Attorney General's Office

Attorney General: 'No More Excuses' Domestic Violence Conference

Firstly, thank you for inviting me to speak today at this important event, especially during National Domestic Violence month. I am grateful for mention of the Harpal Singh Moore case at the Court of Appeal which I presented myself. It is up to us all in the criminal justice system to take proper care of the sentencing in relation to domestic violence cases. It is very timely, as today the report on improving the health response to Violence Against Women and Children will be published, setting out how the NHS can play a key role in the provision of support services available.

With International Women's Day and Mothering Sunday this month, we focus on making and marking the significant contributions that women make to society. Sadly there are many women and children in our country who are at risk of harm due to domestic violence.

We know that the impact of witnessing domestic violence on our children and young people can be absolutely devastating, and may affect their health, development and educational attainment.

Early intervention and prevention is vital. I was pleased to learn about some of the good practice here locally such as the Portsmouth Early Intervention Project and I really look forward to hearing more about what has worked well in your area during the question and answer session.

We are all familiar and all face similar challenges, including effectively addressing domestic violence, family dysfunction and child protection.

The Government is committed to implementing innovative measures including the legislative framework and early intensive interventions to create safety and well-being in relationships and communities, which is something that as many of you know I feel very strongly about.

VAWG Strategy
On November 25th 2009, the Government published its strategy to end Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). Davina will provide an overview about the Strategy later. A national Home Office consultation (more than 5,000 respondents) has helped us to shape the strategy and through this, many respondents requested a national attitude changing campaign. As you heard earlier from Christine, in February the Government launched a £2million Teenage relationship abuse campaign to challenge the attitudes of teenagers towards violence in relationships.

Home Office consultation and other research shows that young people have surprisingly tolerant views on the acceptability of abuse in relationships and that abuse is shockingly prevalent in teenage relationships.

Some you may be aware that as Attorney General I have set up an Attorney General's Youth network and Youth Advisory Council. One of the issues that has been discussed at the Council meeting focused on what young people thought violence meant in relationships and how they might relate to it. They were able to tell us of the mechanics of relationships, and sexual relationships, but they weren't able to tell us about love, and what love actually means in a relationship. Young people from all over the United Kingdom took part in this discussion as part of my Advisory Council and a part of their suggestions have led to the recent campaign you may have seen televised recently. It was their voices that helped to put this together - their voices that said that it was important to know how to show love in a relationship, but also their voices that learnt how to say no. Young people have learnt how to tolerate violence in relationships, but we need to educate them that this is not right.

These views, whilst worrying, are potentially less entrenched and there may still be time to influence teenagers. The joy of them still being young allows for time to change attitudes and hopefully their behaviours in the future. Evidence also shows that coercive and controlling behaviour is more likely to escalate into violence and lead to repeat instances of abuse, so it is important to try to break this pattern, and break it early.

Context
We have been on a journey, from dysfunction to function, from poorly coordinated support of agencies to co-ordinated community support, though I still believe we have a long way to go.

Addressing domestic violence has been one of our government's key achievements. I welcome the opportunity to share our learning and positive outcomes, including a reduction in domestic homicides.

When I started this journey many years ago, I was really shocked at the severity of problems that we as a society faced. In 1977, I was 21 and a young barrister dealing with domestic violence. I had never seen anything like it before. But, my first cases were nothing like those I am seeing now. I was thunderstruck, and thought this first case was horrendous.

Shocking statistics
A child born into the most disadvantaged 5 per cent of families is 100 times more likely to have multiple problems at age 15 than a child from the 50 per cent best-off families.

One-third of child protection cases show a history of domestic violence to the mother.

Families with complex problems can cost the state between £250,000 to £350,000 pounds each, where there are 3 or more children.

For thirty per cent of domestic violence cases, domestic violence starts or escalates in pregnancy.

The key factors for youth offending include being in a family with several problems such as mental ill health, domestic violence, substance misuse, child abuse and poor parenting.

To make a difference for these families we need a programme with power, a programme of sufficient intensity and depth to change what can be a spiral disadvantage for life. After all, how we are parented is the most important influence in anyone's life.

The cornerstone for our ambition for young people is our 'Every Child Matters' approach. This cuts across all areas, with the aims that children:
• Be healthy;
• Stay safe;
• Enjoy and achieve;
• Make a positive contribution; and,
• Achieve economic well-being.

