Naomi Long
East Belfast · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“Underneath the Facebook posts to say that he had passed away, people speculated with such comments as, "Probably high on drugs", "Probably drunk", and, "Typical boy racer". There was all of that speculation. It was hurtful to the family, and it was inaccurate.”
“There are circumstances that we need to consider and be careful of. I was told, for example, that, when the issue of good character references at trial was being looked at in New South Wales — Committee members may wish to look at this for themselves — one of the groups that opposed their removal was representative of domestic abuse victi…”
“It sets out the strategic direction adopted by the Department and key partners to tackle those appalling crimes and protect vulnerable victims of exploitation.”
“The provision seeks to provide protection, via legal advice and representation for complainants, against the use of non-relevant personal material and evidence of previous sexual history being used in the court process.”
“<BR /> <BR />On the wider issue of ensuring that a withdrawal of services never happens again, I think that most of us agree that, although everyone has the right to take industrial action, no one has the right to derail and hold to ransom the entire justice system in that way.”
“Those measures will go some way towards helping to support complainants and enable them to have input into the decision-making process about what records containing their personal and sensitive information are required to be shared with the defence.”
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“That was the Northern Ireland that she loved and helped to nurture. Sadly, however, her election also brought out the worst in some people: Anna was subjected to appalling racism and abuse. Anna's bravery in facing down her abusers, on her own behalf and on behalf of others, was matched only by the support and encouragement that flowed towards her from friends, colleagues and constituents, all of whom were inspired by her resilience. There could be no more passionate and consistent an advocate for the causes that she took up and that were close to her heart. To have Anna on your side was to have a determined and persistent champion, whether that be for the protection of the environment, human rights or equality and women's rights. <BR /> <BR />For those of us who knew her best, Anna was not just a colleague but a friend.”
“She could not have been more surprised when I asked, and I could not have been more delighted when she agreed. After she spoke to the local association at a selection meeting, only days later, they were thrilled to select her as their candidate. The rest, as they say, is history. <BR /> <BR />That was genuine history in the making, however, in that Anna became the first person from an ethnic minority background to be elected in Northern Ireland and the first person from a Chinese background to be elected to any legislature in western Europe. She paved the way for others from minority backgrounds to participate and contribute, and, as a society, we are much the richer for that. <BR /> <BR />Her election showed the best of us in Northern Ireland: warm, welcoming, diverse and confident.”
“Her thirst for knowledge and learning — her natural curiosity — made her a joy to be around. <BR /> <BR />I first met Anna when I was a councillor in Belfast City Council, and she was a member of the good relations steering panel. At that time, she was also guiding the plans for the new Chinese Resource Centre through the various procedural hoops for planning and funding. From the minute that I met her, I was hugely impressed by her. Her commitment to the city, to public service and to building a truly shared and united community shone through. Integration and fairness were in her DNA. I saw in Anna the qualities that would make her an excellent public representative, and I asked her, in 2007, whether she would consider running for Alliance in South Belfast.”
“Born in Hong Kong, Anna came here and made her home here. Now, at a time when immigration is such a contested issue, we remember with gratitude the fact that Anna chose this place — chose us — and made a huge contribution to the community here. As a translator, a social worker, the chief executive of the Chinese Welfare Association and a Member of the Assembly, Anna's life was one of service. Her compassion, empathy, intelligence and insight made her not just an excellent legislator and Environment Committee Chair, but an outstanding constituency worker. <BR /> <BR />Anna was, however, much more than her work. She was a published author, a gifted artist and someone who loved to spend time walking and hiking in nature; a fact that is reflected in many of her paintings.”
“This is a tribute that I hoped I would never have to pay. For all of us in the Alliance Party, it is hard to contemplate that Anna is no longer with us. She was full of energy and joy and lit up every room that she entered. It is hard to believe that we will not see her again. On behalf of Alliance, I extend condolences to her sons, Owen and Conall; her daughter-in law, Fiona; her two grandchildren; and her partner, Robert. Anna was hugely proud of her family, and I know that they will truly miss her. <BR /> <BR />When making tributes to public figures, we often speak in superlatives, using words such as trailblazing, unique, groundbreaking and transformational. Few truly deserve such praise, and there are still fewer for whom those words feel inadequate to express what they were to us, but Anna was one of those precious few.”
