New UK Domestic Abuse Bill - Rainscourt Family Law Solicitors

The Government has committed to introducing a new domestic abuse bill, following its recent consultation process. You can read more about the history of this bill in our previous blog.

It is proposed that the new bill will:

provide for a statutory definition of domestic abuse
establish the office of Domestic Abuse Commissioner and set out the Commissioner’s functions and powers
provide for a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and DAPO
prohibit perpetrators of domestic and other forms of abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in the family courts (and prevent victims from having to cross-examine their abusers) and give the court discretion to prevent cross-examination in person where it would diminish the quality of the witness’s evidence or cause the witness significant distress
create a statutory presumption that complainants of an offence involving behaviour that amounts to domestic abuse are eligible for special measures in the criminal courts
enable domestic abuse offenders to be subject to polygraph testing as a condition of their licence following their release from custody
place the guidance supporting the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme on a statutory footing
ensure that, where a local authority, for reasons connected with domestic abuse, grants a new secure tenancy to a social tenant who had or has a secure lifetime or assured tenancy (other than an assured shorthold tenancy), this must be a secure lifetime tenancy
extend the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the criminal courts in England and Wales to further violent and sexual offences

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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