I want to pay tribute to the National Stalking Consortium for its invaluable work and thank them for all that they have done to raise awareness and campaign for change. We will continue to engage closely with them as we progress our mission.

The Government remains committed to this important goal. We are working on detailed metrics for measuring progress towards our aim to reduce violence against women and girls by half in a decade. This includes publishing regular updates and reporting annually.

The Minister confirmed that the target remains a priority, supported by the Prime Minister. She stated that the prevalence of violence against women and girls is currently measured by the crime survey for England and Wales, alongside various other metrics such as female homicide and repeat domestic abuse victims.

The Minister clarified that stalking protection orders can be used to tackle online stalking. She highlighted that the Online Safety Act includes stalking offences as priority offences.

The Minister acknowledged the importance of sensitivity in response to stalking victims. She mentioned ongoing work by the National Police Chiefs’ Council to engage with police forces regarding super-complaint recommendations, including reviewing offences under the Protection from Harassment Act.

The Minister expressed pleasure at working with MPs across the country, including Rachel Taylor's constituency of North Warwickshire and Bedworth.

I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between. In Nicola’s case, the police were able to find out information about the stalker from a series of anonymous accounts, some of which were pretending to be women, but the problem arose because of privacy, as the right hon. Gentleman suggests. Police forces are worried about being bogged down in red tape, so what we will put on the statute book, in statutory guidance, is essentially a power flowing from the Home Secretary to tell police forces that they can provide information, because in such circumstances safeguarding is a perfectly legitimate reason to override privacy.

From speaking to many victims, I know that stalking causes a lack of peace of mind. Other forms of violence against women and girls are all equally bad, but there is something deeply psychological about being stalked and feeling as if you have to change your behaviour and go to different places. The right to know who a stalker is, first and foremost, is about being able to rule out people a victim knows. Most women in our country know that they are more likely to be abused by somebody they know, so they would be second-guessing all the time and being driven further mad by the anonymity of that stalker. Even without any justice outcome, therefore, empowering those women and giving them back power and control over the situation is a gift of something that has been taken from them.

The hon. Lady points out something very pertinent. I often like dealing with Scotland because there is one police force. I am not suggesting that for England, and nor are the Government, just to be clear—I worry that civil servants might be writing down some of the things I say. The hon. Lady makes a very good point. Having really good police forces and really good sexual violence responses in Avon and Somerset is no good to the people of Birmingham, is it? It cannot carry on in that way. One thing that has to be done, as part of the Government’s mission to end violence against women and girls and halve it within a decade, is to look at how we deal with police standards and monitor exactly what police forces are doing. It feels a little bit like the centre has taken its eye off the ball on that in the past number of years. We will not solve the problem if we start having a great service in urban areas but people are still left wanting in Chichester and other places.

I absolutely will meet my hon. Friend. I have dealt with many extraterritorial cases in the space of violence against women and girls in my time as a Member of Parliament, so I am more than happy to try to help in any way that I can on that case. On borders, under the Online Safety Act, if it is illegal here but is not happening here, it is still illegal. It does not matter where in the world it is happening.

First of all, I must pay tribute to Rhianon. If Members of the House are not aware of her case, what she has been through is harrowing and she continues to campaign. We pay such tribute to all those who speak up to try to make things better for other women, even if in their cases that ship has sailed. That is an amazing thing. I want to assure the right hon. Lady that there should be nothing stopping the same multi-agency situations happening in Wales any more than anywhere else where local health authorities give out funding. We will never solve the issue of violence against women and girls unless every part of Government, including at delegated, local level, takes responsibility. That is certainly a postcode lottery at the moment.

I am mindful that sat here on the Front Bench with me now is the Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Rushanara Ali). She has frequently attended meetings alongside us in the Home Office to discuss how local authorities and housing interact with the lives of victims of domestic abuse and those fleeing other forms of abuse and violence. Government Departments working together on this issue should no longer just be about a piece of paper that gets written. There has to be firm commitment, and it has to come from the very top. In the last urgent question today, we heard about a previous Prime Minister’s commitment to tackling modern slavery, which led to a world-leading change in that space. That was because it came from the centre. I can assure my hon. Friend that, from the very centre of this Government, there is a desire to make sure that we get this into the mainstream of every Government Department—although I am struggling to make this about fish and fisheries, but I will find a way.

I thank the hon. Member for her question. First, let me pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), who is my equivalent in the Ministry of Justice, which leads on the family courts. All I can say about the family courts, which came up in the very first mission board with regard to violence against women and girls, is that we will not solve the issues of domestic abuse or child abuse in our country—we will not go anywhere near to solving them—unless we look at those family courts.

Acknowledged Jonathan Davies' sensitivity regarding the victim's name, affirmed the importance of seeking consent from victims or their families. Discussed the domestic homicide review process and the need to use findings effectively to prevent recurrence. Stated readiness to use influence with online tech companies.

Agreed that current confusion between offences complicates victim's efforts to secure harsher penalties. Will work with stalking organisations and Victims' Commissioner to ensure considerations during legislation review.

Acknowledged Tom Hayes' work with domestic abuse services, reaffirmed commitment to tackling violence. Discussed multi-agency statutory guidance and benefits of properly run integrated services.

Agreed to pay tribute to Nicola Thorp, acknowledging her first protest concerning workplace dress codes and subsequent efforts in activism.