“<BR /> <BR />I want to encourage the Cttee, and I thank the Chair and Deputy Chair for reassuring me that they want to do the work expeditiously. I remain absolutely committed to ensuring that my Department does all in its power to ensure that the commitments that we have made to bereaved families, victims of crime and the wider community are delivered within the mandate. By working with the Committee, we can achieve that on all our parts, but it requires proportionality. I encourage Members to reflect on the consequences of taking such long periods for scrutiny for the progress that we can make in the House and on the impact that that will have on their constituents.”
“We need to ensure that legislation is properly scrutinised but accept that, even with the lengthiest scrutiny possible, there may be things that need to change, because we live in a world that changes. Things emerge; things evolve. That is not to say that what we have brought to the Committee has not been stress-tested and future-proofed — of course it has — but my officials cannot be held to account, nor can it be suggested that they have in any way been lacking in clarity, given that the legal system itself is an evolving creature and they have to respond to those evolutions. What is true today may not be true in five, six, seven years' time. That is the nature of the work. We need to accept that that is the case.”
“Having appealed for changes to sentencing laws in this place and been unable to get that done because, for five of those 10 years, there was no Assembly and because, for the last three years when we sat, we had other Bills that had to progress, they have this opportunity to see delivery in the sentencing Bill. They are not minor issues. The issues around placing child bail and remand on a statutory footing date back to pre 2015, when I was not a Member of the House, yet I have read into the issues and the challenges in the time that has been afforded to me. <BR /> <BR />I do not believe that it should be a case of more haste, less speed, but there is an appropriate level of scrutiny. It is vital that we do not allow perfection to become the enemy of the good.”
“<BR /> <BR />With regard to the Department's delays, there is, undoubtedly, a pressure on the House. When we sit for five out of 10 years, there is a backlog of work that needs to be done. The public would find it odd if, having not been in the Chamber for the two years prior to this, we were not willing to be in the Chamber as often and for as long as is required to clear that backlog. They have expectations of us as their public representatives to put their concerns first. <BR /> <BR />Many of the issues that I am trying to address have been before the House for a considerable time. Let me give the Member an example that was raised by his colleague: driving under the influence and the cases in which doing so causes death or serious injury. The family of Enda Dolan spoke out earlier this autumn on the 10th anniversary of Enda's death.”
“No and no. <BR /> <BR />The issue of Keeling schedules should now be pursued through First Legislative Counsel, because using my Department as an intermediary in the argument has been exhausted. There is nothing that I can add on that. It is not for my Department to do. <BR /> <BR />The other issue is the amendments on biometrics. I understand that they are many pages long, but, despite what has been suggested, they are about providing additional clarity. They are not substantive changes. They were worked through with the PSNI to ensure that clarity and precision were there. It was important that we did that. The Committee will have an opportunity to look at the clauses, which it already has, and at the amendments that have been provided. There is no delay in that regard.”
“They said that, if Keeling schedules were to be required for each Bill, it would be additional work for them that would require additional resources and could not be dealt with. I have exhausted my ability to take the issue forward, but I encourage the Committee Chair and the Committee in general to speak to First Legislative Counsel to understand what is involved in the production of the Keeling schedules and why it is not a matter that my Department would naturally take forward and why, they believe, it is not required.”
“<BR /> <BR />If people wish to proceed on this basis and the House agrees to an 18-month extension, I will seek firm reassurance from the Committee that it will, nevertheless, proceed expeditiously with scrutiny to avoid the full 18-month extension being required before returning to the House for the remaining stages. My officials remain available to assist the work of the Committee as swiftly as is practical. I would also welcome the assurance that the remainder of the Department's legislative programme will not be placed at risk. <BR /> <BR />Finally, I will mention the two issues that have been raised again. The first is about Keeling schedules. I have explained that there is no automated ability to produce Keeling schedules. We have taken further views from First Legislative Counsel.”
“It is entirely possible, given the content of the Bill, for the Committee to proceed to detailed consideration of the clauses that are already in its gift at this point in time without any knock-on impact on the clauses that we are now sharing with the Committee at an early stage, which it can then scrutinise. The clauses do not impact on each other because of the nature of a mixed content Bill. There is no need for the complete Bill to be there unlike, for example, the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act 2021, where the intimate connections between the parts of the Bill would have made such an approach impossible. This Bill is a different vehicle and method, and, therefore, there is more flexibility for the Committee to look at things ahead of the provision of other clauses.”
