of 18 • 86 per cent had current or former problematic alcohol or substance abuse issues • 72 per cent had experienced childhood violence • 50 per cent had experienced coercion • 77 per cent had experienced housing issues and homelessness during prostitution • 79 per cent had suffered serious physical or mental health issues • 49 per cent had criminal records specific to prostitution and 67 per cent other criminal records
As such, the Nordic model challenges the extent to which it is valid to portray prostitution as “a job like any other” or as a meaningful, free and informed choice. In contrast, it recognises that the buyers are making a choice to use their disposable income in this way and that the managers and pimps are financially profiting from this vulnerability.
The “Nordic Model” is, therefore, an approach which aims to provide women with viable alternatives to prostitution, so reducing the inequality between men and women and challenging the attitudes and behaviours that normalise prostitution through penalising the demand.
It comprises the following elements:
• Being predicated on the view that prostitution is a form of violence against women and of inequality, which must be addressed alongside, and not separately to, trafficking and coercion and that prostitution is harmful, not only to the individuals concerned, but also to wider society. • Laws and policies challenging and penalising the demand for prostitution. • Provision and support for women involved in prostitution, with a particular focus on specialist support for those women wishing to exit. Importantly, women involved in prostitution are not criminalised. • Police, jointly with Social Services, attending prostitution cases. It is the police’s responsibility to deal with the buyers, pimps and managers, while the social workers (usually female) work with the women, referring them into specialist support. • Specialist exiting support, which seeks to ensure that women are helped to develop viable, sustainable, alternative strategies to prostitution.
What are the concerns about this model?
There are some key points that should be borne in mind when considering changes to the law in this area and to the Nordic Model in particular, if it is to be able to stand up to valid concerns:
37
• Any changes to policy must be evidence-led and based on the most up-to-date data and best practice from around the world. • It is vital that any major changes in prostitution policy do not act to drive the practice further underground, leaving women potentially more unsafe. • Evaluation, tracking and monitoring must be in place, to identify what the results of the policy have been generally, and specifically, for the women concerned. In this way, any unintended or negative consequences can be identified and addressed and there will be evidence to inform policy. • Key to the Nordic Model is not only the penalisation of the buyers and the non- criminalisation of the women. It requires adequate resources and equality-based policies which can prevent women and girls entering prostitution and can enable specialist and holistic exiting support for women to have genuinely viable alternatives. • The Nordic Model is as much about challenging attitudes and changing behaviours as it is about achieving convictions. The adoption of the Nordic Model in Sweden has seen a drop in the levels of public acceptability of buying sexual services. An evaluation (Skarhed A. 2010, Ekberg G. 2013) of the effect of the law since 1999 found only 7.8 per cent of Swedish men had bought someone for prostitution purposes, compared to 13.6 per cent before the law came into force and that there was a decrease in women in prostitution in Sweden and a 71 per cent public approval rate for the law. However, Sweden's neighbouring countries have seen increases in women in prostitution and in men buying sexual services. This would suggest that any vision to build a society, in which all women are equally free from having to live by prostitution, should seek to work across borders.
Conclusion
In the UK, it has been estimated by the Home Office that 80,000 people, mainly women and girls, are involved in prostitution. Thousands of these women and girls live in sexual slavery. They get there by different routes – pimped by people they know, trafficked by organised gangs, many are extremely vulnerable having been abused in the past. There is also growing evidence that many of those in prostitution began to be involved in this work before they were 18.
The physical and psychological impact of those who are sexually exploited are severe. The Home Office’s own figures suggest over half of women involved in prostitution have been victims of rape or sexual assault.
Labour can’t just ignore this situation.
Whilst some argue that sex work can be a form of empowerment for women, a way to earn money in a world of low paid, temporary and insecure employment, the trouble is that, in too many cases the reality is that women are being caught in cycles of violence, coerced through trafficking, abusive relationships, addiction, and poverty. And many stay because they don't know where to get support or don't believe other work is available to them.
