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Strategy for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls
21 July 2021
Lead MP
Victoria Atkins
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
Crime & Law EnforcementJustice & CourtsEmploymentWomen & Equalities
Other Contributors: 26
At a Glance
Victoria Atkins raised concerns about strategy for tackling violence against women and girls in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
Crime & Law EnforcementJustice & CourtsEmploymentWomen & Equalities
Government Statement
The Government's new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls was announced by Victoria Atkins, outlining four key pillars: prioritising prevention, supporting victims, pursuing perpetrators, and delivering a stronger system. The statement highlights the importance of addressing crimes such as rape, female genital mutilation, stalking, harassment, cyber-flashing, revenge porn, and up-skirting. It includes launching a multi-million-pound national communications campaign to target harmful attitudes, educating young people on healthy relationships, and ensuring victims can access support. Additionally, a £5 million safety of women at night fund was announced along with other measures such as the StreetSafe tool for reporting unsafe areas anonymously, investment in a 'What Works' fund, and increased funding for specialist services and helplines. The statement also commits to appointing an independent reviewer for police management of registered sex offenders and introducing legislation through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to change arrangements for serious violent and sexual offenders.
Question
The MP's question or point. Include their concern, local impact, or criticism. 2-4 sentences.
Minister reply
The minister's response to THIS specific MP. Include commitments, rebuttals, details. 2-4 sentences.
Jess Phillips
Lab
Birmingham Yardley
Question
The first responsibility of any Government is the safety and security of their citizens. Today, rape prosecutions are at a record low, domestic abuse in this country is soaring and charging is falling. Sexual abuse in school is being normalised, according to the recent Ofsted inspections. Ending violence against women and girls is a cross-party issue. On both sides of this House, there is a profound concern and desire for an ambitious strategy that will deliver. The strategy today is not ambitious enough.
Minister reply
The Minister thanked Jess Phillips for her questions and clarified several policy areas such as the full-time national policing lead role, which differs from existing assistant chief constables’ duties. She confirmed the helpline's availability 24/7 to all victims regardless of case history. Regarding non-disclosure agreements in universities, she emphasised the need for consistency and quality standards but acknowledged ongoing work on workplace NDAs. The Minister highlighted a public communications campaign against street harassment, explaining the complexity beyond mere legislation. She also mentioned an anonymous reporting tool pilot project and funding commitments to support services.
Question
I commend my hon. Friend for the measures in her statement and for her personal commitment to this subject. As she mentioned, the Law Commission has today recommended that cyber-flashing be made a criminal offence. It is a pernicious act, and one that we know is a gateway towards more dangerous crimes. As someone who has been flashed in the past, I was appalled to learn that Sarah Everard’s murderer was accused of flashing someone six years before he attacked Sarah, so may I urge my hon. Friend to review the commission’s recommendations and to work to make this a criminal offence as soon as possible?
Minister reply
Victoria Atkins thanked Fay Jones for her personal experience sharing and campaign efforts against cyber-flashing. She confirmed that they would look at the Law Commission's findings expeditiously from the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
Kirsten Oswald
SNP
Dumfries and Galloway
Question
I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. It is welcome to see the UK Government looking further at this issue. Despite the UK signing the Istanbul convention almost nine years ago, ratification has not occurred. Does the new violence against women and girls strategy mean that this issue will finally be addressed and, if so, when? Additionally, I ask about resources for prosecutions, support for migrant survivors in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and measures to address abuses of non-disclosure agreements.
Minister reply
We report each October on our commitments to the Istanbul convention. We meet or exceed expectations in all but three requirements, two of which will be met by the end of this year. Regarding migrant victims support, a scheme is set out in the Domestic Abuse Act that is due to finish next year, but we are committed to its continuation and ratification of the Istanbul convention.
Caroline Nokes
Con
Romsey and Southampton North
Question
My hon. Friend will understand my disappointment that there is no current commitment to outlaw public sexual harassment, despite her right hon. Friend's indication in The Times. Please will the Minister commit to making sure that identified gaps in legislation are acted upon swiftly?
Minister reply
We are looking thoroughly at street harassment and will provide an update before the Women and Equalities Committee as it hears concerns from Members on both sides of the House.
Yvette Cooper
Lab
Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley
Question
I welcome the measures that the Minister has announced but question whether they match the scale of the problem. What will the Minister do to ensure stronger action by police forces in identifying repeat perpetrators of violence against women?