“Therefore, far from it being extraordinary that we are amending the Bill, it is extraordinary that we are sharing the amendments so early in the process. <BR /> <BR />I very much welcome the Committee's commitment to properly scrutinising the Justice Bill. It is not just the statutory function of Committees and the House, but it assists me and my officials. I have no difficulty with an extension being sought to allow sufficient time to complete due diligence, but the extension needs to be proportionate, and, in my view, 18 months is excessive. <BR /> <BR />On the ability to scrutinise without sight of all the clauses, as I have said on many occasions, the Bill is wide in scope, in that there are many elements to it, but each of those elements is discrete. For example, biometrics does not impact child bail and remand and so on.”
“The amendments in this case are unusual only in the fact that they will all be with the Committee by the end of the calendar year. As my colleague has indicated, the first set of those amendments is already with the Committee. A second set is making its way to the Committee, and the remaining sets will be with them by the end of the calendar year. It is not normal for amendments to be shared that far in advance. They are normally published, in line with the guidance, at Consideration Stage. The Department has gone out of its way to ensure, because we know that the amendments are anticipated and that the Committee would like to scrutinise them, that we will give the extra time and have, therefore, been able to facilitate that.”
“That is its purpose, and then there is a Further Consideration Stage at which those amendments can be refined. To be clear, there is nothing unusual about amending a Bill at Consideration Stage; it is, in fact, the Committee's only opportunity to amend the legislation. Therefore, the idea that it is in some way unusual or inappropriate not to have those amendments in hand now is a dangerous precedent to set because it also suggests that, if the Committee proposes amendments later in the process, it is being rushed or ill considered in its approach, and I would disagree strongly with that view.”
“Even the largest mixed-content Bill that my Department has progressed since the devolution of justice powers in 2010 — it became the Justice Act 2015, and it contained 107 sections and had nine schedules to it — had a Committee Stage that lasted only nine months, including the summer and Christmas recesses. The proposed 18-month Committee Stage is therefore exceptionally long, even by the standards of previous complex legislation that was thoroughly but expeditiously scrutinised. It is important that a balance be struck. <BR /> <BR />I will talk a little about the amendments, because that has been a theme of the debate. Consideration Stage is the natural point at which a Committee or a Department proposes amendments to a Bill.”
“Rather, it did the work thoroughly and competently. The fact that things are overturned at judicial review does not always mean that people have not done their job as they ought to have done it. <BR /> <BR />Although every Bill is different, the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act 2021, which was delivered during the previous mandate, was similar in size to the Justice Bill that is before the Assembly now, and it was considerably more complex. The Committee Stage of that Bill ran from 29 April 2020 until 15 October 2020, which was a period of five and a half months that spanned the summer recess.”
“I have to say that I found that the previous Committee — I know that there are Members who were members of that Committee — did its work thoroughly and diligently. Any suggestion to the contrary does not reflect the input that the Committee had on the shape or content of Bills. Many of the issues that the previous Committee raised and, indeed, amendments that it tabled at Consideration Stage have proven to be critical to making better provision for victims of, for example, domestic abuse and stalking by ensuring that there is front-line training for various criminal justice organisations. <BR /> <BR />It is therefore important that we recognise that the previous Committee, despite the narrative that seems to be developing, worked really effectively in its scrutiny role. Its approach was not slapdash. It did not rush the work.”
“It would also have a negative impact on public perceptions of this legislature's ability to deliver on the public's priorities. <BR /> <BR />I sought in my legislative programme to ensure minimum overlap between Committee Stages of successive Bills, as that has been the preference of Committees to date. With an extension of this duration, however, that would be impossible to achieve without losing both subsequent Bills. I thank the Committee Chair for giving a clear undertaking of the Committee's intention not to stack Bills end to end but rather to allow them to progress in parallel where that is required in order for progress to be made. <BR /> <BR />Finally, on the proportionality of the proposed extension, I will compare the Bill with previous Department of Justice primary legislative vehicles.”
“<BR /> <BR />The victims Bill that I intend to introduce after the sentencing Bill is required in order to place the role of the Commissioner for Victims of Crime on a statutory footing, which I know that a number of Members are particularly keen to see happen so that she can better do the work that she is already fully engaged in of representing victims in the justice system and improving their experience of that system. The Bill is also required in order to deliver additional measures to improve support for victims and witnesses of crime and additional elements of the Gillen and Marrinan reviews. <BR /> <BR />The loss of either or both of those Bills would have a significant impact not only on the efficiency and effectiveness of the justice system but on the public, which I know that no one in the House wishes to see.”