It’s time we looked more closely at the evidence from around the world, to see what can be done to help people escape from sexual exploitation on our streets and behind closed doors in many of our communities.
Emerging Recommendation: legislate for a broad review of the international evidence of the links between prostitution, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, looking specifically at what action can be taken to reduce demand for sexual services from those who are being exploited, stop people being trafficked into sexual slavery and reduce sexual exploitation.
38 Chapter 7: The need to tackle perpetrators
The most recent Crime Survey England and Wales (2014) states that an estimated 1.2 million women and 700,000 men experienced one or more incidents of abuse from a partner or other family member in the last year. The same survey estimated that lifetime partner abuse affected 4.3 million women and domestic violence is one of the most common reasons for local authority child protection investigations. The estimated cost of domestic violence to state was £3,856 million in 2008 for housing, criminal justice, health and social care costs.54
The argument in this chapter is these are the costs of domestic violence perpetration and that if we are to avoid these impacts and costs and are to better protect women and families in the future, more emphasis is needed on tackling the problem at source: changing and dealing with violent perpetrators.
Over many years, understandably, campaigning has focussed on raising awareness of violence against women and girls, to ensure that they were kept safe, that there were resources for them to tackle their situation, to get help and to restart their lives. That work needs to continue and increase in effectiveness, as this publication makes clear. However it is arguable that this focus has led to a situation where there has been insufficient concentration on the need to tackle the perpetration of domestic violence at source, beyond separating them from survivors and protecting their victims.
The depth of awareness and understanding of 'what works' to change perpetrators, so that they do not continue to victimise the same or other women once their behaviour is known, is less fully developed than other areas tackling violence against women and girls. It is imperative that there is a cultural shift towards seeing perpetrator responses as part of victim safety. We recommend that tackling perpetrator response becomes part and parcel of the strategic provision that government and every public authority will need to have, under the proposed Violence Against Women and Girls Bill which we advocate in this report. The choice shouldn’t be either protect victims or work with perpetrators - it should be clearly understood that it is essential to do both.
Currently, research and monitoring endeavours have not proved conclusively the effectiveness of perpetrator programmes. The lack of overall certifiable success may also have played a part in the relative under-development of the perpetrator sector. However, there are different forms of programme, ranging from the Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme (IDAP) and Building Better Relationships (BBR) programmes used by the probation service, to the diversity of work done by agencies such as Barnardo's with perpetrators and the experimental Cara project, a pre-perpetrator programme course of two days.
There are also different kinds of perpetrator. It is clear that, on occasion, court-based perpetrator programmes have been favoured by criminal justice agencies in some cases, even though the defendants were not suitable. Anecdotally, it has also been the case that sometimes, as a condition of avoiding court, men have been offered programmes for which they were either not ready or too entrenched in their conduct to be reached. Nonetheless, unless behaviour change programmes form, not only a central part of sanction under the criminal law, but also have a role in civil and family proceedings and through other routes of referral, we will always be focussing on the effects of violent perpetration and not tackling the cause.
54 Walby, 2009
39 Respect, who not only accredit and train deliverers of adult perpetrator programmes, but also operate a perpetrator helpline, have told us that an appropriate perpetrator, who participates in an effective, well run domestic violence intervention programme is violence free four years after the programme in over 80 per cent of cases.55 They help focus attention on the perpetrator and offer potential for ending violence, reducing harm and risk and typically involve staff in working, separately, with both perpetrators and victims.
