Safeguarding minister ‘aghast’ at domestic abuse report

For years in opposition Jess Philips campaigned – with many others – for better data on the number of women who take their own lives after suffering domestic abuse.

Now she’s the minister responsible for tackling violence against women and girls – and her job is to make sure understanding the scale of the problem translates into real action. We spoke to her earlier and asked first for her reaction to Ashleigh Inskipp’s story

Jess Phillips: Every individual is a tragedy that you take into your heart. I’m afraid to say that the data shows us that, in fact,  suicide at the hands of and caused by domestic abuse is starting – and the data – to outstrip the number of people whose lives are taken by homicide.

Jackie Long: The report from the NPCC today calls for a better multi-agency approach to prevent these deaths. I suspect in opposition you would have torn your hair out at the idea that we need a multi- agency approach. But the very idea that the basics still appear not to be done, police not speaking to the NHS, not speaking to social workers, information about these women’s lives and the threat posed to them not being collated, not being acted on. I mean, are you disappointed that that is still not being done in enough cases?

Jess Phillips: It’s not just in opposition that I would be tearing my hair out. Like you, on reading that, I am aghast. I have heard that for 20 years, I suspect I’ll hear it again in 20 years’ time unless we truly act. So yes, you’re absolutely right to be flabbergasted by that. And so what I have to do as a government minister and what the government has to do, as part of its mission to halt violence against women and girls, is look at every single one of those entry points. Whether it’s social work, whether it’s your GP, whether it’s your A&E, whether it’s the police service, whether it’s your kid’s school. Whatever it is, wherever your entry point is, there has to be actions taken to prevent. Now, I’m not idealistic enough to think that overnight I could change this and make everything brilliant and rosy, but we have to do the work on the entry points and learn lessons, rather than just saying we’ve learnt lessons.

Jackie Long: The families we have been speaking to say that it is too often a postcode lottery in terms of how the police respond immediately, but also how coroners are responding to these cases. How do you – now you are in government – how do we change that?

Jess Phillips: So look, there’s a very real problem in our country with the fact that there are 43 police forces and coronial courts mapping across those police forces as well. We have invested in a new centre which is, like terrorism has, a policing centre where intelligence and practice is learnt from the centre. We are investing in a New Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection Centre to share learning and monitor progress against the domestic homicide reviews that are into suicides, for example, to make sure that police forces are learning these from a central point.

Jackie Long: For so many of those bereaved families, what they want is to see a perpetrator in court.

Jess Phillips: Look, I absolutely want to see the perpetrators of domestic abuse held to account, whether somebody takes their lives or loses their life or not, and so absolutely I want to see justice. And that is why there is a homicide review being undertaken by the Law Commission that includes the cases of manslaughter in cases of suicide as part of its remit. And I very much look forward to see what the recommendations of that are. And so, I don’t really want it to be families fighting an eight-year campaign, taking civil action. I want to ensure that those systems are in place and that they are the same across all police force areas. That isn’t going to change overnight, regardless of the massive force of my personality.

Jackie Long: And just very briefly, I mean, what would success – it’s difficult to talk about success in this terrible area – but what would success look like?

Jess Phillips: Success to me looks like a proper prevention strategy to prevent violence against women and girls happening in the first place and also prevent the repeat of those most prolific perpetrators.