It is right that in the Criminal Justice System we are right behind all of these aims. They are at the heart of our aims to build safer communities. I am firmly of the belief that young people with the right opportunities to achieve and contribute, who are protected from the very worst levels of deprivation and violence, will be less likely to offend.

The journey
If I can take a moment to reflect on the journey, in 1997, I had been dealing with domestic violence and child abuse cases for the last 20 years. It was difficult to see anything positive being done in this area during this time. This is why I chose to come into Government, and I worked with Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt who were of same mind. In 1998 when I was in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office the Government started looking at the issues surrounding honour based violence. The first challenge that we met was to contest the assertion that honour based violence was not Government business and that it was too sensitive an area for the government to be involved in.

However, we were determined that this was not going to be the case but that to identify the issues and respond appropriately to them we needed the input of everyone including practitioners and those from the voluntary sector. One thing I have learnt in the past 20 years is that this work had to include everyone otherwise it wouldn't work. It's important that the voluntary sector are also included.

Forced marriage is an unlawful marriage and is null and void as there is no freely given consent. Whilst forced marriage is not just unlawful, the acts perpetrated by those who would force marriage in the name of honour are actually criminal offences. They include sexual offences, child abuse, abduction and false imprisonment.

Tackling the problem is really complex; there are a number of facets to the problem so there should therefore be a multi-faceted response. This requires all of us working together in partnership including central government and organisations. I was pleased to learn that right here in Portsmouth, the City Council has prioritised raising awareness of Honour Based Violence and Forced Marriage issues. We know that many young people are victims of forced marriage, and we know that it's important that we recognise this and act.

The Government has established the Forced Marriage Unit at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to work directly with victims and with other government departments.

We have taken through Parliament the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act.

The Act allows a civil court to make an order containing such prohibitions, restrictions, requirements or other terms as it thinks appropriate to protect a person who has been forced into marriage.

The Act also provides for protection under civil law but anything done that amounts to a crime can and should be dealt with sensitively but firmly for what it is, and that is that it is a serious crime.

We provided the legal framework to address domestic violence through the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, a comprehensive Act, which ensures that all victims have coherent, appropriate and effective legal protection.
We have also been improving services on the ground through a coordinated community response.
There was a 64% decline in the incidence of domestic violence between 1997 and 2008-09 according to the British Criminal Survey. When we started it accounted for 23% of violent crime in 1997; it now accounts for 14%.

Domestic violence training has been rolled out to all police and Crown Prosecution Service prosecutors and other.

Every police force and CPS area now has a domestic violence co-ordinator. Every police force also has a domestic violence champion.

There are over 700 specially trained Independent Domestic Violence Advisors nationally (IDVAs) to support victims. You know, I actually call them my DIVAs, and all of them, male and female, are just fabulous.

Domestic violence advocacy is founded on an understanding that a co-ordinated multi-agency response to those at high risk is the best way to deliver safety, reduce repeat victimisation and increase awareness of children at risk of harm.

There are over 200 Multi Agency Risk Conferences nationally, to help protect high risk victims and their children. MARACs encourage agencies to share information in order to get a better picture of a victim's situation, and then develop a response that is better tailored to the needs and goals of individual victims and their children.

MARACs will be rolled out across the country by 2011 ensuring I hope, at last, that ALL high risk vulnerable victims of domestic violence will have access to specialist support services. When I looked at the MARAC figures I saw that there was a direct correlation between the use of MARACs and a reduction in homicides - it shows that they really do have an impact.

There are over 127 Specialist Domestic Violence Courts, which are a fundamental part of the government's efforts to improve the support and care provided for victims of domestic violence.

The Specialist Domestic Violence Court programme promotes a combined approach to tackling domestic violence by the police, the Crown prosecutors, magistrates, courts and probation, all of them working together with specialist support services for victims, which situates the court and the Criminal Justice System as part of a community-wide response to domestic violence.
Key features of the courts include:
• trained and dedicated criminal justice staff with enhanced expertise in dealing with domestic violence, including magistrates specially trained in dealing with domestic violence cases
• cases clustered on a particular day to enable all agencies to focus their specialist resources
• tailored support and advice from Independent Domestic Violence Advisers.
Our Prosecution rates have nearly doubled since the introduction of SDVC's, to an average of 72.5 per cent and continue to rise. In some cases such as Exeter-it has risen to 90%. There was a time when the prosecution rate was 29%. It had a terrible effect on those coming forward as they thought if 71% of cases were failing, victims would be less willing to come forward.

