The Government strategy "Call to End Violence against Women and Girls" (published November 2010) included an action to implement Section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004), putting in place the Statutory Requirement to conduct Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs). This was implemented in Nottingham on the 13th April 2011.
The revised "Ending Violence against Women and Girls" Government strategy 2016-2020 aims to promote learning from Domestic Homicide reviews to embed best practice, implement actions from DHRs and share learning.
The purpose of a DHR is to:
a) 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;
b)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;
c)apply these lessons to service responses including changes to inform national and local policies and procedures as appropriate;
d)prevent domestic violence and homicide and improve service responses for all domestic violence and abuse victims and their children by developing a co-ordinated multi-agency approach to ensure that domestic abuse is identified and responded to effectively at the earliest opportunity;
e)contribute to a better understanding of the nature of domestic violence and abuse; and
f)highlight good practice.