Tag: Robert Buckland

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there are any plans to create a legal framework which criminalises patterns of coercive control.

Norman Baker

Domestic abuse is a crime and we already have a framework which covers coercive
control.

There is a range of existing offences for which a perpetrator of domestic violence can be prosecuted, including common assault.
Coercive control can amount to common assault where the perpetrator, via their
words or actions, intentionally or recklessly causes another to fear unlawful
or immediate violence. In sentencing, the courts can also take into account as
aggravating factors a range of features which are common in domestic violence
cases, such as the vulnerability of the victim, the repeated nature of the
assaults and abuse of power by the perpetrator.

Last September, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
Constabulary to conduct a review of the response to domestic abuse
across all police forces. The Inspectorate published its findings in March
2014. It emphasises that the key priority is a culture change in the police so that
domestic violence and abuse is treated as the crime that it is and the police
use the full range of tools already available to them.

The Home Secretary will chair a national oversight group to oversee delivery
against each of HMIC’s recommendations on which I will also sit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to provide for first party and third party personal injury insurance fraud to be treated the same way by the courts.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Government is committed to reducing the number of fraudulent personal injury claims. To this end, we are considering what specific reforms might be appropriate.

As announced last year, we are working with stakeholders in the industry to tighten the medical evidence process so that only evidence from accredited experts can be considered, and the costs for those reports can be fixed. This will mean people can no longer profit from exaggerated or fraudulent compensation claims but victims with genuine cases can still get the help they deserve. We are introducing these reforms later in the year. We are also working to secure better data on motor accident cases, including the number of fraudulent cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Attorney General, how many cases of domestic violence have led to prosecutions for psychological abuse in each of the last five years.

Oliver Heald

The CPS flags all cases identified as domestic violence according to the revised Government definition implemented in March 2013. This includes the elements of coercive control, and behaviours which do not display visible injuries such as psychological abuse which were introduced in the revised definition. However the records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cannot separately identify the number of people prosecuted for each of these elements. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Attorney General, how many domestic violence cases have led to prosecutions for non-injurious behaviours.

Oliver Heald

The CPS flags all cases identified as domestic violence according to the revised Government definition implemented in March 2013. This includes the elements of coercive control, and behaviours which do not display visible injuries such as psychological abuse which were introduced in the revised definition. However the records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cannot separately identify the number of people prosecuted for each of these elements. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Attorney General, whether any domestic violence cases have led to prosecutions for coercive control since the inclusion of coercive control in the Government’s definition of domestic violence in March 2013.

Oliver Heald

The CPS flags all cases identified as domestic violence according to the revised Government definition implemented in March 2013. This includes the elements of coercive control, and behaviours which do not display visible injuries such as psychological abuse which were introduced in the revised definition. However the records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cannot separately identify the number of people prosecuted for each of these elements. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.