Douglas Central MHK Anne Corlett has pressed for an update on when laws to protect domestic abuse victims will come into force.

Mrs Corlett called on Minister for Justice and Home Affairs Jane Poole-Wilson to explain when orders will be made bringing into effect the Domestic Abuse Act 2020, the Sexual Offences and Obscene Publications Act 2021, and the Justice Reform Act 2021.

Mrs Poole-Wilson gave a lengthy response, which concluded that no ’agreed timescales’ were in place for the implementation of these Acts.

The Domestic Abuse Bill would lead to prison sentences of up to 14 years for domestic abuse crimes.

It defines domestic abuse for the first time in Manx law and gives police powers to issue emergency protection notices.

Mrs Corlett had asked Mrs Poole-Wilson to acknowledge the urgent need for abuse to be defined as an offence in order to support victims, and to agree that victims of abuse ’are not being served well at the moment’.

’We will not tackle abuse by not prosecuting abusers and we can’t prosecute if it’s not a crime,’ she said.

The minister responded that her department ’has been working to formulate implementation plans that will support the enactment of these important pieces of reforming legislation’.

She explained that each act ’requires substantial amounts of secondary legislation and guidance to enable implementation’.

Much input would be required from the police, general registry and courts, the prosecution, and Manx Care, Mrs Poole-Wilson added.

To help with the implementation of Domestic Abuse Act, a project coordinator role is currently being advertised.

She also said that once she had seen the project plans, they would be published in due course to ’give a clear indication of timescales’.