Debate contribution: Protecting Victims of Coercive Control

Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on 5 May 2026.

MLA

Mrs Naomi Long

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

5 May 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Protecting Victims of Coercive Control

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5525258

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Members who tabled the motion as well as all those who participated in the debate. The motion draws attention to how perpetrators may seek to use the family courts, in particular, as a way of continuing such abuse. I was speaking to the former Justice Minister in Québec, where they refer to it as "judicial abuse", wherein the judicial processes are used to inflict additional abuse, so this is not unique to Northern Ireland or to our system. As Justice Minister, I am frequently contacted by people about their personal experience of the family courts. Many find it traumatic, challenging and frustrating. All too often we see a clear intersection between domestic abuse and family court proceedings. That has been a recurring theme in recent research, as has the way proceedings in family courts can be weaponised by controlling individuals seeking to continue to abuse their former partner following separation. I should note, though, that responsibility for family justice is shared across several Departments. My Department is responsible for matters relating to court procedure, provision of administrative support to the courts and legal aid. Policy responsibility for substantive private and public family law sits elsewhere, mainly within the Departments of Health and Finance. While, in reality, my Department has few levers to effect substantive change to family law, I am committed to bringing forward improvements to the family justice system in relation to the matters that come within my Department's responsibilities. I also stand ready to work collaboratively with my ministerial counterparts in Finance and Health and others, where opportunities arise to improve the family justice system on a cross-cutting basis. That is why I have welcomed the establishment by the Commissioner Designate for Victims of Crime of a multi-agency family court pilot task and finish working group. That group is bringing together a range of organisations, including some of our partners in the voluntary and community sector, to scope the feasibility of piloting an alternative private family law model for Northern Ireland. The motion highlights the fact that coercive control falls within the definition of abusive behaviour in the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021. That Act, which came into operation in February 2022, gave effect to a major reform of how domestic abuse is understood and responded to in the justice system. The 2021 Act made provision for a new domestic abuse offence that has allowed the law to move beyond viewing domestic abuse as isolated incidents to recognising patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour and, importantly, placing much clearer emphasis on the impact of domestic abuse on children in the wider family context. There is evidence that the domestic abuse offence is being used more frequently and that the domestic abuse aggravator is now more routinely applied in prosecutions. That is important because it shows that the legislation is beginning to achieve its core purpose of ensuring that domestic abuse is properly recognised and reflected in and addressed by the justice response. In addition to introducing domestic abuse as an offence and including provision for psychological abuse and coercive control within that offence, the Act brought about further improvements across the system that are making a tangible difference to victims. The Act established a statutory basis for the sharing of information between the PSNI and schools through Operation Encompass in circumstances where a child has been impacted by domestic abuse the evening before. That assists school personnel to respond quickly and appropriately to that child's needs. My Department is also progressing the introduction of domestic abuse protection notices and orders, which will provide, hopefully, additional protections for victims of domestic abuse. That work has taken some time to ensure that the model is fit for purpose and is tailored to meet the needs of Northern Ireland. However, work with justice partners is well progressed towards the development of a police-led pilot model informed by learning from other jurisdictions. The measures will provide a range of protections. Crucially, they will remove the onus on the victim to make an application, and they will provide powers to direct positive interventions in suitable cases that are aimed at addressing abusive behaviours. As with existing civil protection orders, it is intended that a breach of a domestic abuse protection order (DAPO) will be a criminal offence. The Department continues to develop the detailed policy and operational model for that in partnership with the PSNI and other justice partners and to develop the necessary regulations to enable the introduction of the measures in this jurisdiction. The Department is working towards the commencement of a two-year pilot in the latter half of the 2026-27 financial year. In relation to procedural safeguards for parties in family cases, the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act enhances protections for victims of abuse giving evidence in family proceedings by making provision for the prohibition of cross-examination in person and for the use of special measures. Court rules in operation since the end of 2022 enable the court to direct the use of special measures for victims of domestic abuse to allow them, for example, to give evidence from behind a screen or by live link from a location outside the courtroom. Indeed, the domestic abuse contest cases trial that has been run in the remote evidence centre has shown significant improvements in rates of conviction, which now consistently sit at 92% of those cases. The implementation of the provision for the prohibition of cross-examination in person in family proceedings requires the preparation of guidance and the making of a number of pieces of secondary legislation. I assure Members that, while the pace of that work has been impacted on by competing priorities and lack of resources, a good deal of the preparatory work has been completed. Subject to emerging priorities and securing the necessary funding for the court-appointed legal representatives who are required to enable implementation, the Department is working towards commencing the provisions later this year. The implementation of the 2021 Act, together with other developments under the domestic and sexual abuse strategy, reflects the fact that domestic abuse is now rightly prioritised across the criminal justice system as a significant issue. It has huge impact, given the harm encountered by victims, and accounts for about a fifth of PSNI-recorded crime: 19·2% of crimes recorded by the police in 2024-25. With regard to the amendment, I support calls for a trauma-informed response in the justice system. I have said on many occasions that legislation alone is not enough to tackle the scourge of domestic abuse and that that cannot be achieved by one Department. It must be done in collaboration across government in conjunction with delivery partners and with the support of wider society. Forcing any victim of domestic or sexual violence or abuse into contact with the perpetrator is unacceptable and not trauma-informed. We have taken lessons from best practice and multiple reviews, such as the Gillen review, to develop a better, more trauma-informed response. Under the Gillen programme, the Department has introduced two new remote evidence centres that allow vulnerable victims and witnesses to provide evidence to the court from a remote location where they will not encounter the defendant or their supporters. We are also working towards replacing existing multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC) structures with the new domestic violence and abuse risk response (DVARR) structure, which will strengthen the response in high-risk cases of domestic abuse and, hopefully, keep people safer. The lessons learned from domestic homicide reviews and, indeed, other independent reports such as the one that I launched today are being embedded not just within Justice but across agencies to improve safeguarding and to prevent future harm. The Department has contracted ASSIST NI to deliver specialist advocacy services for high-risk and high-harm victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Northern Ireland. Alongside the Department of Health and the Department for Communities, the Department funds Nexus to provide and manage the 24-hour domestic and sexual abuse helpline. My Department also funds the sexual offences legal adviser scheme, which includes the child sexual offences legal adviser scheme, to provide legal advice and support to adult and child victims of serious sexual offences, as well as a registered intermediary scheme that provides support for those with communication difficulties. There has been discussion in the Chamber today about support for voluntary organisations. My Department will continue to work collaboratively with the Department of Health to deliver, via the strategic oversight board, outcomes under the domestic and sexual abuse strategy, including in response to priority issues. However, the provision of core grant funding to Women's Aid, for example, is ultimately a matter for the Minister of Health, and responsibility for provision of refuges falls to the Department for Communities. To date, however, I have taken action to ensure that the money that I invest in the community and voluntary sector to provide services has been ring-fenced and protected, despite the pressures on my budget. Legal aid is available without regard to income for anyone who needs to apply for the protection of a non-molestation order or to defend an application for contact with children from their former abusive partner. Despite that, many people continue to pay privately for representation in such cases, and few make use of the waiver to apply for the support to which they are entitled. I am determined to fix that issue, and so, as part of the current engagement exercise on legal aid means testing, I am asking for views on a potential new form of legal aid certificate for victims of domestic abuse to provide access to a comprehensive package of legal support that would be accessible through a fast and simple application process.