A Respect accredited programme typically involves:
1. Assessments of risk, safety, vulnerability and programme suitability; 2. Proactive contact, support, advocacy and safety planning with (ex) partners of perpetrators, often those who are unwilling or unable to engage with other protection or support services; 3. Individual and group work with perpetrators of domestic violence; 4. Joint risk and case management between perpetrator and victim workers; 5. Contribution to inter-agency risk management and safety planning to protect victims and/or children; 6. Co-location with children’s social workers to assist with risk assessment, case management, engagement with parents, assessing parenting capacity etc. 7. Specialist reports of current and potential risk from individual clients referred to the programme by family courts, children’s services and safeguarding, MARAC or others; 8. Assessments of risk of harm to children on contact visits, to inform court decisions; 9. Improving skills, confidence and knowledge of other frontline agencies.
Respect is aware of a known demand for over 40,000 Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programme (DVPP) places for non-convicted domestic violence abusers in England - from referrals to Respect from children’s services, police, Relate, and the Respect Phoneline (figures presented by Respect to Home Office roundtable, November 2012). The same research found existing capacity was around 3,500 places per year in England, a significant theoretical shortfall of around 36,500 places in order to meet current demand from referring agencies.
The cost of such an amount of provision, at approximately £12-1500 per person per course, seems prohibitive. However, it is worth noting that research on the Hull Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programme 56 showed that for every individual man who received the intervention, the estimated saving to the public purse was £63,937.
Overall, this means that for every £1 invested in a DVPP the return is: • £2.24 in reduced criminality (excluding set-up costs) • £2.57 in net savings to the Health Service • £10 in savings to all public agencies • £14 in total savings when Human & Emotional costs are included (including all set-up costs57). Given the average cost of taking one child into care is £130,000 per year, if a DVPP averts just one care proceedings, it will have recovered its entire annual staffing costs.
55 Gondolf, 2002 56 Perfect Moment, 2010 57 Ibid.
40 However, perpetrators are not all amenable to specialist programmes. There are perpetrators who are deeply engaged in criminality and whose attitude to their partner reflects their approach to society at large. There are many other categories, including those with personality problems or serious alcohol or drug addiction. Police forces need to identify the men who cause the highest risk of repeat abuse and target them with a deterrent approach. There is a case for specific provision, similar to Integrated Offender Management (IOM) - incorporating officers and probation staff or other support workers who understand the dynamics of domestic violence and can deal with offenders in the community - both to limit their freedom to perpetrate abuse and to deal with any specific needs which may change them.
Perhaps the obvious local anchor for such an intervention strategy is the MARAC, the multi-agency risk assessment conference, to which all high-risk victims of domestic abuse are referred. Their partner agencies share information and work jointly to discuss and plan the support and protection that each can deliver to meet the safeguarding needs of the victim and her family. In Scotland, there is a model of similar multi-agency working to contain high risk perpetrators of domestic abuse.
However there are resource issues, even now, in populating MARACs with the agencies which are needed. The meetings can be long and can require a list of actions for each victim, often from a number of agencies and the introduction of a separate conference for perpetrators is not practical and in any case may be unnecessary. Instead work could be done to assess which high risk victims already in the MARAC are also the victims of high risk perpetrators, whose conduct could be managed and controlled. Pilot working is already in place, in Northumbria (and perhaps elsewhere) to identify locally the numbers of such MARAC cases, supplemented by officers working to the specialised IOM model outlined above, so that resources can be jointly planned to deal with the needs of both parties.
Emerging recommendations: Utilise MARACs to identify high-risk perpetrators, in order to direct them towards the Integrated Offender Management model of support
In contrast to the emerging thinking in the violence against women sector as to the urgency and importance of tackling perpetrator behaviour, the Coalition Government has taken no action on improved safety processes, such as those outlined above, and has instead presided over reduced DVPP course provision.
As is characteristic of current commissioning processes, some accredited providers of DVPPs have been excluded completely and programmes have been re-contracted to lower bidding private contractors, with no skill or experience of running safe and effective interventions or worse still, with a track record of poor performance. Some commissioners and policy makers continue to insist that “perpetrator programmes do not work,” ignoring the evidence that does exist to show that they can reduce domestic violence significantly.
