Response to the report from HMIC, ‘Everyone’s Business: Improving the police response to domestic abuse’- Yvette Cooper

• Evidence published by the Labour Party earlier this month showed that the criminal justice system has got significantly worse at dealing with domestic abuse since 2010.
• Despite reports of domestic violence going up, the number of cases being passed for prosecution has fallen by 13%. Only 6% of cases result in conviction.
• Today’s report from HMIC is welcome, but as a response from Government to the problem of domestic violence it simply isn’t enough. Whilst there are clearly serious issues with the police’s response to incidents of domestic abuse, the police cannot be held solely responsible for the overall decline in performance across the criminal justice system.
• It is the Government’s responsibility to ensure justice is delivered for victims of domestic abuse. The Home Secretary needs to accept her role in overseeing a criminal justice system that is failing to do this in too many cases. She must now explain why the service offered to victims has got worse since 2010 and what she is going to do put it right.

Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary said:

“Labour has been warning the Home Secretary for the last three years that action against domestic abuse has deteriorated.
 
“This report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate is important, but as a response from Government to the problem of domestic violence it simply isn’t enough.

“Victims of domestic violence are being badly let down, and too many abusers are getting away with horrible crimes. We and others have warned for some time that much more action is needed and this report is stark evidence of where the police are getting it wrong.

“But the report doesn’t tell us why things have got worse over the last four years with the police referring 13% fewer cases to prosecution even though reports of domestic abuse have risen by 11%. Nor does it look at why only 6% of domestic abuse reaches a conviction. Or why refuge and support services are being cut. Or why children don’t get the support they need.

“We need answers from the Home Secretary about why things are getting so much worse and what she will do to improve action by the police, prosecution and support services too.

“The problem is so serious that HMIC recommendations, however welcome, are just not enough - we need action from Ministers.

“This is a national scandal and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate are right to call for better planning and leadership from the police. But we also need reforms from the Government. The Home Secretary never talks about domestic violence - she needs to show some leadership with new national standards not just for the police, but across the board.
 
“They should start with national standards in the way domestic violence and rape are pursued, a new commissioner – modelled on the children’s commissioner – covering violence against women and domestic abuse, with the power to ensure standards are raised, and Government performance tables for the criminal justice system - so that local communities, police forces and prosecutors can see which areas are doing better than they are and how they should improve.
 
“Domestic abuse for too long was treated as a hidden crime behind the net curtains. Real progress was made in the last 10 years, but since 2010 that progress has been rolled back.”

Ends 

Editors’ notes

• On 11th March, Labour published comparable performance statistics for Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence to raise standards across England and Wales in policing and the criminal justice system
• Domestic Abuse is not a fringe issue – 20% of all violent crime is domestic abuse, and one in ten of all crime is a domestic abuse incident.
• This was a breakthrough in transparency and accountability aimed at driving performance and focusing attention on what is a national scandal.
• For domestic violence, though police recorded crimes are increasing, 13% fewer cases are being passed to the CPS for prosecution and there are fewer convictions.
• There were 838,000 reports of domestic abuse in 2012/13 – only 6% resulted in a conviction.
• The latest ONS data shows that in domestic abuses cases where no action was taken, the police/CPS deciding not to take action is nearly as common as the victim choosing not to. “For the cases that did not go to court, 37% of the respondents said that they, the victim, decided not to take further action, 34% said that the police or Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
• Polling conducted by YouGov for the Centre for Social Justice found that 80 per cent of the public think domestic abuse is not taken seriously enough in society.

http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/UserStorage/pdf/Pdf%20reports/DA%20Full%20report.pdf

Damage from domestic abuse

• According to the Centre for Social Justice, domestic abuse “costs the taxpayer almost £4 billion per year. When human and emotional costs and lost economic outputs are aggregated the cost to society climbs to £15.7 billion per year”.
• According to the ONS Crime Survey, an estimated 1.2 million female and 700,000 males were victims of domestic abuse in the last year.
• Overall, 30% of women had experience domestic abuse since the age of 16, with 16% of men having been victims.
• Nearly a quarter of women living in lone parent households were victims of domestic abuse in the last year (22.7%) compared with around 1 in 20 of those living in a household with other adults and children (5.3%) or a household with no children (6.3%).
• Women victims of partner abuse were more likely to have been abused more than once in the last year by their partner (30%) than to have only been abused once (19%).
• Children that become caught up in domestic abuse are at greater risk of suffering mental health, behavioural and educational problems than those whose lives are free of it.

Reform

• A Labour Government will, starting with VAWG as a priority area, publish performance statistics for each police force region on performance in VAWG, including police performance (recording, arrests, referrals to the CPS for charging) and CPS and police performance (prosecutions, convictions).
• This is a hugely important step for police accountability, increasing transparency and stimulating a look-again at a key area of performance.
• Academic research in education and health has shown improved public service outcomes from publishing data. “The findings indicate that making performance data public results in improvements in the clinical area reported upon” - Hibbard J, Stockard J and Tusler M (2005) ‘Hospital Performance Reports: Impact On Quality, Market Share, And Reputation
• Labour’s proposal for a VAWG Commissioner will also be involved in the process, working with forces whose performance is poor, and bringing together the key stakeholders to improve inter-agency working, especially support for victims through the criminal process.
• Performance statistics will increase accountability, drive performance, and clearly mark out areas of concern for the VAWG Commissioner.
• Strong leadership from the Home Office will provide support to individual forces to work through their problems, including providing expert-led training in handling VAWG and preparing case files.
• Sharing best practise from police forces.