Policy paper

Draft Domestic Abuse Bill: overarching documents

Documents relating to the draft Domestic Abuse Bill.

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

Documents

Impact assessment

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Policy equality statement

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ECHR memorandum

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Domestic Abuse Bill: 2nd supplemental ECHR memo Lords report

Delegated powers memorandum

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Draft Domestic Abuse Bill

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Details

The Domestic Abuse 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 Domestic Abuse Protection Order
  • 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

You can read the domestic abuse consultation response and draft bill .

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Updates to this page

Published 21 January 2019
Last updated 26 March 2021
  1. New Domestic Abuse Bill, 2nd supplemental ECHR memo Lords report link added.

  2. Updated the impact assessment and policy equality statement.

  3. Added the Domestic Abuse Bill to the list of documents.

  4. First published.

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