• Pleased to be here today – not least because gives me the chance to tell you how much the Government values the work that you do and the support that you provide to victims of domestic violence.
• Our collective aim is to reduce – and ultimately prevent - incidents of domestic violence so that women no longer have to fear for their safety at home.
• Also want to emphasise my own personal commitment to tackling domestic violence - a crime that cannot be tolerated, excused or ignored.
• Realise that the statistics are familiar to you but they never fail to shock me.
• That one woman in four experiences domestic violence at some time in her life - that’s 25% of all women.
• That domestic violence features in as many as one in three divorces in England and Wales.
• That every year in England and Wales over 63,000 women and children spend at least one night in a refuge.
• That approximately every three days a woman dies as a result of domestic violence and let us not forget that a man who is capable of violence towards his wife or partner is also capable of violence towards his children. We cannot leave children exposed to danger, or bring up a generation of children who believe violence in the home is the norm.

• The statistics are shocking, though we have seen progress in society’s view of domestic violence.
• I am aware, for instance, of one senior police officer who, in the early 1970s, told a colleague: ‘Remember that all murders are not equally serious. Some are just men killing their wives.’
• But things have changed enormously in the police force. As recently as 14 years ago, the police were still not being trained in how to deal with incidents of domestic violence. One woman officer told us that she was told to say: ‘It’s a domestic. None of our business.’
• That same officer said that the police have now adopted a much more proactive policy towards domestic violence. For instance, if the police have a power of arrest attached to an injunction and they do not exercise it, they now have to justify that.
• One woman who took part recently in an online debate called Womenspeak, organised by the Hansard Society, Womens Aid and the All Party Domestic Violence Group, wrote: ‘What was so important to me was that this police officer – a man who did not know me – believed me and told me that my husband was out of order and had in fact committed a crime. That gave me such a boost and helped me start to regain some power over my life’.
• And that more sympathetic approach by the police is reflected in the figures – in 1995 there were almost three and a half times more reported incidents of domestic violence than in 1981.
• Even over the last five years there has been a change in reporting, with one in three incidents being reported to police last year compared to one in 10 in 1996.
• And in a count taken over one day in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland last year, it was found that the police now get calls for help about an incident of domestic violence every minute of every day.
• That exercise showed not only the extent of domestic violence – which is shocking - but also the fact that it is no longer hidden in the way that it used to be 25 years ago.

• Which means, however, that more and more women are looking to voluntary agencies like yourselves for more and more support and information.
• No doubt many of these women will find your new, enhanced website of great assistance, particularly once you have developed the chat rooms for members and the virtual refuge.
• Likewise the new 24 hour helpline that you have just launched this week will, literally, offer a lifeline to all those women who need support and understanding when they feel at their most vulnerable – often not in office hours.

• I was particularly struck by the story of one woman who got in touch with your helpline, who had absolutely no idea what services were available to her when, or if, she decided to leave her violent husband.
• Over the course of a number of weeks she called back to discuss things through with you, and each time she went away to think about the options that you had explained were open to her.
• Eventually, as a result of the information that the helpline gave her, she went to a refuge with her children.
• She rang back a year later to say that she had divorced her husband and had been re-housed with her children. For the first time in many years, this woman said she felt safe and in control of her life, thanks to the advice and support she received from you.

• Unfortunately not all the stories you hear from women have such a happy ending and I am aware of the tragic circumstances of Georgina McCarthy whose violent husband managed to track her down by using child contact proceedings to find out where she was.
• Am aware that whole issue of contact orders where there have been allegations of domestic violence are of real concern to WAFE, as they are to Government.
• It was also an issue that came up in that online debate that I mentioned earlier that you helped organise with the Hansard Society and the All Party Domestic Violence Group as part of the Democracy Forum website.
• Almost half the suggestions put forward by survivors of domestic violence addressed the issue of children and contact with their fathers. And many made the point that fathers use contact with their child simply as a way of getting at the mother.
• This is a difficult area.
• As a result of the McCarthy case, the Family Law Advisory Board has now suggested possible guidelines for the English courts in dealing with cases in which allegations of domestic violence are made.
• The Government has endorsed those guidelines and will work to ensure they are widely distributed.
• We will also monitor the effectiveness of them and at the end of the monitoring period will consider the need for amending legislation.