I will, yes.

Means testing is necessary for legal aid in order to ensure the protection of public funds. Given that the waiver exists, however, it seems to me that there is no need to do the means testing before granting the waiver; it is simply to establish that there has been domestic abuse, so I think that it could be simplified. It is in response to such comments that I decided to take it forward and take further action in that space. I am keen to take in the views of as many stakeholders as possible during the engagement period, and I encourage people to contact us before 20 May, which is when the consultation ends, about how the new certificates can be as effective as possible. I have heard concerns expressed repeatedly by victims of domestic abuse whose former partners have sought to use the legal system as a means of perpetuating financial, economic and emotional abuse. In particular, there is an issue with repeated applications for contact being made to the courts, often by a partner and often funded through legal aid, when the partner who has been abused is working. I find that abuse of the legal aid system to be particularly offensive, so, in a parallel engagement process on legal aid merit testing, I am seeking views on new ways to constrain the use of legal aid for repeated and vexatious applications of that kind. I encourage engagement with that process so that the proposed changes are made in a way that offers effective protection to victims, while maintaining access to justice, where needed. I want to mention the case of Michelle Downey in particular and the issue of suicide in the context of domestic abuse, which was raised by Gerry Carroll. I know Michelle's mum and am aware of the tragic circumstances in which Michelle passed away. The devastating impact of domestic abuse-related suicide is significant. I recognise the impact that it has on everyone who is affected. At this point, there is no specific offence in any part of the UK for causing or encouraging suicide through domestic abuse or coercive control. However, sections 13 and 13A of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 make it an offence to encourage or assist the suicide or attempted suicide of another person or to intend to do so. Section 13A also makes it clear that that includes situations in which a person has encouraged or assisted another by threatening them or otherwise pressuring them to take their own life. We need to reflect on that when it comes to cases of that nature. My priority, obviously, is the delivery of the existing commitments to tackle domestic violence and sexual abuse. We have not been able to progress the kind of substantive preliminary work, analysis and consultation that we would need to do to look at a specific domestic abuse-related suicide offence. However, I believe that the Department will want to do that in future mandates, as it is something on which we could lead the way. Finally, I will move on to the issue of private counselling records —

— for legal defence teams. I am almost out of time, unfortunately. That issue can be a factor in many victims of such crimes deciding not to pursue a case or avail themselves of pre-trial therapy to help their recovery. Unfortunately, having looked closely at the case, it is not possible to simply ban the practice of private counselling records being made available to legal defence teams, as that would have an adverse impact on the article 6 rights of the accused. However, in the coming weeks, I will introduce a victims and witnesses of crime Bill that will contain provisions that would make significant improvements to third-party material disclosure processes, which are often used by the defence to seek access to records that contain personal information on the complainant, including counselling records. The Bill will also introduce the right of a complainant to make representations at pre-trial hearings for any applications for third party material and the right to be independently legally represented when doing so, rather than simply being reliant on objections raised by the Public Prosecution Service.

That is an important step towards balancing the rights of the defendant to a fair trial and the rights of the victim to some measure of privacy.

In closing, I acknowledge the active and consistent interest of those who tabled the motion and those who spoke in the debate in tackling domestic abuse in all its forms. I thank all the Members who participated for raising the issues and for doing so in a sensitive way. I recognise that we are far from the destination at which we wish to be. I would prefer it if we were dealing not with the victims of domestic abuse, coercive control and sexual assault but with the underlying causes of that abuse so that we can protect people from harm. In the interim, however, my focus as Justice Minister is on ensuring that, where those harms occur, they are properly pursued through the courts and not exacerbated by them.

2,482 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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