To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of specialist domestic violence courts. (125135)

Following the 2005 evaluation of the specialist domestic violence courts (SDVC) pilot sites at Caerphilly and Croydon the SDVC programme was established. In April 2006, 25 SDVCs were accredited and by April 2007 the number of SDVCs will increase to 64 sites. Evaluations of the SDVCs are ongoing.