• Let me outline other initiatives.

• In June 1999 the Government Women’s Unit published Living Without Fear.
• This set out the Government’s integrated approach to tackling violence against women, including domestic violence. It highlighted good practice, promoted the case for inter-agency working and set out a wide-ranging programme of practical measures to achieve this.

• As the lead department, the Home Office has been involved in a number of different projects to tackle domestic violence.

• For instance, as most of you will probably be aware, the Violence Against Women Initiative was set up within the Home Office's Crime Reduction Programme.
• In July 2000 the Government allocated £7million to local agencies/multi-agency partnerships to develop and implement strategies for reducing domestic violence, and rape and sexual assault by known perpetrators.
• We subsequently selected 34 projects.
• In March 2001, we announced an additional funding of £3.7 million for a further 24 projects.
• The aim of the initiative is to see which interventions are the most effective (and cost effective) in reducing crime.
• The original 34 selected projects announced by Paul Boateng last July are now up and running. These and the additional 24 projects are funded until the end of March next year, and the Government will ensure that the lessons learned are widely publicised.

But the Government also wants to encourage local authorities to ensure they can provide adequate housing and support services for survivors of domestic violence, because increasing the number of refuges may not always be the best way to address local needs.

• For instance, it may sometimes be better to have more housing available to help women get out of a refuge, and to provide more outreach services than to secure more refuge places.
• To help us find out So we commissioned the GLA research group and yourselves to undertake research on the availability of services to people who approach their local authority for help under the homelessness legislation.
• We need to get detailed information about what is available in terms of accommodation and support services, and whether they meet the needs of the users.
• This research is linked to other Government projects, such as Supporting People, another programme led by Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions to be introduced in 2003
• This initiative represents a new system of planning, monitoring and funding for housing related support services in order to help survivors of domestic violence (and other vulnerable members of the community) to lead more independent lives.
• Because it works as a partnership – local government, service users, health, probation and support services are all involved – provision can be strategically planned and based on an assessment of need.
• That way services can be provided in a more flexible, cost effective way.
• It also means that local authorities have to identify unmet needs and commission future provision accordingly.
• At the moment, a range of providers – including local housing authorities – meet the accommodation needs of survivors of domestic violence.
• Others – such as social service departments and groups like yourselves - provide support services.
• But too many of these organisations have insecure funding and rely on volunteers.
• That is why Supporting People is such an important project, because it will enable us to develop housing and support services in a coherent way.
• And we will be able to give the needs of domestic violence survivors their due priority when it comes to the planning and funding of services in the programme.
• I know too that you are working with that department on developing guidance to address domestic violence issues in the Supporting People programme, which will be published in a general guidance paper next month. We will follow this up with more specific guidance on domestic violence issues early next year.

• We know we have to look further to give women and their children a more flexible system of justice, so that women are not forced down either the civil or criminal path.

• And very shortly, the Crown Prosecution Service will be issuing guidance for their prosecutors, following consultation with a number of different groups, including WAFE.
• The guidelines acknowledge that domestic violence has not always been recognised as a serious offence, but pledges that in future the CPS will have greater regard to the effect that their decisions have on both victims and witnesses.
• As part of that guidance, the CPS has also drawn up a public statement which sets out a new definition of domestic violence that explicitly focuses on criminal offences, and includes intra-familial violence.
• The CPS has now committed itself to working with Womens Aid and similar groups to help them improve their understanding of domestic violence and to help them make the right decisions.
• Importantly, the statement also contains an explicit commitment to protect minority ethnic community victims of domestic violence.

• Colleagues, domestic violence can not, and must never, be tolerated, excused or ignored.
• Apart from the enormous human cost involved, the cost to the public purse is huge.
• We know this is a challenge for government – that we must act in a joined up way so women and children don’t fall through the cracks in provision. The Bluestone case highlights everyone’s worst fears. We will examine and learn from that case. So John Denham will be chairing an inter-ministerial group to co-ordinate departments and the governments approach to domestic violence.
• Women have the right to feel safe in their own homes and their personal relationships.
• Stopping domestic violence must, therefore, be a priority for our society and I will continue to do whatever I can to work towards that goal.