There are dangers too from a shift in public policy towards so-called community resolutions, such as Restorative Justice, without proper and adequate consideration of how to risk assess and manage these interventions safely and without any evidence that they contribute to reductions in domestic or sexual violence.
It is imperative that whilst continuing to prioritise prevention, protection and prosecution with the safety of domestic violence victims at the forefront, attention is now focussed on tackling perpetrator conduct, not only through properly accredited programmes, but also through police work and the extension of MARAC process to tackle this behaviour at source, making a significant move towards effective deterrence and control.
41
Emerging recommendations: Reject the restorative justice model as a method of dealing with perpetrators in domestic and sexual violence cases
42 Chapter 8: A Labour Future for Women’s Safety: Legislative Consultation
The Violence Against Women and Girls Bill and Our National Integrated Strategy on VAWG
Provision for prevention, protection and support services for violence against women and girls is, with some exceptions, not statutory, so that availability and provision vary from place to place across the regions and nations of the UK, in accord with political commitment to this agenda and limited by local funding constraints.
As a country, we recognise violence against women and girls (VAWG) and the wide-ranging damage it imposes on the wellbeing of our society. We read daily of harm done in particular to women and children, but also to families of all kinds. There is also the huge cost to our economy.
• The Royal College of Midwives estimate that 6-17 per cent of women are subject to domestic violence during pregnancy • The cost of treating the physical health consequences of domestic violence, which include hospital treatment, GP workload, ambulance services and prescriptions, was estimated to be just over £1.2 billion, or 3 per cent of total NHS budget (Walby 2004) • The Centre of Maternal and Child Enquiries (MACE) reported in its 2006- 2008 report on maternal deaths during or immediately after pregnancy that 13 per cent of the 261 deaths investigated in that period were attributable to domestic violence
Domestic abuse is an issue that costs the UK economy £1.9 billion in lost economic output every year and leads to decreased productivity, increased absenteeism and increased employee turnover.
Further, it not only impacts on the well-being of women, but it effects the financial strength and success of the companies for which they work. 75 per cent of those experiencing domestic abuse are targeted at work and it is often possible for perpetrators to use workplace resources, such as phones, email and other means to threaten, harass or abuse their current or former partner (CAADA 2012).
Successive governments have signed up to a range of international conventions and treaties, from CEDAW to the Istanbul Convention, all pledging to tackle it, in its many diverse forms. Many authorities fully support that purpose of tackling it now and of stamping it out for future generations.
However, VAWG has for so long been a category of private crime, hidden from public view and under-reported that it is not universally understood and the critical need for specific, expert and consistent services can be overlooked or undervalued.
The last Labour Government, when Jacqui Smith was Home Secretary, consulted and developed the first ever national government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
The Coalition Government has since kept to the idea of having such a strategy, although we would argue that it is deficient in scope and detail and has not been properly implemented. Indeed, in places , it has been compromised through a lack of funding and the adverse impact of other Coalition policies damaging to women. It is clear from the content of this report, as it was from the interim report of the Women's Safety Commission, published on International Women's Day 2012 that, at this time of harsh public spending cuts, these services are suffering disproportionately and women are in danger of being allowed to suffer more harm, instead of being protected and supported.
43
All of these factors together point to an urgent need to recognise VAWG services as an integral part of our modern welfare state. It is not acceptable in the 21st century for there to be different levels of services available in different places and for different communities. Nor should it be the case that a lack of political will or a weak understanding of the issues, means that there is a postcode lottery of services, when what is at stake is personal safety and sometimes the very lives of women up and down the country. The provision of minimum standards of service must be an obligation for all the relevant public authorities, across our nation. It is essential that we legislate to make clear that VAWG services are a bedrock of our welfare state. The Women’s Safety commission believes it is equally important that a new Labour government leads the way with strong action to demonstrate its own commitment to protect, intervene and support current victims to safeguard the next generation from the endemic suffering and harm that has been inflicted on this one and, ultimately, to drive VAWG out of our modern world.
