My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, for the parting shot. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, and my noble friend Lady Helic for raising the issue of training for front-line professionals in relation to domestic abuse. Quality training is important to equip practitioners with the knowledge and skills they need to protect and support victims of domestic abuse, including children, in an appropriate manner.
We can also agree on another aspect of the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong. As the noble Lord, Lord Hunt articulated, professionals need to have the skills and confidence to ask the right questions about domestic abuse, and then take the right course of action. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it has served to further highlight the importance of professionals across a wide range of disciplines recognising the signs of domestic abuse and responding accordingly.
The noble Baroness, Lady Uddin, talked about relationship and sex education in schools. Healthy relationships in this area are more important than ever.
In January, we launched “Ask for ANI”, the code word scheme that is now in operation across thousands of pharmacies. The scheme provides a clear process to follow. Working closely with the sector, we have developed bespoke training and guidance to support it to deliver this additional assistance. We have ensured that victims have a means to access potentially life-changing support, and have seen more than 45 uses of the scheme already. This is excellent news.
Those working in vaccination centres are also being provided with bespoke training to ensure that they pick up any signs of domestic abuse and can respond to disclosures should they be made in such safe spaces. I am sure we can all agree that the response and approach to identifying domestic abuse in a pharmacy and in a vaccination centre is very different from how one might respond in a school or a job centre. That is why reporting protocols and training are best developed and delivered by the appropriate responsible agency in each sector. Therein lies the expertise, so we should not adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. The training needs to be tailored to the circumstances of each professional group and will, therefore, take many different forms.
While the domestic abuse commissioner and her office may support organisations in the development of their training, and may deliver some training itself—as Clause 7(2)(d) envisages—it is not appropriate, or indeed realistic, to expect the commissioner to be specifying training or reporting standards for the diverse range of public authorities specified in Clause 15.
Midnight
It is true to say that the response to domestic abuse is not always as tailored as it should be. As the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, showcased in her commission, Breaking Down the Barriers, it can unfortunately be patchy, to use her words. Currently, national guidance can augment and complement sector-specific guidance. That is why the statutory guidance that we will issue under Clause 73 details how healthcare professionals, employers, schools, jobcentres and others should respond to domestic abuse. I have written to the noble Baroness about the guidance, and hope that it has provided some reassurance to her—I think it has, by the sound of what she said—that the response to domestic abuse by each agency is one that is tailored and as effective as it can be.
Since the draft guidance was published last July, Home Office officials have engaged extensively with the sector to refine and improve it. Front-line expertise and academics from healthcare, housing, the criminal justice system and the children’s sector have contributed with feedback. There will be a further opportunity for all interested parties to comment and make suggestions for further improvements when we conduct the formal consultation following Royal Assent.
The adequacy of domestic abuse training, both in terms of its content and its availability, will, I am sure, be something that the domestic abuse commissioner will wish to examine. Part 2 of the Bill affords her the necessary powers to do so. It is worth drawing out some of the provisions in Part 2, as I hope that I can persuade the noble Baroness that much of what Amendment 15 seeks to do is already covered by the provisions in this part.
Clause 7 affords the commissioner a wide remit in encouraging good practice in the prevention of domestic abuse and the provision of protection and support to victims. This will include good practice in relation to the reporting of domestic abuse and the provision of training. Clause 7(2) specifically refers to the monitoring of the provision of services and the provision of training, which noble Lords have referred to.
Clause 15 requires the public authorities specified in subsection (3) of that clause to co-operate with the commissioner so far as is reasonably practicable. Such co-operation will include the provision of information to the commissioner. Consequently, subsection (1) of the noble Baroness’s proposed new clause is unnecessary. The commissioner can already, under Clause 15, request the information set out there, and the relevant public authorities are under a duty to respond.
In addition, Clause 8 enables the commissioner to inquire into and report on matters relating to training, and to direct specific recommendations at one or more relevant public authorities. Under Clause 16, those same public authorities will need to respond to any such recommendations within 56 days.
Finally, Clause 14 requires the commissioner to prepare and publish an annual report. Subject to the minimum requirements set out in Clause 14(2), it is a matter for the commissioner to determine what she includes in her annual report. It is therefore open to the commissioner to report annually on the adequacy or otherwise of the training available to those working in relevant public authorities.
In short, while I commend and support the objectives behind Amendment 15, I do not believe that it takes us materially further forward, given that Part 2 already affords the commissioner the ability to collect data and to report on, and make recommendations about, the provision of training and reporting mechanisms.
Amendment 44, in the name of my noble friend Lady Helic, focuses on the important issue of training for judges and magistrates in the family courts. As I indicated in Committee, I am in agreement that, as with other professionals, members of the judiciary should be fully supported via appropriate training to properly identify and understand the impact of all types of domestic abuse, so that they can respond appropriately when making decisions in domestic abuse-related cases.
I also acknowledge, implicit in subsection (2) of my noble friend’s new clause, the fact that victims and survivors of domestic abuse can face difficulties in the family justice system, including difficulties during proceedings and when giving evidence. The harm panel brought these issues into sharp focus last year, and there are provisions in the Bill that have been informed by the expert panel’s report.
However, the Justice Secretary cannot and should not take on a responsibility to prescribe or oversee this training for judges and magistrates. The statutory duty for judicial training rightly sits with the Lord Chief Justice. For the Secretary of State to even publish a strategy or timetable on this matter would be to undermine the important constitutional principle of judicial independence. I am confident that there is no need or requirement to place a statutory duty on the Secretary of State for domestic abuse training for judicial officeholders. As I indicated in Committee, training for the judiciary is not a matter for primary legislation. The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, quite forcefully made this point.
The Judicial College welcomed the harm panel recommendations relating to the training of the judiciary and remains committed to continually reviewing and improving the training delivered to the judiciary, including magistrates. Furthermore, the president of the Family Division has indicated he will consider making recommendations regarding training to the Judicial College in light of this Bill, the recommendations of the harm panel report and any guidance produced as a result of the four recent Court of Appeal domestic abuse cases that were heard earlier this year and to which the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, referred when she spoke to this issue in Committee.
Further to this, I know that my noble friend Lord Wolfson will raise this at his monthly meeting with the president of the Family Division. I also understand that he will write ahead of the meeting. We are always willing to get data on various things, including, in this case, how many judges are getting training and how often.
More broadly, in response to the harm panel report, the Government have already committed to reducing inconsistency and entrenching best practice across the family justice system. As has already been outlined,
I can assure my noble friend that the senior judiciary are engaged with the issue of training and are supportive of this aim.
Given, first, the constitutional issues and, secondly, the clear commitments on training and guidance from the Government, the Judicial College and the president of the Family Division, I hope I have been able to persuade my noble friend Lady Helic that it would not be appropriate to add Amendment 44 to the Bill.
In conclusion, I strongly support the aims of both these amendments, but, for the reasons I have set out, it would not be appropriate to include them in the Bill. As I have explained, Amendment 44 undermines the constitutional separation of powers between the Executive and the judiciary, while Amendment 15 significantly overlaps with, and therefore adds little to, the provisions already made elsewhere in Part 2 and Clause 73 of the Bill. I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, will be happy to withdraw her amendment.