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Vol. 765 Thursday No. 63 5 November 2015 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDER OF BUSINESS Introductions: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem and Lord Foster of Bath .................1757 Questions Women: Refuges ..........................................................................................................1757 Islam.............................................................................................................................1759 Royal Navy ..................................................................................................................1762 Living Wage.................................................................................................................1764 Business of the House Motion on Standing Orders.........................................................................................1766 Pornography Motion to Take Note ..................................................................................................1767 Aviation Security Statement......................................................................................................................1801 Olympics 2012: Regeneration Legacy Motion to Take Note ..................................................................................................1811 Grand Committee Education and Adoption Bill Committee (1st Day) ............................................................................................GC 381 £4·00 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. 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The first time a Member speaks to a new piece of parliamentary business, the following abbreviations are used to show their party affiliation: Abbreviation Party/Group CB Cross Bench Con Conservative DUP Democratic Unionist Party GP Green Party Ind Lab Independent Labour Ind LD Independent Liberal Democrat Ind SD Independent Social Democrat Ind UU Independent Ulster Unionist Lab Labour LD Liberal Democrat LD Ind Liberal Democrat Independent Non-afl Non-affiliated PC Plaid Cymru UKIP UK Independence Party UUP Ulster Unionist Party No party affiliation is given for Members serving the House in a formal capacity, the Lords spiritual, Members on leave of absence or Members who are otherwise disqualified from sitting in the House. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2015, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1757 Introductions[5 NOVEMBER 2015] Women: Refuges 1758 Baroness Williams of Trafford: The noble Baroness House of Lords makes a very powerful point. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that no woman will be turned away from the Thursday, 5 November 2015. help she needs. Clearly, I cannot pre-empt the spending review, but we have provided additional funding. We 11 am committed in our manifesto to securing future funding Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Sheffield. for refuges, but we have also provided funding to UK refuges online—UKROL—so that victims calling the Introduction: Lord Campbell of national domestic violence helpline looking for refuge Pittenweem can get additional help to find the support they need. 11.08 am Baroness Hamwee (LD): My Lords, on the subject of the comprehensive spending review, have the Government The right honourable Sir Walter Menzies Campbell, undertaken any cost-benefit analysis, either formal or Knight, CH, CBE, QC, having been created Baron informal, of the benefits of providing good—or at any Campbell of Pittenweem, of Pittenweem in the County rate adequate—refuge provision, taking into account of Fife, was introduced and made the solemn affirmation, both local authority and central government spending? supported by Lord Steel of Aikwood and Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope, and signed an undertaking to abide by the Baroness Williams of Trafford: The cost of domestic Code of Conduct. violence, both to the individual and to society, is immense. The estimated cost of domestic violence to Introduction: Lord Foster of Bath employers is some £3.1 billion. The total cost is an estimated £23 billion when all the various factors are 11.14 am taken into account, including the human and emotional The right honourable Donald Michael Ellison Foster, suffering and the subsequent suffering of children. So having been created Baron Foster of Bath, of Bath in the costs are immense, and the benefits of addressing the County of Somerset, was introduced and took the this issue are obviously incalculable. oath, supported by Baroness Barker and Lord Strasburger, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws (Lab): I welcome the and signed an undertaking to abide by the Code of fact that the Minister takes this issue so seriously and Conduct. that there will be some additional funding; let us hope it will be even more than the Minister indicated. I declare Women: Refuges that I am a trustee of Refuge, the oldest of the movements Question providing assistance to victims of domestic violence. The costs, as she has described, are huge, yet over the 11.19 am last few years we have seen a reduction in additional Asked by Baroness King of Bow services of up to 80% for some of the organisations To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they that are providing support. Refuge sees 3,300 women have plans to secure sustainable and long-term funding and children coming through its doors every day. So for women’s refuges in England when the emergency the problem is enormous and the sums involved are funding for refuge services ends on 31 March. very small. Can more money be made available for all the other services that are needed, such as the trauma The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department and legal services, as well as accommodation? Most of for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Williams the organisations are providing that full gamut, and of Trafford) (Con): My Lords, the Government recognise the money available is simply not enough. how vital refuges are. That is why in the summer Budget we announced a further £3.2 million of funding Baroness Williams of Trafford: The noble Baroness for refuges, in addition to the £10 million announced makes a very valid point; it is not just about refuges in 2014. We are committed to secure funding for refuge but everything else that the woman fleeing domestic provision, as set out in our manifesto. We are determined violence needs. In fact, we made it clear that the to ensure that no victim is turned away from the £10 million fund is for additional support services that support that they need. Future funding arrangements such women need. Independent domestic violence are a matter for the spending review. advocates have proved incredibly helpful and effective, as have the MARAC teams, and there are other forms Baroness King of Bow (Lab): My Lords, we all know of provision, such as the additional support services. that every week, on average, two women are murdered The Department for Education has provided £138,000 in this country by their partner or ex-partner. That is to the Behind Closed Doors programme, which supports one of the reasons why the Government’s £2.1 million children affected by domestic violence. We must not crisis funding was so warmly welcomed. Women’s Aid forget all the work that is also going on in the troubled has taken 40 years to build up a network of refuges that families programme, which has unearthed domestic save lives every day, yet they and other refuges—those violence in its work with families. That has been a that have not yet closed—have to turn away hundreds great success story. of women and children. Therefore, will the Minister assure us that in the forthcoming government spending Baroness Manzoor (LD): My Lords, if a woman review a long-term funding solution for refuges will be who is fleeing domestic violence has more than two found? Does she agree that we need ring-fenced funding children, her child tax credit element will be cut. As I as well to help women and prevent murder? said yesterday, I would really appreciate the Government 1759 Women: Refuges[LORDS] Islam 1760 [BARONESS MANZOOR] open debate as to its accuracy? Secondly, given the looking into this issue. There are also other real and seriousness of our domestic situation, could not the serious issues, such as the complexity of mental health Government themselves sponsor a council of our Muslim services. Are the