Written question asked by John McDonnell (Labour) on Wednesday, 4 June 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 6 June 2008. It was answered by Bridget Prentice (Labour) on Wednesday, 11 June 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Domestic Violence: Injunctions

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many injunctions against domestic violence perpetrators have been (a) made by courts and (b) breached under the provisions of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004; and how many breaches have led to a term of imprisonment.

Answer: Between 1 July 2007—when breach of a non-molestation order became a criminal offence—and 31 March 2008, 17,790 non- molestation orders were granted in the county courts across England and Wales.Although there is capacity to record breach data in the courts, we suspect cases are not being recorded consistently in all courts.Where breach is recorded, quality checks have revealed large variations in the way they are recorded therefore it would not be appropriate to publish the limited information available. The implementation of the Libra IT system in the magistrates courts by the end of 2009 will provide a further opportunity to quality assure data. Statistics on breaches will be published as soon as sufficient improvements have been made.

Secondary information