Minister reply
The strategy includes immediate-term work such as a public communications campaign, an appointment process for a national policing lead, and an online tool pilot. We aim to build evidence over time but cannot pretend that attitudes will change immediately.
Richard Holden
Con
Basildon and Billericay
Question
I welcome the Minister’s statement on tackling violence against women and girls, particularly her commitment to criminalise virginity testing. Will she examine new clauses 1 and 2 of the Health and Care Bill to end hymenoplasty?
Minister reply
We will work together with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to find an appropriate legislative vehicle for virginity testing and will further examine hymenoplasty with clinicians and royal colleges.
Stella Creasy
Lab Co-op
Walthamstow
Question
I thank the Minister for her work on this strategy. Will she meet me and campaigners to look at how we can quickly close the gap in giving equal protection under hate crime laws to those subjected to abuse or attack simply for being a woman?
Minister reply
Yes, I am happy to meet the hon. Lady and campaigners. We have already undertaken to ask the police to record issues of gender where relevant under the Domestic Abuse Act.
Alec Shelbrooke
Con
Wetherby and Easingwold
Question
I welcome my hon. Friend’s statement. Focusing on what she said about delivering a stronger system, I wonder if I can urge her to speak with colleagues in other Departments, especially the Ministry of Justice, about the family court system. Today and yesterday, I have been dealing with constituents who have been subjected to coercive and controlling behaviour. They have finally fled their marriages, and children are involved. Unbelievably, one family court judge dismissed out of hand the coercive behaviour and said it was out of time, and then suggested that my constituent, who had to travel 130 miles to deliver custody of her daughter, could perhaps stay at his house overnight. Will my hon. Friend work with other Departments, because in delivering a stronger system we also have to address the fact that the family courts are really letting down women who have escaped dangerous, coercive and evil behaviour?
Minister reply
Not only will I commit to working with the Ministry of Justice, but it has been incredibly important in informing cross-Government work on the strategy. On the family courts, there is an ongoing piece of work arising out of the harm panel report, which was created last year in light of the Domestic Abuse Bill. I am very happy to meet my right hon. Friend to update him on the work of that panel, along with Ministry of Justice colleagues.
Rupa Huq
Lab
Ealing Central and Acton
Question
In today’s Times, the Home Secretary wrote: “Nowhere should be off limits to women and girls. Nobody deserves to be victimised or feel unsafe.” This week the Minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment stated in the House that nobody should be intimidated when accessing legal healthcare, so when will the Government join Australia, Canada and France among others in legislating for consistent national buffer zones around abortion clinics? Surely the status quo, with women and girls protected only in the areas of three local authorities—and they have to stretch antisocial behaviour order provisions in order to do so—creates an unsatisfactory, unequal situation of justice that is subject to legal challenge all the time and cannot stand.
Minister reply
The hon. Lady is diligent in her campaigning in this important area. We believe that the public space protection orders regime that is in operation in three local authority areas provides balance in protecting women who are seeking medical care and only that. However, as I have said, the Government are determined to keep this area under review and to ensure that women are not intimidated or harassed.
Question
I thank the Minister for making this statement to the House before the summer recess and for letting us scrutinise her. Girls in this country are trafficked into sexual exploitation—imagine being a girl forced into sexual exploitation. Thankfully, because of the excellent work of police forces and our Modern Slavery Act 2015, forces are breaking up these gangs and rescuing the girls. Unfortunately, we do not support girl victims of human trafficking as well as adult victims. My private Member’s Bill, the Human Trafficking (Child Protection) Bill, which will have its Second Reading on 21 January 2022, would put that right. Will the Minister and the Department work with me to ensure that that Bill becomes an Act of Parliament?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend, who has been a strong campaigner for some time on modern slavery and on the care of victims of modern slavery. On the care of children, the national referral mechanism applies to adults, but children go into children’s services because of the statutory requirements under the Children Act 1989. I am, however, interested to hear how he believes support could be improved. The Government have, as he may know, set out plans to refresh the modern slavery strategy in the coming months and I would be pleased to meet him to understand where he believes that could be improved.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
I thank the Minister for her encouraging statement. No one can doubt her clear personal commitment; I appreciate that very much. I welcome this move to take every available step to tackle violence against women and girls; it is not before time. The new strategy involves new legislation to deal with stalking, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, and yet, as the shadow Minister said, more work needs to be done on sexual assault and rape. Recent Home Office statistics show that 83% of sexual assaults go unreported. What additional work will be done to encourage victims to come forward about their assaults? What will be done—I say this respectfully—to fix the lack of trust there is between victims of violence and the policing system?
