Victims and Prisoners Act 2024

20 Child victims of domestic abuse

(1) The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 is amended as follows.

(2) After section 49 insert—

“Notifying schools etc if child is suspected victim of domestic abuse

49A Arrangements to notify schools etc

(1) A chief officer of police of a police force maintained for a police area must ensure that arrangements are in place to secure the objective in subsection (2).

(2) The objective is that, if a member of the force has reasonable grounds to believe that a child who resides in the police area may be a victim of domestic abuse, any relevant educational establishment is notified as soon as is reasonably practicable except in such circumstances as may be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.

(3) For the purposes of this section, each of the following is a relevant educational establishment in relation to a child—

(a) a school at which the child is a registered pupil;

(b) if the child is not a registered pupil at a school—

(i) if the child is receiving education at only one educational establishment, that establishment;

(ii) if the child is receiving education at more than one educational establishment, such one or more of those establishments as is determined in accordance with the arrangements in place under subsection (1) for the police area in which the child resides.

(4) In this section—

• “child” means a person under the age of 18 years;

• “educational establishment” means—

  (a)

  a school in England or Wales;

  (b)

  an institution within the further education sector, within the meaning given by section 91(3) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992;

  (c)

  in relation to England, a 16 to 19 Academy, within the meaning given by section 1B of the Academies Act 2010;

• “registered pupil”, in relation to a school, has the meaning given by section 434 of the Education Act 1996;

• “school” has the meaning given by section 4 of the Education Act 1996.

49B Power to extend section 49A to childcare providers

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations amend section 49A so that the objective in subsection (2) of that section applies in relation to childcare providers, or childcare providers of particular descriptions, as it applies in relation to relevant educational establishments.

(2) In this section—

• “childcare”—

  (a)

  in relation to England, has the meaning given by section 18 of the Childcare Act 2006;

  (b)

  in relation to Wales, means anything that amounts to child minding or day care for children for the purposes of Part 2 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 (nawm 1) (see section 19(2) to (5) of that Measure);

• “childcare provider” means—

  (a)

  in relation to England, a person who provides childcare—

  (i)

  in respect of which the person is registered under Part 3 of the Childcare Act 2006,

  (ii)

  in respect of which the person would, but for section 34(2) or 53(2) of that Act, be required to be registered under Chapter 2 or 3 of Part 3 of that Act, or

  (iii)

  in respect of which the person would, but for section 63(3) of that Act, be able to be registered under Chapter 4 of Part 3 of that Act;

  (b)

  in relation to Wales, a person who provides childcare in respect of which the person is registered under Part 2 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010.”

(3) In the italic heading before section 50, for “and orders” substitute “, orders and notification arrangements”.

(4) In section 56 (interpretation of Part 3), in subsection (4), after paragraph (b) insert—

“(c) section 3 (children as victims of domestic abuse).”

(5) In section 87 (regulations), in subsection (6), after paragraph (a) insert—

“(aa) regulations under section 49B,”.