Routine enquiry about domestic violence has been rolled out to all pregnant women and in adult mental health services. Women are now screened for all things affecting them during pregnancy as a result of a 30% increase in the probability of domestic violence occurring during pregnancy on a global scale. The World Health Organisation have identified that for all women aged between 15 and 44 showed violence against women is the greatest cause of female injury and illness on a global scale, compared to cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war.

Many of you will be aware of the costs of domestic violence as outlined in Professor Sylvia Walby's report in 2004, which totalled approximately £23 billion in tangible and intangible costs in the UK. We asked Professor Walby to come back and update her research last November; Professor Walby re-looked at the costs to the UK and through the same methodology found that it now costs approximately £15.5 billion per year-a cost savings of £7.5 billion. No other country in the world has been able to identify this work, nor the impact it has on their economy. This helps illustrate that improving service provision, protection and support can have a positive impact on cost savings, as well as potentially saving lives. I want to thank everyone in the room, and everyone on this agenda for achieving what we have so far. Together we really have made a difference, and it could only have been achieved by all of us working together in partnership.

Family approach
'Think Family' practice - making sure that the support provided by child and adult services is coordinated and focused on problems affecting the whole family is the only effective way of working with families experiencing the most significant problems.

This is why the Government is absolutely committed to a national programme of reform and culture change which involves all schools and children services, the NHS, Job Centres, Police, Probation and prisons. We are now better able to:

• to improve the identification and support of adults experiencing problems who are parents or carers

• to co-ordinate the support that is provided by different agencies to each family, especially those experiencing significant problems

It is only through this that we can get a better grip on problems. Since 2007 we have been testing the Family Nurse Partnership across England, with the family nurses working with young, vulnerable first time parents and ensuring that they are linked into their Children's Centres and support.

This programme is supported by a research and development programme to help build our evidence base on effective interventions in England.

Along with the Family Nurse Partnerships, the Family Intervention Projects is a really good example of effective partnership working to reach the most vulnerable families with multiple problems.

These projects gain the agreement of the family to a range of behavioural changes and engagement in interventions. Accredited parenting programmes are delivered and services such as health are brought together in a coordinated around the families needs, based on a model from Scotland. A key worker 'grips' the family and builds on strengths. By April there will be a FIP in every area in England.

In one of the evaluation studies, over eighty per cent of FIP families experienced poor parental mental health and substance misuse, and over fifty per cent were affected by domestic violence.

Significant outcomes achieved through FIPs includes a reduction in the number of children going into care, domestic violence reduced by two thirds in some areas, and over eighty per cent of children back in school. For families with serious levels of anti-social behaviour a reduction from sixty one per cent to just seven per cent. This is such a dramatic difference which really reflects our level of achievement.

Youth Network

This is our opportunity to teach the young. I really believe that young people have so much to offer all of us in Government and the legal profession and that we can learn from them. We would like to help provide the skills that young people need to reach their aspirations.

The Youth Network complements other work with youth across government, and I really hope you will get an opportunity to see it and see if there is anything you can implement in your area.

Conclusion

I have shared with you our journey, and challenges faced in addressing domestic violence and family dysfunction. We have done, and continue to do a lot to focus attention on these important areas, to equip practitioners to tackle the problem and to put in place arrangements that will protect victims and bring offenders to justice.

When I started this work, I was told I was 'bold and brave' - that literally meant that my team thought I was nuts! No country had achieved a reduction in domestic violence incidents, and after 25 years, I really did not believe that this was the truth - why couldn't we reduce the numbers? It has taken 25 years to reduce the numbers, and we have done it. We have done this by working together. And I really want to say thank you for all the lives you have saved and those that will be saved as a result of your commitment, drive and passion.

The fact that you have all worked together has achieved this great result for the UK, and now others are copying. I visited Spain in 2006, where as a result of the initiatives we have put in place in 1997, they saw something that they could use, and implemented them. Since 2006, Spain has seen their number of domestic violence incidents reduce. You should be proud that your work in this area has led to an international effect. We need to share this all over the world. I have also started sharing this work with my counterparts in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA following a meeting I called of the Quintet of Attorneys General in November last year. They have been so impressed by what we have achieved, and I wanted to say thank you to you from those across the world. New Zealand has already scrapped their programme and is looking to adapt ours - I have Canada and USA on my list next. I will get them!

Thank you