'Obvious problems' with screening tool for domestic abuse

The main screening tool used to determine which domestic violence victims need the most support has "obvious problems" and should be replaced, the UK safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, has said.

- Caroline Davies

The Dash (domestic abuse, stalking, harassment and "honour-based" violence) questionnaire has been largely relied on by police, social services and healthcare workers across the UK since 2009 to assess risk.

Academics and others working in the sector have raised concerns about the 27-question tool, which assesses answers to decide which respondents are deemed high risk so they can be referred to specialist care.

Phillips said she was reviewing the entire system supporting victims but said it would not change overnight.

"My instinct is that the tool doesn't work, but until I can replace it with something that does, we have to make the very best of the system that we have," Phillips told the BBC's File on 4. Any risk assessment tool was "only as good as the person who is using it" and people had been killed even when deemed to be at high risk, she said. "The grading system won't immediately protect you. It is the systems that flow from those risk assessments that matter much, much, much more than the score."