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The Domestic Violence, Crime & Victims Bill returned to the Commons on 14 June, and was debated in committee. The Bill remains largely in its original format as no major amendments have been accepted in the House of Lords or during the Committee stage in the House of Commons. While any amendments may be re-tabled in subsequent stages is it very unlikely that any of them will be accepted. The Bill is expected to be finalised in the Autumn.
Although the key amendments proposed by the Women's National Commission and a broad coalition of women's organizations have not been formally accepted, some progress has been made:
- While there will not be a definition of domestic violence included in the legislation, a shared definition has been agreed nationally, based upon the definition currently used by the Association of Chief Police Officers: “any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or who have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender.”
- Some movement has been made on the needs of women with no recourse to public funds through the small one-off grant made by Government to Women's Aid Last Resort Fund and moves have been undertaken to reduce the length of application waiting times, now reduced to an average of 48 days.
- A national advocacy service is under discussion though it will not be enshrined in the legislation
- Finally, there has been some limited movement on child contact. A number of early intervention pilot projects will be introduced in September; these will offer voluntary mediation and help to develop a jointly agreed parenting plan. All those involved in any contact order hearings will be asked about experiences of domestic violence, any allegations will be investigated and a finding of fact must be made before any decisions are made. In addition, from January 2005 an amendment to the Children's Act, included in the Adoption and Children Act will be enacted. This expands the definition of 'significant harm' to a child to include witnessing domestic violence.
Click on this link for transcripts of the committee meetings
- This report is taken from GLDVP News 27 - July 2004.
- GLDVP News is a monthly e-newsletter of news, meetings, training, jobs of interest to those working on Domestic Violence issues currently distributed to 900+ contacts.
- To subscribe contact Rachel Carter by email Rachel.Carter@london.gov.uk
- There will not be an August issue - next issue September.
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