This is why we are pleased Labour has pledged to introduce a new Violence Against Women and Girls Bill in the first session of Parliament after the General Election and we believe this should include provisions that ensure VAWG services are a statutory obligation on all relevant public authorities.
Emerging recommendation: The Violence against Women and Girls Bill should firstly, impose a statutory obligation on every Government, itself, to develop and implement an national integrated VAWG strategy within its first year of office and thereafter to review and update it annually. An integrated strategy about violence against women and girls is one which is comprehensive, cross- departmental and carries with it an express statutory duty of implementation.
Labour should take up this challenge in 2015 and has committed to appointing a Minister for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, following the recent appointment of the first ever Shadow Minister for VAWG. We believe that Minister should have direct responsibility for making arrangements to consult stakeholders and thereafter developing the strategy and managing its implementation, driving the VAWG agenda throughout Government.
Secondly, we believe the legislation should require responsible authorities at local level to combine to consult, develop and implement an integrated VAWG strategy for each sub/regional area. Provisional views as to the authorities who should take leadership responsibility, and for which geographical areas, are referred to in Appendix A. However, in general, top tier local authorities, acting through their existing responsibility to co-ordinate and lead local Community Safety Partnerships, should act together on a regional/sub-regional basis to be the key public bodies engaging in the development and implementation of local VAWG strategies, in consultation with local VAWG specialists. We also propose that the VAWG Bill should to widen the membership of Community Safety Partnerships, to include a wider range of health sector bodies, in recognition of the significant role that VAWG plays in undermining the well-being of its victims and the integral role the health sector has in addressing this.
The appendix below contains a working list of the other provisions that we believe should be considered for inclusion in the VAWG Bill, to strengthen the delivery of this agenda. The Women’s Safety Commission we will consult throughout the autumn of 2014 on these proposals.
In the same legislation, Labour has announced it intends to create the new non-Government role of a National Commissioner to tackle domestic and sexual violence. We believe this should be an independent statutory body, given the responsibility to advise the Government, and in particular the VAWG Minister, as s/he develops an integrated strategy. Further, the Commissioner should assume
44 a leadership role in the development of the sub/regional VAWG strategies by the responsible public authorities, so that best practice and consistent service levels are assured across the regions and nations. Thereafter, the Commissioner should be required by statute to ensure the implementation of the new law and the strategies developed under it.
The Commissioner should promote the interests of victims and survivors; have the capacity to commission research and assure best practice; and should have power to inspect and to serve compliance notices on any authorities in default of their statutory obligations under the Act, or of the terms in National or Local Strategies. The Commissioner should be supported by a Board of Advisers, which should include statutory authorities, such as the police, courts and local government, with practitioners and experts on VAWG, together with survivors, VAWG charities and support groups.
The Commissioner's core role should be to ensure the full implementation of the strategy across society. S/he will establish and drive systematically a graded series of outcomes; have associated oversight, scrutiny and inspection powers over all public and quasi-public bodies; and should assure accreditation of third sector organisations involved directly or indirectly in the sector. The intention should also be to engage and to support larger private companies and other private bodies to take on and implement VAWG strategies of their own and to work with the grain of the Government's integrated national strategy. The tactical aims should be to engender culture change, to join up good quality service provision, to promote prevention and to ensure strong links to justice.
A description of our ideas on the Commissioner's role, alongside our more detailed proposals on what should be included in a Violence Against Women and Girls Bill, are set out in the Appendix A. Over the next few months we will consult further to refine them and are seeking responses, comments and suggestions on all of these areas and on any other closely related policy areas.
