Thank you for contacting me, and for expressing your concern about the implications of New Clause 28 and New Clause 29 that had been tabled as amendments to the Domestic Abuse Bill.
I can confirm that neither clause was ultimately put to a vote. I hope this reassures you that the bill retained its primary purpose of strengthening protections against domestic and sexual violence. These are vital goals which I fully support.
I am pleased that the Government has continued to take action to combat these abhorrent crimes by significantly strengthening our laws and introducing new tools to protect victims. This includes the criminalisation of forced marriage, new stalking offences, an offence for failing to protect a girl from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), lifelong anonymity for victims of forced marriage and FGM, a mandatory reporting duty on FGM, the national roll-out of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (also known as ‘Clare’s Law’), making Domestic Homicide Reviews mandatory and a new offence of domestic abuse covering controlling and coercive behaviour.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