“<BR /> <BR />The sentencing Bill will contain important and much-sought-after provisions, including provisions to encourage the disclosure of the location of victims' remains, to be known as "Charlotte's law"; to increase maximum penalties for offences of causing death by dangerous driving; to create a new offence of assaulting those providing a service to the public or performing a public duty; and to introduce a statutory aggravator model to modernise the law relating to hate crime. There is huge public and political interest, including from Members, in seeing those matters progressed as a matter of urgency.”
“I will turn now to the wider impacts of granting an extension to the Justice Bill's Committee Stage. It remains my intention to introduce two further pieces of legislation in this mandate: a sentencing Bill and a victims Bill. In simple terms, were there to be a similar extension of Committee Stage for the sentencing Bill — the next Bill in my programme, due for introduction next autumn — which is likely to be more complex in policy terms than the Justice Bill, that Bill would fall before the Committee had completed its scrutiny of it. The consequences for the victims Bill are even more stark.”
“<BR /> <BR />Members will be concerned, as am I, that a Committee Stage extension will extend further the period during which the use of live links in the justice system is reliant on emergency provisions intended for the coronavirus pandemic. That is something that I want to see brought to an end expeditiously. It is important, in that context, that we can move forward as quickly as possible with this legislation so that those emergency provisions can be set aside.”
“Those, with respect, are matters of implementation. The Bill is about the matter of principle that the first option considered by the judiciary should be bail. If we do not put this on a statutory footing, there is no imperative for other Departments to step forward and look at issues around accommodation, safe places for children to go and alternative provision to placing people in custody where that may prove to be unnecessary. For this Bill, we need to scrutinise the legislation, but we do not and should not, at this stage, engage in scrutinising the implementation, because that is a separate matter that will come back to the Committee after the Bill has been passed. The issues around that have already been widely debated.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Chair, rightly, indicated the complexities of child bail and remand and the interplay between Departments, but those, with respect, are matters of implementation, not matters of legislation. It is already a presumption in common law that there is a presumption of bail for children, and it is already accepted that we should put the current arrangements on a legislative footing. That has been the accepted position of the Committee and the Department for some time. It is also the accepted position of those organisations that work in this area. It does not, crucially, remove the ability where housing or suitable accommodation is not available. It does not remove flexibility or judicial discretion in being able to, for example, remand a child in custody where that is the safest option.”
“<BR /> <BR />Furthermore, many of these provisions are long overdue, having been delayed by two suspensions of these institutions and deferred in the previous mandate to narrow the focus of what was to be a mixed-content Bill and ended up being the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill. Further delay in those clauses may leave the Department at ongoing risk of legal challenge and leaves the legislation in this jurisdiction lagging behind the rest of these islands. A number of organisations have already raised their concerns with me around what the extension to the Committee Stage of the Bill might mean for provisions around, for example, child bail and remand.”
“I accept entirely that this is a new Committee that will want to apprise itself of the detail, but it also has to be recognised that these provisions are brought forward, often, in response to High Court judgements, rulings of the courts and considerable policy development that has been taking place over many years. Other provisions have been required in response to court rulings, and, therefore, there is relatively little in the way of genuinely new policy involved. The policy development work of this is well established and has been well scrutinised, and the need for these clauses, therefore, has been well tested.”
“<BR /> <BR />However, even in light of the judgement, an extension of this magnitude is excessive in this case. If granted, it could potentially have a significant impact on the Department's planned legislative programme for the remainder of the mandate, as there will be only one calendar year of Assembly business left from the end of the Committee Stage of this Bill and the end of all Assembly business before the next local elections in May 2027. <BR /> <BR />I will look first at the impact of the extension on this Bill. Much of the Bill's content has already been widely consulted upon and debated at length via public consultation and a previous Committee.”
“The truth is that there is a lot of discussion and debate. Meetings take place outside the formal sessions and the formal scrutiny. People will discuss it with colleagues and advisers and seek other information. It is wrong to suggest that the amount of time spent equals good scrutiny. One could spend a lot of time talking about an issue that one is entirely satisfied with from the outset. That is not scrutiny and is not efficient. You could equally spend much less time on something and feel that you have properly scrutinised it and are content with the outcome. There is a difficulty in the tracking of the amount of time spent with the quality of the work done. I think that we would all accept that there are serious issues arising from the judgement by making that one of the considerations.”
