Westminster Hall Debate on Violence against Women

Speech by Jo Swinson MP on Thu 9th Mar 2006

I very much welcome the fact that we are having this important debate to mark international women's day. In January, I was lucky enough to come high in the ballot for Prime Minister's questions, and I used the opportunity to question the Prime Minister about violence against women. In doing my research for that, I came across a frightening statistic. Nearly half the women in the United Kingdom have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. That is the kind of statistic that one reads and wonders whether it can really be true. However, I went away and researched it, and there it was in black and white from 45 per cent. of real women talking about their experiences to the British crime survey. That underlines how wide ranging the problem is and how often it occurs behind closed doors. It is happening in every constituency in the country.

I am not sure that I received as full an answer as I was after from the Prime Minister, but time is very short at Prime Minister's questions, so I shall give him the benefit of the doubt. However, I would very much welcome it if the Minister who responds to the debate would comment on the idea of an integrated strategy across Departments to deal with the issue. It is good to have a strategy on domestic violence, but we need to recognise that that is only one aspect of violence against women. There are sex crimes, trafficking, which has been mentioned already and involves the Home Office and the Foreign Office—

-Martin Salter (Reading West, Labour)

Does the hon. Lady accept that violent internet pornography of the sort that led to the brutal murder of Jane Longhurst is also a form of violence against women? Will she take this opportunity to praise Jane's mother, Liz Longhurst, who has spearheaded an all-party campaign against violent, exploitative internet images in which women are raped, tortured or murdered in the name of private profit and sexual gratification?

-Jo Swinson: Certainly. I very much welcome the opportunity to do so, and to congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his hard work on that issue. It is a good example of how violence against women involves all aspects of Government and many Departments, particularly the Department of Health, the Department for Education and Skills and even the Department for Transport where it concerns women travelling home safely, often late at night. It is vital for the issue to be on the agenda and discussed and acted on in every Department. I hope that the Minister will express support for that strategy, as endorsed by the End Violence Against Women Coalition.

Today, I should particularly like to discuss an issue that was brought to my attention by a women's refuge in my constituency, the Women's Aid refuge in Bishopbriggs, which I visited yesterday. It opened fairly recently, and comprises five flats that provide a great haven for women who are fleeing domestic violence. The issue that they raised with me was not one that I might have expected—it was television licences. That is an issue because when many women take the difficult decision to flee their partners, they do not at first have the confidence to go into the communal area of the refuge. They often want the safety and security of being within their own, self-contained flat with a locked door.

The charity Refuge tells me that women often say that the television is a great source of comfort, perhaps as a way to entertain their children or just to provide background noise, which gives them a feeling of security. The situation that was brought to my attention and which I found shocking concerned the fact that the refuge had been told that it needed one licence to cover the property, but shortly afterwards started receiving angry reminder letters saying that it needed a licence for each flat. What was worse was the fact that the letters went to the women in the individual flats who were fleeing domestic violence.

That was obviously distressing for the women in their vulnerable state. The refuge wrote to the television licensing enforcement people, explained the nature of the property, said that it had been told that it needed only one licence and asked the agency to send any future correspondence to the office instead. What happened then was that one Friday night at 6 o'clock an enforcement officer came round. The staff had left the refuge, but he demanded entry and the 20-year-old mother who answered the door and let him in was bullied into signing forms to make instalments and payments. She was very distressed for the entire weekend. Eventually, the staff who came back on the Monday morning were able to sort out the situation.

Hon. Members will know that the most dangerous thing that a woman suffering domestic violence can do is to leave her partner. That is when she is at the highest risk of homicide. Men often stalk their partners and try to gain access to refuges. One of the most common ways in which they do that is to pose as officials, such as plumbers or council officials. It is unacceptable for television licensing people to force their way into women's refuges. Looking into the issue, I was further appalled to learn that hotels and guest houses require only one licence per 15 rooms. Although they are private enterprises, they do not have to have one licence per room; they have a concession. Residential care homes also have a concessionary rate per room.

Many of the people in women's refuges are staying there temporarily, whether for a few days, a few weeks or even a few months. There is a very strong case—I have written to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport about it—to extend the concessionary scheme to include women's refuges. I very much hope that that will be done in the upcoming BBC charter review. I should particularly like to know whether the Minister responding to the debate would be prepared to support that initiative on an issue that affects women's refuges up and down the country. It might be a small matter, but it is one that we should take the opportunity to sort out.