My Lords, as I have already, I declare my interest as chair of the Commission on Alcohol Harm. I am most grateful to all who worked with me on our report. The noble Lord, Lord Ribeiro, was one of the commissioners, and I know he is logged in and may have questions later. He missed signing up to speak today.
These amendments are designed to ensure that the close link between substances, particularly alcohol, and domestic abuse is taken into account throughout the Bill. I have already referred to the close link between alcohol and domestic abuse. A World Health Organization report in 2006 drew attention to research that found that alcohol use increases both the occurrence and severity of domestic violence.
Alcohol Change UK has reported police data showing that domestic incident call-outs increase at times when alcohol consumption is elevated—for example, during contentious football matches or cultural events such as new year. Shockingly, within intimate relationships in which one partner has a problem with alcohol or other drugs, domestic abuse is more likely to occur than not. This was reported by Galvani more than a decade ago, yet still continues behind closed doors and not really recognised.
Although closely linked, the relationship between alcohol and domestic abuse is complex. We know that alcohol is not the root cause of abuse, and it is certainly never an excuse for abusive behaviour.
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To add to the complexity, alcohol may be drunk by the victim as well as the perpetrator. Women who have experienced extensive physical and sexual violence are more than twice as likely to have an alcohol problem as women with little experience of violence or abuse.
We should also not forget the children. The Commission on Alcohol Harm heard of children terrified of their parents, and who did not feel safe at home, or
felt so hopeless and upset that they wished they did not exist. One woman spoke about how she used to stay in her bedroom, too scared to leave or talk to anyone, and tried to be invisible and quiet, hoping that her alcohol-dependent mother would not come after her. She recounted how her mother and father would abuse her mentally, emotionally and sometimes physically.
Data from the Children’s Commissioner estimates that over half a million children in England are living in households where domestic abuse, parental substance misuse and mental ill health occur to a moderate to severe extent. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought a new urgency, and made it ever more important for us to act now. During the first lockdown, calls to the UK’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline rose by 66%. At the same time, home drinking increased. The Royal College of Psychiatrists found that the number of adults drinking at high risk increased by almost 90% between February and September last year, from 4.8 million to 8.5 million. Surveys revealed that more than one in 7 of those living with a child under 18 felt that alcohol had made the tension in their household worse during lockdown.
Alcohol can also be used in an abusive relationship to give the perpetrator control over the victim by limiting access to alcohol even though it risks serious medical consequences for the victim if they go into sudden withdrawal, including hallucinations, seizures and heart failure. Such controlling actions can be presented by the perpetrator as being done in the person’s best interests, thereby disguising the abuse and the wider support needs of the victim.
There are no easy answers and, despite all the strengths of this Bill—and it really is an important and magnificent Bill—it is simply not possible for a Government to solve these problems through legislation alone. The interlinked issues of substance use addictions, mental health and domestic abuse require the ongoing application of expertise, research and careful monitoring, all feeding into strategies. That is why it is essential that substance use is included in the commissioner’s remit, that an expert in the area has a place on the advisory board and local partnership boards, and that guidance issued by the Secretary of State specifically addresses the link between alcohol and other substance use in domestic abuse.
Early intervention on alcohol abuse can break the abuse cycle early, and sometimes avoid complete family breakdown. I beg to move.