My Lords, although I will speak to Amendment 15, I should say this on Amendment 44: who could not be moved by the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Newlove? In many ways the issues that she, the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, and the noble Lord, Lord Marks, have developed are consistent with those raised by my noble friend Lady Armstrong.
At Second Reading, my noble friend described the challenge of supporting women who are at risk of losing custody of their children, where the main need was identified as domestic abuse. Supporting women who are facing multiple disadvantages requires a workforce with the skills, knowledge, and awareness to understand the range of experiences women have faced. It requires funders, commissioners and policymakers to value the workforce and be prepared to support the development of their expertise. This is particularly so for those who have lived experience—an important point made by my noble friend. Unfortunately, that is not always forthcoming. Many practitioners have reported that the ongoing training and awareness raising needed to support this type of practice was often the first thing to be cut to save money. There are other challenges in the wider workforce; evidence shows that public services are failing to pick up domestic abuse and respond appropriately. This means that many survivors are passed from service to service before finally getting the support they need, causing years of preventable hurt and even putting lives at risk. The need for effective investment in training and support for staff is overwhelming.
11.30 pm
In Committee, the Minister said she was in full agreement with our aims of wanting professionals to have the skills and confidence to ask the right questions about domestic abuse and take the appropriate action.
She said she wanted to ensure that there is strong recognition, from senior leadership through to front-line staff, of the importance of tackling domestic abuse. She said she wanted staff to ask about domestic abuse, because it is integral to their role and driven by professional curiosity. Unfortunately, she also warned against introducing a statutory duty, in that she thought it risked undermining professional judgment. I disagree. Although she referred to a number of good practice examples, and to the current provisions, the problem is that these are very patchy. Training is not sufficiently available, and where it is available, it is not often given in the most effective way possible. It is not good enough to simply encourage it to be done better in the future—there must be some statutory bite.
My noble friend has modified her Committee stage amendments and is focusing on the commissioner having the ability to publish guidance and an annual report. The Minister has today acknowledged that this is something the commissioner can do outwith statutory provision. But there is no doubt that statute gives power to the commissioner in her ability to make things happen. The commissioner also needs resources, which she may not have, to take on this new role.
I hope that the Minister will take this back to her department. Of all the measures we require to make this Bill a success, the training and support of staff seems to be one of the most important, and I believe that both these amendments—different from each other, but dealing with parallel issues—deserve considerable support.