ROBERT Halfon MP welcomes additional Government Support for Victims of Domestic Abuse and Violence

In January, Karen Bradley MP, Minister for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime, came to Harlow to talk about prevention of domestic abuse and violence and spoke to a range of staff members and residents, including Kevin Blunnie, father of Eystna Blunnie.

Robert Halfon said: “Following the Ministers visit, I have been raising the issues Kevin Blunnie mentioned during our meeting with the Minister.

In response to these comments, I received the following guarantees from the Government:

1) The Government is taking urgent action to address emerging pressures on services by providing £7 million for sexual violence services in response to increased reporting and an additional £10 million for refuges.

Confirmation of a £3.5 million fund to boost the provision of domestic violence services including safe accommodation, refuges and specialist services, is supporting 46 local authorities this year.

This means that there will now be 710 new bed spaces in a range of safe accommodation, providing help to over 3500 victims of domestic abuse across the country.”

2) A new policy called ‘Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy’, will shortly be published.

This will set out how the Government will support all victims and introduce a strong leadership and accountability on this policy across England and Wales.

3) There is an improvement in terms of training in the courts.The Victims’s Code (the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime) sets out the information, supports and services victims can expect to receive from criminal justice agencies in England and Wales at every stage of the process.

The Code entities victims of the most serious crime, to an enhanced level of service to make sure they get the right support at the time.

In response to the Minister’s letter, Kevin Blunnie says:

“I am very happy with the Minister’s response and we are pleased to see that things are changing.”