Baroness Gale – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gale on 2014-06-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with police forces in England and Wales and with the Football Association of England in order to counter any rise in domestic violence while England are playing in the World Cup 2014; and what steps they are taking to ensure that police forces and supporting agencies are fully resourced to deal with the matter.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and the Coalition Government is committed to ending it whenever it occurs.

Together with the police, we are supporting the Football United Against Domestic Abuse campaign by Women’s Aid, the launch of which was attended by the Crime Prevention Minister and supported by the Home Secretary. This campaign is working with the football community to unite players, clubs and fans at all levels against behaviour and attitudes that underpin domestic abuse.

The Crime Prevention Minister intends to meet with footballing interests in the near future to build on this campaign.

As part of its commitment to tackle domestic abuse, the Government is re-running a campaign to highlight the devastating consequences of domestic abuse for perpetrators of domestic abuse. The campaign was launched on 9 June and activity will run throughout the World Cup until 14 July 2014. Through posters and digital adverts, this campaign will target potential perpetrators and remind them of the terrible impact of violence on relationships.

Additional support to victims of domestic abuse is available through specialist local domestic abuse services and the national domestic violence helplines. The CoalitionGovernment has ring-fenced nearly £28 million of funding up to 2015 to support these services, which includes part-funding 144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference co-ordinator posts.