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Housing and Regeneration Bill

This is a serious issue and I am grateful to the noble Baroness for enabling us to say a little more about it. I could not agree more with the noble Earl, Lord Cathcart. We were taken back to the beginning of the Bill by what he said about the need for affordable homes, the investment that is needed and the effort that must be made to achieve those ambitions, particularly for vulnerable people—and we have discussed many different sorts of vulnerability during this Committee. It is important that the context has been framed for us. The issue of domestic violence is extremely serious. As the noble Baroness explained, the principal purpose of the amendment is to bring those who have been subject to domestic violence, or who are at risk of such violence, within the category of persons who will be given priority need under the homelessness legislation. I take my cue from the noble Baroness. She said that she did not think it was necessary to go into the detail of what we mean by domestic violence or its impact on people, their families and the whole community. As I said, the Government take the issue extremely seriously. It is a pernicious and prevalent crime that has devastating personal consequences, and it crosses classes and cultures. It has a major impact on our national economy and the health of our society, as well as on the criminal justice system and statutory services. Domestic violence will affect one in four women and one in six men. On average, two women are killed every week by a current or former male partner. Those statistics are extraordinary. Domestic violence is rarely a one-off incident. More often, it is part of a pattern of abusive and controlling behaviour, which is pathological. That is why we are absolutely committed to tackling this nasty, and depressingly prevalent, crime, and we work on many fronts to do that. For example, recent investment in specialist domestic violence courts has been very successful. Outcomes have shown that domestic violence prosecutions rose from 46 per cent in December 2003 to 67 per cent in June 2006. There is a growing culture of intolerance and a feeling that people should not get away with it. I am sure that noble Lords are familiar with the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, which included a number of new powers and amendments. My department takes domestic violence extremely seriously; in particular, there is a need to ensure that victims of violence get the help and support that they need. Under current legislation, people who do not have dependent children will have priority need if they are vulnerable as a result of having to leave their home because of violence—not just domestic violence—from another person or because of threats of such violence which are likely to be carried out. Thus, if they have suffered domestic violence, they will already have priority need under this broader violence category. The principle of linking priority need to vulnerability is central to the homelessness legislation and the premise that it is only homeless people with a priority need for whom the local authority should have an obligation to secure accommodation. Other examples of such people include those who are vulnerable as a result of old age or mental disability, and those aged 21 years or over who are vulnerable as a result of having been in care and so on. I cannot stress enough how seriously we take this matter, but we are also aware of a concern that, despite the robust systems in place, in practice not all vulnerable people who have had to leave their homes because of violence may be accepted as being owed the main homelessness duty. Reflecting other debates that we have had this afternoon, we need certain evidence of that so as to be able to make a policy change, because that change would be very wide in its effect. At the moment, we do not have the necessary evidence to make a proper evaluation of the issue. The noble Baroness has already referred to what happened following the debate on a similar amendment in the other place: my colleague Iain Wright committed to an in-depth review to assess in more detail the likely impact, cost and realistic timeframe for implementation and to assess whether other ways of meeting the housing needs of this group could be effective in the context of broader housing reform. The principal aim of that review will be to provide a sound basis for the Government to consider what changes, if any, need to be made to ensure that no one is expected to return to accommodation where they would be at risk of violence. It is a broader issue and we need to look creatively and thoroughly at the options that we have. The noble Baroness asked me where we are with that. Arrangements for commissioning the review are currently under way and I shall be happy to keep her closely informed with more details once the work is more advanced. I cannot add more to that at the moment and I hope that it will be sufficient for now. I reiterate the commitment we have to putting an end as best we can to this abhorrent behaviour.