45 Appendix A: Consultation on draft legislation:
The Violence against Women and Girls Bill 2015 should:
• declare the purpose of the Bill to prevent VAWG, to work to change culture in order to end VAWG and further to ensure measures for keeping safe, protecting, empowering and aiding the recovery of victims of VAWG
• impose a statutory obligation on Government to prepare, publish, release for consultation and implement an integrated strategy to pursue those purposes; and on local authorities, health organisations, responsible authorities and local policing bodies, working together as a forum of Community Safety Partnerships, to produce local strategies to the same ends - in the latter case to include minimum standards of service provision and delivery to be fixed, for each area, after consultation carried out by the CSP and confirmed by the VAWG Commissioner – and to require training on VAWG issues at national and local level, firstly for the public authorities, and thereafter becoming one of their strategic obligations
• reconstitute Community Safety Partnerships so as to include active membership of all health sector bodies and require them to work in sub-regional forums to develop and implement the above integrated strategies
• appoint a new Commissioner to tackle domestic and sexual violence and set out functions, powers and duties (see next section for more detail on the Women’s Safety Commission’s proposals for the Commissioner0
• redefine domestic abuse in a way that acknowledges:
a. that coercive control is a key underpinning of partner violence in particular, and needs to be recognised and understood by the public and by all public authorities
b. that culturally sensitive areas of domestic abuse need special provision
• define an offence of inflicting domestic abuse either by a course of coercive and controlling conduct or by a single act/s of violence or oppression, so as to capture the core nature of domestic abuse and bring it within the criminal law
• make sex and relationships education a compulsory part of the syllabus in all state-funded primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities
• impose obligations on universities to collect annual crime statistics including of sexual assaults and to publish their educational programmes to raise awareness of the issues in the strategy
• develop a new kitemark scheme to encourage responsible employers to draft and implement VAWG strategies of their own (Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner has produced a draft strategy for employers here: https://www.northumbria- pcc.gov.uk/police-crime-plan/vawg/)
• prescribe a duty to inform police or another specified authority where an individual has become aware of evidence or is otherwise aware that child sexual exploitation may be occurring and to prescribe a defence of delay/ non reporting in the best interests of the putative victims
46 • provide for evidence to be received in court from complainants of VAWG from remote testimony centres to be provided by the forum of CSPs in each area
• provide for a review of the international evidence of the links between prostitution, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, looking specifically at what action can be taken to reduce demand for sexual services
• make breach of a Domestic Violence Protection Notice or Order into a criminal offence and make provision to require courts to send notice of the granting of a DVPO to the defendant forthwith
• forbid the use of out of court disposals and Restorative justice for VAWG cases without special reasons
• require Special Domestic Violence Courts to be the preferred court to hear all cases about violence against women
• extend the evidence criteria for legal aid to include information from Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, women’s support organisations and police call-out records in response to domestic violence incidents
• eliminate charging for evidence which is used as proof of a victim’s abuse in legal aid cases for domestic violence
• establish a new national refuge fund
Proposed powers and Duties of the Violence against Women and Girls Commissioner:
• Support the Government and local public bodies developing National and Local Violence Against Women and Girls Strategies, in consultation with VAWG specialists and victims organisations, to include a clear set of phased outcomes
• Ensure that Government and all public authorities are/become compliant with international standards on VAWG, including UN Conventions and treaties, Istanbul Convention, CEDAW, European Union Treaties and Directives, the EU victims directive, the Equality Act 2010, Human Rights Act 1998 and the Violence Against Women and Girls Act 2015
• To develop minimum standards of service provision at all levels of public service, with targets to avoid inequality through localism
• To require data collection and measurement - compatible with international comparability, working with the Office of National Statistics to develop a framework for annual statistics on prevalence and impact, and on sentencing and other outcomes
• To ensure fair commissioning standards for the supply of VAWG services on the basis of need and in compliance with equality legislation
• To ensure equality amongst different women communities; lesbian, BAME, refugees and asylum seekers, disabled women, women with learning disabilities and mental health problems, women who are geographically remote, women of different ages and trans women, by ensuring appropriate levels of service according to need
• To ensure that key work areas such as Female Genital Mutilation, Forced Marriage, human trafficking, stalking, harassment and prostitution are given appropriate prominence
47 • To ensure the provision of services for men victim/survivors of domestic and sexual abuse according to need
• To act as a scrutiny body with the power to take/require evidence from ministers, public bodies and other witnesses, hold inquiries and thematic reviews and make policy recommendations
• To establish accreditation criteria for training and service delivery
• To engage with experts in the VAWG sector to promulgate best practice
• To investigate complaints from survivors as to how state agencies have dealt with their case
• To initiate work on future prevention, education, public information and campaigns
• To promulgate lessons from Domestic Homicide Reviews
• To have power to serve compliance notices on public bodies and impose penalties on agencies who fail thereafter to comply with national and local strategies.
