My Lords, the new clause introduced by Amendment 42A seeks to modify the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 to force the Secretary of State to automatically direct a domestic homicide review in the circumstances outlined in Section 9 of the Act. The new clause also aims to improve data collection methodologies around domestic homicide reviews.
My noble and learned friend Lord Falconer of Thoroton moved this amendment in Committee. The
purpose of retabling it is to get a response from the Government. A letter was promised but none has been received as far as I am aware.
In preparing for this short debate, I reread the 2016 Home Office report on domestic homicide reviews. As the Minister will be aware, some strong themes emerged from that report, including the importance of record-keeping by the police and a multi-agency approach. Another particular theme was the need for GPs to keep records of people who reported domestic abuse.
In moving his amendment in Committee, my and learned noble friend asked three questions that I shall briefly repeat. First, it is difficult to see in Section 9 of the 2004 Act whether there is an obligation in every case for there to be a domestic homicide review. We think that there should be. Can the Minister confirm the Government's position on this question? Will she consider legislating to ensure that there is a review in every case?
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Secondly, my noble and learned friend asked about centralising the recording of the review’s findings. Clearly, this would be helpful in learning lessons from the reviews, but can the Minister talk about the centralising of the domestic homicide review findings? The third question was about the domestic homicide sentencing review, which I understand was commissioned on 9 September this year. I understand that Clare Wade QC has been instructed on this matter. What are the terms of reference of this review? When is it expected to report? What do the Government expect will be done with its recommendations?
We believe that the 2016 report was a good one and should be built on. I look forward to the Minister’s response to the questions my noble and learned friend raised, which I have repeated in moving this amendment.