“Therefore, what I am setting out are the worst-case scenarios because I want Members to be aware of what the consequences of taking the full 18 months could be, although I accept that the Chair seems reasonably determined to ensure that that will not be necessary. <BR /> <BR />First, I understand that the Committee considers that additional time is needed for effective scrutiny, particularly in light of the Mediahuis judgement. As Members will recall, I raised that in the Chamber and with Executive colleagues at the time due to its potential to impact on any legislation before the House. I believe that it is fundamentally wrong to suggest that one can retrospectively look at Hansard and Committee minutes and judge from that the degree to which Members have scrutinised any provisions.”
“In this case, that consultation did not happen, and, combined with the length of the extension sought, I think that there are, potentially, some profound implications to the Committee's proposal that I feel that I should share with Members as they go about making their decision. <BR /> <BR />While the guidance provided by TEO is primarily for Bill teams, it was developed in consultation with the Assembly, is written to follow Standing Orders and promotes, I think, a collaborative and sensible approach of working together. I want to outline some of the concerns that I have, but I also want to acknowledge that, in a meeting that I had yesterday with the Chair and the Deputy Chair, I did receive some reassurance. That has been repeated by the Chair in the Chamber today, and I accept that progress is being made in that regard.”
“I want to speak on the motion to extend the Committee Stage of the Justice Bill to 27 March 2026. I fully appreciate how unusual it is for a Minister to speak on what is normally considered a routine motion such as this, but the circumstances are slightly unique for two reasons. First, the length of the extension sought is unprecedented, with the Committee seeking an 18-month period for the Committee Stage of a Bill — a Bill that currently has 30 substantive clauses. Secondly, Executive Office guidance states that, where an extension is contemplated, the Committee Clerk should consult the Department on the implications and the Department should, in turn, take the views of the legislative programme secretariat in TEO in relation to the effect on the legislative programme overall.”
“I encourage people in the area to look at their Ring doorbells or at CCTV to see whether there is anything on them that might give the police somewhere to start their investigations. People will be safest when the people who commit such crimes are in custody.”
“I absolutely concur. The sooner that people do so, the better. Although it may be hard to believe, there will be people who have suspicions that someone whom they know was involved in that spate of attacks. I encourage them to come forward to give that information to the PSNI.”
“Whilst that may be a short-term protection for those women, it is not a solution to the problem. Women should not need to move in groups in order to feel safe in our community. Men need to let women live their lives in peace, whether they are on their own or together. Whether they are walking singly or in crowds, it is not acceptable for any woman to be attacked in this day and age.”
“However, we need to bear it in mind that, unless you are routinely engaged in a space where you are likely to use those self-defence techniques, the challenge is whether, when attacked, it will be natural to you to use the mechanisms that you have trained in to defend yourself. It can also create a false sense of security and lead people to go to environments or places that may be higher-risk in the belief that they can defend themselves. That is a difficult issue for me to address. <BR /> <BR />What I can say is this: we all know the things that we can do, such as taking precautions and considering where we go. Sadly, in this day and age, more and more women say that they are afraid to leave home on their own in the evenings or that they have to move in groups because they feel vulnerable when they are on their own.”
“When it comes to how people should protect themselves in the public space, the best people to give that kind of community safety advice are PSNI officers. I do not claim, nor should I, to be an expert. However, I will say this: pepper spray is illegal, and no one should carry it. The risk of carrying pepper spray is that, like any weapon, it could be turned on you and used against you. People should not resort to carrying weapons, because they could end up being used against the individual who carries them. I need to put that on the record. <BR /> <BR />There is a role for things like self-defence, of course.”
“Again, it is not for me to ensure that the Executive Office fund any organisation. The investment that it makes is a matter for Executive Office Ministers. I believe that its budget is around £3 million. The strategy for which I am responsible — the domestic and sexual abuse strategy — has a budget of around £1·62 million this year. My Department is not involved in the direct funding of core services for any community and voluntary sector organisations. We do, however, engage with the community and voluntary sector in the commissioning of services. The funding for those who have been working for my Department in that capacity has been ring-fenced and protected.”
“Anyone who is subject to reporting arrangements under what is commonly known as the "sex offenders register" has to let the police know what their accommodation address is. That goes without saying. The police will be notified of that.”
“<BR /> <BR />I have to be honest and say that many of the victims who come forward and who have spoken to the Commissioner Designate for Victims of Crime say that the service they received was not what they would wish. I would, nevertheless, encourage people who are in those circumstances to come forward. They will be believed, they will be listened to, and they will be heard. If they find that they are not getting the service to which they are entitled under the Victim Charter and the Witness Charter, I would encourage them to speak directly to the commissioner designate, who can pursue the matter on their behalf and ensure that, in future, they do.”