• To Liaise with inspectorates of Police and CPS, probation, Prisons, OFSTED, and others to ensure that compliance with VAWG strategies is included in inspection criteria
• To oversee the provision of safe reporting centres to encourage reporting and facilitate interventions
• To work with the Children's Commissioner and Victims' Commissioner where appropriate
48 APPENDIX B: The North East Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy Introduction
As the 3 Labour Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) for Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland, our vision is of a strong and confident north east region in which all our citizens are safe and feel safe.
We are strongly committed to equality and human rights and we came together to develop this strategy because we are clear that Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is a serious breach of human rights and both a continuing cause of women’s inequality with men and a historic consequence of that inequality. Nor can our vision be realised if half of our population is at risk.
We know from our day to day work that VAWG is an issue of great concern to the people of this region too. The figures just for domestic violence alone show that between 2012 and 2013, 25,656 female victims of violence complained to police. This is undoubtedly the tip of the iceberg since most people do not report. We recognise that it's even harder for people subject to cultural pressure to seek help and think it likely that proportionately even fewer people come forward about, for instance, so-called honour crimes.
Our VAWG strategy is set out in full at https://www.northumbria-pcc.gov.uk/police-crime- plan/vawg/
It sets out 20 priorities which cover:
• Domestic and sexual violence and abuse
• Human trafficking and sex work
• Forced marriage and so-called honour crimes
• Female genital mutilation
• Harassment and stalking
These show in black and white exactly what we will be doing, in real, measurable actions, not a vague wish list and many of our priorities are already underway.
The overall aim is to make help available so that whenever or wherever a victim-survivor feels able to seek help, there is someone in her immediate surroundings who has the training needed to cope calmly with any disclosure and to engage her with support services and a route to safety.
We also want to encourage services to work more closely so that a victim-survivor will not be referred on from agency to agency for each separate need, but, having approached one organisation, will get access to all the sources of help.
Examples of progress to date
1. In Northumbria, we have drawn up an employers' strategy – ‘Domestic and Sexual Abuse and the Workplace’ . We are asking public and private sector employers to adopt this and to be willing to give confidential support at work to anyone who is suffering from abuse at home. Over 120 organisations have been engaged in this process so far and to make sure that the strategy is a living document, we encourage them to have individuals as workplace Domestic and Sexual Violence
49 Champions, who are trained to take a disclosure calmly and engage the victim-survivor with the help they need.
To date, 165 champions have been trained and there are champions networks now in place, supported by our great local authorities, so that the champions in turn get the support and training they need. We aim also to have champions in libraries, swimming pools, members clubs and groups of all kinds, to play the same role of being available to lead people towards help and guidance, and to help to raise awareness, in the organisation.
A partnership between the Northern TUC, 12 Regional Local Authorities and the NHS has led to the inclusion of what was originally just a Northumbria Workplace Policy as a key criteria in the whole North East Better Health at Work Awards from 2015 onwards.
