Domestic violence

• About domestic violence
• Recent developments
• Good practice
• Sources of help and support
• Evaluation and performance management (including PSAs, LAAs etc)

About domestic violence

Domestic violence covers incidents of threatening or violent behaviour or abuse between adults (usually partners or family members). This covers a wide spectrum of incidents but affects millions of people, spanning 15 per cent of all violent incidents and claiming the lives of around two women a week.

Domestic violence is rarely a one-off, and is often a continuing pattern of behaviour by one adult towards another. It covers forced marriage and genital mutilation. Figures show that the vast majority of cases are violence by men against women, but there are cases of same-sex domestic violence, and violence by women against men.

Recent developments

The Home Affairs Select Committee Report into ‘Domestic Violence, Forced Marriage and 'Honour'-Based Violence’ was published in June 2008. This is the third select committee enquiry into domestic violence, the previous two being in 1975 and 1991.

Domestic Violence, Forced Marriage and ‘Honour’-Based Violence – on the Refuge website

On 1 July 2007, two sections of the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 were enacted. These measures make amendments to Part 4 of the Family Law Act 1996 to give better protection to victims of domestic violence and strengthen police powers. Section 1 of the Act now makes the breach of a non-molestation order a criminal offence punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and Section 4 makes non-cohabitating couples eligible for non-molestation and occupation orders.

The Way Forward: A call for action to end violence against women – on the Mayor of London website

Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 – on the Office of Public Sector Information website

In July 2008, Women’s Aid published a report on disabled women experiencing violence in their own homes which looks into the support available.

Making the links: disabled women and domestic violence – on the Women’s Aid website

'Making the Grade 2007’, published by the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) evaluates the commitment and performance of all government departments in supporting women and children experiencing violence, and ending violence against women.

Making the Grade 2007 – on the Refuge website

They also produced ‘Map of Gaps: The Postcode Lottery of Violence Against Women Support Services’ (published jointly with Equality and Human Rights Commission) in November 2007 to highlight the patchwork of services for women across the UK.

Map of Gaps: The Postcode Lottery of 'Violence Against Women' Support Services – on the End Violence Against Women website

‘Tackling Violence Against Women: A Cross-Government Narrative’ draws together work being done across government departments to tackle violence against women and responds to the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition’s annual ‘Making the Grade’ survey. 

Tackling Violence Against Women: A Cross-Government Narrative – on the Government Equalities Office website

Good practice

Case studies

There are several case studies here on the Local Government Improvement and Development website, including the following:

D-VAP (Domestic Violence Accommodation Project): East Riding of Yorkshire

Making sense of domestic violence

Websites

Information, help and advice on domestic violence in Medway – on the Medway Council website

Cheshire County Council’s domestic violence homepage has background information, FAQs, information on services for children and men as well as a voluntary perpetrator programme.

Information on domestic abuse in Cheshire – on Cheshire County Council’s website

Sources of help and support

‘Local government’s role in tackling domestic violence’ is an LGA booklet giving a summary of local government’s key roles and responsibilities in addressing domestic violence. Throughout, the document refers to other written resources that provide more detailed information and guidance.

Local government’s role in tackling domestic violence – on the LGA website

Broken Rainbow is the organisation working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of domestic violence. They have a very informative website containing background information, services and training information.

Broken Rainbow website

Following the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004, a national action plan was published, ‘Domestic violence: a national report’, setting out progress and outlining future proposals to support victims and bring more perpetrators to justice.

Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 – on the Office of Public Sector Information website

Domestic Violence: A national report – on the Home Office Crime Reduction website

‘Developing Domestic Violence Strategies: A guide for partnerships’ is a Home Office guidance document to support partnerships in developing successful strategies.

Developing Domestic Violence Strategies: A guide for partnerships – on the Home Office Crime Reduction website

'Safety and Justice: Sharing personal information in the context of domestic violence' is a Home Office Development and Practice Report.

Safety and Justice: Sharing personal information in the context of domestic violence – on the Home Office Crime Reduction website

The Women’s Aid website is full of useful background information and advice from the largest charity tackling domestic violence.

Women’s Aid website

Refuge is the national charity covering housing and refuge services for women and children.

Refuge website

The Greater London Domestic Violence Project is a service for the London domestic violence sector which was set up in 1997. It works to strengthen the sector by identifying common goals, promoting joint planning and minimum standards between agencies, and ensuring that good practice in domestic violence work is transferred across London.  

Greater London Domestic Violence Project website

The government Equalities website contains useful pages of information and links for domestic violence work and research.

Equalities Office website

Evaluation and performance management (including PSAs and LAAs)

‘Work to Address Domestic Violence and Local Area Agreements: Where does it fit?’ is a Local Government Association publication looking at how this cross-cutting initiative fits within the structure of the local area agreement (LAA) framework.

Work to Address Domestic Violence and Local Area Agreements: Where does it fit? – on the LGA website

This LGA case study into Oxfordshire’s LAA shows how the first round of local area agreements have made a real impact into issues like domestic violence.

Oxfordshire: Tackling domestic violence – on the Local Government Improvement and Development website

Hampshire’s LAA’s domestic violence sub action plan is one of its flagship projects.

Domestic violence project in Hampshire (Word, 11 pages, 66 KB) – on the Hantsweb website

An LGA commissioned research project examines the LGA’s programme of support to local domestic violence partnerships. The research report includes a local authority checklist for self-assessment.

Domestic violence partnership working checklist – on the LGA website

The government’s PSA Target 9 on Gender Equality has a sub-target 9.

PSA Target 9 on Gender Equality – on the Communities and Local Government website

The government is committed to:

• taking action to reduce domestic violence, which currently accounts for 18 per cent of violent crime
• bringing more perpetrators to justice
• providing better support to victims.

The indicator being reported in this PSA is the percentage of reported domestic violence incidents where an arrest has been made. The target will be to increase this percentage. It is envisaged that baseline data will be set in the coming year.

Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) 225 highlighted the need for sustained local authority action, demonstrating that domestic violence is not an issue for the criminal justice system alone. 

BVPI 225 aimed to assess the overall provision and effectiveness of local authority services designed to help victims of domestic violence and prevent further domestic violence. The indicator covered metropolitan authorities, London boroughs, unitary authorities, district councils, the Council of the Isles of Scilly and the Common Council of the City of London.

National indicators

National indicators dealing with domestic violence are:

• NI 32 Repeat incidents of domestic violence PSA 23
• NI 34 Domestic violence – murder PSA 23.