“From the new year, there will also be children's sexual offences legal advisers to support people through their cases. <BR /> <BR />Undoubtedly, this is one of the most heinous kind of crime. A person already feels violated and fearful when they have been attacked in that way. It is important that they do not feel further violated by their experience of the justice system. That is why the sexual offences legal advisers are so important in providing people with general legal advice. It is important to say that, through the domestic and sexual abuse strategy, counselling is also available for those who need it. However, all those services are under a degree of strain.”
“I cannot speak to those specific attacks for obvious reasons, and I urge people to be cautious when they talk about live cases. However, if a victim comes forward and makes a disclosure about an attack, an assault or any kind of abuse, whether that be current or historical, a number of things ought to happen. The Victim Charter and the Witness Charter set out the expectations that any victim and witness can have, but they also set out the expectations that those who are particularly vulnerable due to the nature of the crime can have. The victim and witness care unit, provided by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), can intervene and support people to be able to give evidence in court, including through familiarisation visits. For sexual offences, we have implemented the recommendation on sexual offences legal advisers.”
“I know their commitment, and I have no doubt whatsoever that, if they have announced that they are going to make extra high-visibility patrols, those will happen. However, in order for us to make a sustained difference, we cannot look only at the response after someone has become a victim. As I said, there are things we could do upstream, at very little cost, that would change attitudes and cultures and protect women and girls from that type of violence. We need to focus more on what we do in that space if we are to see our budgets become more sustainable and our lives become a lot safer than they are at the moment.”
“I cannot answer for the funding of the ending violence against women and girls strategy because that lies within the functions and budget of the Executive Office. It would be appropriate for you to raise that with the Executive Office. <BR /> <BR />I have been clear that the PSNI budget is not adequate to cover all the issues that the PSNI needs to cover. I have argued that the Department of Justice and the PSNI need additional resources so that, when people become victims, they will get the right support and right care at the right time, and will be able to progress through the court system swiftly and see their attackers and abusers held to account. <BR /> <BR />Gillian Kearney and Lindsay Fisher are two women in the PSNI whom I admire greatly.”
“I have led a conversation with the Home Office and others on what we can do about online harms within the provisions of the Online Safety Act 2023. That legislation did not go far enough; it needs to go further. If we are to protect our women and girls, we need to educate our men and boys about what it means to be a decent, caring and responsive adult and male. Too often in our society, women's lives are treated as expendable, and men and boys are treated as though they will not be held to account for that attitude.”
“As I set out, I am, jointly with your party colleague the Health Minister, taking forward action on domestic and sexual abuse. We have not only a seven-year strategy but a three-year action plan. Further to that, the Executive's violence against women and girls strategic framework was launched by the First Minister and deputy First Minister on 16 September. That, again, works through a series of options within its main themes. I am taking the lead by speaking out on the issues, as I have done consistently, not just throughout my political career but before it started. <BR /> <BR />With respect to how we change cultural attitudes, many young people are becoming radicalised online into having very poor views and attitudes towards women and girls.”
“Pillar 3 is "Children and Young People", which is about focusing on preventing children and young people from becoming victims and on working with them to change attitudes, because we know that adverse childhood experiences can lead to offending. Pillar 4 is "Support and Provision" to ensure that victims of domestic and/or sexual abuse get a tailored response, with specialist support and provision to recover and build their lives. The final pillar is "Justice", which focuses on ensuring that justice responses are effective, supporting victims and holding abusive individuals to account at the earliest opportunity. Whilst that is important, it is rightly the fifth step, because everything that goes before it is what will prevent the harm being done.”
“Absolutely. The domestic abuse strategy has five pillars. The first is "Partnership", which is about working across Departments and with statutory, voluntary, community and faith-based organisations. The second is "Prevention", which involves challenging attitudes and behaviours that foster domestic abuse and sexual abuse. It also involves early intervention, which is where RSE and the curriculum become so important. Many young people see violence in the home — domestic abuse and sexual violence — modelled by their parents and guardians. We therefore have to have opportunities to talk to young people about those issues.”
“A lot of the debate that we have had on RSE has, unfortunately, been profoundly unhelpful, which has left many of our young people without the kind of role modelling that they could have had through RSE and the information that they need to protect themselves and others.”