To ask the Minister of Justice to detail the collaborative work that (i) has been undertaken; and (ii) is planned with the (a) PSNI; (b) Public Prosecution Service; and (c) other elements of the justice system, to ensure a joined-up and consistent approach to the treatment of women and girls who have experienced domestic or sexual violence.

Collaboration is a critical to the development of informed, effective and fit for purpose policies and practices. My Department collaborates closely with the PSNI, PPS and other Criminal Justice organisations (CJOs) on a range of matters at strategic, policy and service delivery levels to ensure that there is a joined-up and consistent approach to the treatment of all victims of domestic and sexual abuse, including women and girls.

At a strategic level this includes:

collaborative work with PSNI, PPS and other partners, to develop deliver the cross-Departmental 2016-23 Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse Strategy and associated annual action plans;

collaborative work with PSNI, PPS and other partners to develop a new seven-year Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy and initial action plan, which I hope to publish soon, in partnership with the Minister of Health; and

ongoing collaborative work to implement the systemic reforms to the law and procedures in serious sexual offences that have been recommended by the Gillen Review.

At a policy level this includes:

engagement and collaboration with a range of criminal justice and wider partners to inform the development of legislation to tackle domestic and sexual violence, including most recently the introduction of a new domestic abuse offence and new offences and measures to tackle voyeurism and stalking;

collaboration with PSNI to develop policy and guidance to support the delivery of the Domestic Violence and Abuse Disclosure Scheme (DVADS) which PSNI is responsible delivering. Following evaluation of the scheme, my Department and the PSNI collaborated to update guidance, to reflect learning and recommendations from the evaluation report. This included lowering the disclosure threshold from the risk of “serious harm” to “harm” and making changes to the process to make it more efficient, including reducing maximum timescales;

collaboration with PSNI to inform the development of regulations to support the delivery of Operation Encompass;

ongoing collaboration with a range of criminal justice and wider partners through the operation of Domestic Homicide Reviews, to examine cases where domestic abuse has resulted in death in order to help mitigate future risk by learning lessons and promoting best practice;

ongoing collaboration with criminal justice and wider partners to consider and scope options for Barnahus-informed services in Northern Ireland, to enhance and coordinate wrap-around services to child victims of serious sexual offences;

ongoing collaboration with PSNI and the Executive Office to inform the development of a PSNI-led campaign aimed at reducing unacceptable behaviour, sexual offending and gender-based violence;

ongoing collaboration with criminal justice and wider partners to develop arrangements to pilot the concept of Pre-Recorded Cross Examination in serious sexual offence cases involving children;

ongoing collaboration with criminal justice and wider partners on the operation of a voluntary, judge-led protocol to expedite serious sexual offence cases involving children under the age of 13;

further collaborative work with criminal justice and wider partners to identify additional measures to address abusive behaviour is also underway; and

collaborative work with a range of criminal justice and wider partners is due to commence soon to develop new multi-agency arrangements to manage risk in relation to domestic abuse, informed by an independent review of the MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference) process.

Examples of collaborative approaches to the development and delivery of services include:

collaboration with PSNI to establish an advocacy service for victims of domestic and sexual abuse which is currently delivered by ASSIST NI;

collaboration with criminal justice partners to develop and introduce Remote Evidence Centres (RECs) in Northern Ireland that help to support vulnerable victims to provide their best evidence to the court in a way that minimises trauma from the criminal justice process;

collaboration with PSNI and PPS to inform the establishment and ongoing monitoring of a pilot scheme to provide publicly funded Sexual Offences Legal Advisers (SOLAs) which is currently delivered by Victim Support NI;

ongoing collaboration with criminal justice partners, including the Judiciary to pilot a Domestic Abuse Contest Court (DACC) at the Belfast REC. There have now been three DACC days where victims and prosecution witnesses have been based at the Belfast REC, with nine cases completed resulting in convictions in all of them. Further DACCs are provisionally booked for September and November; and

My Department also provides funding to PBNI to support the delivery of behavioural change programmes designed to address abusive behaviour; prevent the escalation of abuse; and mitigate the risk posed to individuals.

My Department will continue to work collaboratively to develop and deliver effective responses to domestic and sexual violence and abuse.