Under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Adults Act (2004) the Solihull Community Safety Partnership has a statutory responsibility to conduct a review around the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has (or appears to have) resulted from violence, neglect or abuse by:
- a person whom he/she was related or had been in an intimate personal relationship, or
- a member of the same household
When conducting such reviews we refer to guidance published by the Home Office.
The purpose of DHRs are not:
To inquire into how someone died or who is to blame. They are not part of any disciplinary process. They do not replace, but will be in addition to, an inquest or any other form of inquiry into the homicide.
The purpose of DHRs are:
- To establish what lessons are to be learned from the domestic homicide regarding the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims;
- To identify clearly what those lessons are both within and between agencies, how and within what timescales they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result;
- To apply those lessons to service responses including changes to policies and procedures as appropriate; and
- To prevent domestic violence homicide and improve service responses for all domestic violence victims and their children through improved intra and inter-agency working
Publication of Homicide Review Reports
The aim in publishing these reviews is to restore public confidence and improve transparency of the processes in place, across all agencies, to protect victims.
Following the completion of a domestic homicide review and approval from the Home Office Quality Assurance Panel; Solihull Community Safety Partnership are required to publish the anonymised executive summary and overview report.