2. We have secured £262,488 funding to further develop an innovative pilot to send out a refuge outreach or other DVSA worker to accompany police officers called to domestic 999 calls.The service focuses on peak demand times within Newcastle and Sunderland. The early pilot results from work done, in Washington New Town, with Wearside Women In Need (WWiN) are extremely positive:
• Prior to the pilot, police attending such calls would leave the phone no of WWIN’s domestic violence helpline for the victim but only 1 per cent of those victims went on to make contact. During the pilot, 55 per cent of victims visited by police and worker together,made contact with WWIN's service.
• Apart from one individual, WWIN had no previous contact with any of the victims, meaning that a group of victims of domestic violence, have got new personal contact with a specialist support service, which they are unlikely to have made without the pilot.
Actions resulting from this contact with WWIN included women:
• having security measures installed in their homes
• having a MARAC referral where appropriate
• attending groupwork, one to one appointments or telephone support
• a safeguarding referral being made for a man
• victims planning for WWIN staff accompanying them to court
Added value comes from ‘on the job’ training provided to police officers, as time spent in the car together can be used to share learning. Police say that they feel more confident in both risk assessments and action planning thanks to the input of experienced DVSA workers.
Other proposals to strengthen the programme include placing DVSA workers in A & E as another potential place for new contact to be made with victim-survivors
3. We held targeted campaigns to raise awareness of the introduction of Claire’s Law, of Domestic Violence Protection Notices/Orders and of the criminalising of forced marriage and at Christmas we will focus on children in domestic violence and on warning men that women who are drunk may be incapable of consenting so that sex with such a person may be rape. To ensure that we never fail to have the interests of the BME community in mind, we have taken as a secondee, a survivor of abuse from the Asian womens-led Angelou Centre in Newcastle
50 4. A protocol has been signed by the 3 Chief Constables and the Chief Crown Prosecutor to increase the number of 'victimless' prosecutions using police body-cam evidence.
5. We have recruited and trained a volunteer Rape Scrutiny Panel to provide independent oversight of police files in failed rape cases, to identify lessons to be learned and any cultural issues so that we develop best practice, improve victim satisfaction and, ultimately increase conviction rates.
6. By December, we will also have a volunteer Panel of Court Observers who will attend every rape trial at Newcastle Crown Court for the following months and observe, according to a matrix of questions, how the agencies, including the judiciary tackle these cases. All the agencies have indicated their engagement and we will seek to highlight any need for improvement wherever it may appear in order enhance outcomes and to build confidence in reporting. We are delighted with the extremely high calibre and diverse experience of the volunteers for these two roles
7. In the absence of compulsory SRE, we are working where we can with schools to deliver educational packages, including a DVD, produced by Farringdon School, called 'I have the right' addressing partner abuse amongst young people. We funded a competition for university students to produce a DVD on alcohol and consent in sexual relations and we are working with the Sage concert hall in Gateshead to use its musical outreach work to deliver messages about relationships in a way that can be taken on by primary school children. Meetings with head teachers in the area have been arranged to encourage take up of these packages.
8. We successfully bid to the Home Office innovation fund for a Respect-accredited Domestic Violence Perpetrator programmes which will be delivered in partnership with a counselling service, a local housing provider and the Council. Risk assessment will be used to identify serial perpetrators, specifically suitable for inclusion and the work will be boosted by the use of GPS based electronic monitoring in the community either on a voluntary or statutory basis.
9. There have been high-level conferences in the region on modern slavery, FGM and forced marriage and one is planned on stalking. Police have been trained throughout the region on these issues and we operate a police helpline to better understand the extent of trafficking for sexual exploitation and to encourage reporting.
10. In Northumbria we will shortly commence new training on understanding coercive control and the dynamics of DVSA which the Chief Constable and Chief Officer Team intend to attend to ensure that it is prioritised and to demonstrate leadership
Monitoring the Strategy
We will regularly monitor the strategy and our delivery plans to help us assess how we are progressing and to identify any new/emerging issues that we must address in any future review of the strategy.
We also integrate scrutiny mechanisms into the various strands of work so that we can learn as we go, improving implementation on an ongoing basis.
51