Minister reply
I thank the hon. Gentleman for dealing with some important points in a sensitive way. He will know that, alongside the violence against women and girls strategy, only a matter of weeks ago we published the rape review, which is focused on the end-to-end results of the criminal justice system from the moment at which the police record a crime through to a conviction or the other ways in which a case can be finalised. There is a real action plan in that rape review dealing specifically with rape prosecutions, and that forms part of our work to tackle this.
Question
Five years ago an SNP MP passed through Parliament a law obligating the UK to ratify the Istanbul convention. The United Kingdom Government have yet to deliver, despite countless pleas from the SNP Benches. There has been delay after delay. The Minister confirmed that sections have been adopted and are in place. However, after years of waiting the Government should proceed to adopt this completely. Will the Minister therefore provide a clear timetable for ratification today?
Minister reply
As I said in response to the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire (Kirsten Oswald), we meet or exceed all the requirements of the convention, except for three areas. One of those has already passed into law through the Domestic Abuse Act 2021; another, in relation to Northern Ireland, will happen by the end of the year; and we are dealing with the third issue by way of the support for the migrant victims scheme.
Question
I welcome today’s strategy on tackling violence against women and girls, particularly the focus on and greater education about crimes in higher education and school settings, backed up by an additional £25 million for the safer streets fund. To that end, will the Minister do what she can to support the application to the safer streets fund by Cleveland’s police and crime commissioner Steve Turner that looks to increase education provision on violence against women and girls for schools in Middlesbrough, and in Redcar and Cleveland?
Minister reply
I probably ought not to support the application, given that I am a Minister in the Department handing out the bids. What I will do is warmly encourage the efforts of police and crime commissioners who are focusing on violence against women and girls as part of their priorities, having recently been elected. It is critical that the national expectations that we have set in this strategy and continue to set in other pieces of cross-Government work are met at a local level. I look forward to the help of my hon. Friend and other colleagues in ensuring that police and crime commissioners are able to do that.
Question
Female genital mutilation is a spectacularly horrible crime, yet the possibility of perpetrators—or even those aiding the crime —being brought to justice is very tiny in our society. In the past, I have worked with women who have been victims of this crime, who do not want it for their own families or for other women, but we need a national strategy to combat it. It is not enough to deplore FGM. We have to ensure the multi-agency working that gives us the opportunity to change the culture and ensure that the cutters are brought to justice. What can the Minister do to make sure that we take this agenda forward?
Minister reply
The hon. Member will know the work that has been done in recent years—indeed, by my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead—to tackle female genital mutilation and ensure cross-agency working. It is difficult, in that the victims are often very young; they are children, and are facing that criminal behaviour from close family members or friends. Through the mandatory reporting duty, we have set out what we expect of agencies that discover such injuries in the course of their public service. We very much want to support victims—if they feel able to do so—to support prosecutions.
Kieran Mullan
Con
Bexhill and Battle
Question
I had the chance to meet Lauri Swindell, who runs the Hop Pole and Imperial pubs in my constituency. Lauri and her staff are passionate about their venues being safe spaces for women and girls, and their approach includes using the Ask for Angela initiative. Could the funds announced today support the promotion of such initiatives locally, as they make a real difference on the ground for women and girls?
Minister reply
It is great to hear about the initiatives in my hon. Friend’s constituency and, indeed, throughout the country. The Ask for Angela scheme is really effective and we took inspiration from it earlier this year when we launched the Ask for ANI codeword scheme in chemists up and down the country for victims of domestic abuse. I am happy to support my hon. Friend and the landlady he mentioned in her work. The fund is open to police and crime commissioners, local authorities, British Transport police and civil society organisations; that will allow for the development of a variety of innovative initiatives and encourage local partnership working.
Question
The UK Government failed to improve support for migrant survivors in their Domestic Abuse Act, so what have they done in their violence against women and girls strategy specifically for foreign nationals and those affected by the Government’s “no recourse to public funds” policies?
Minister reply
Every victim of crimes included under the umbrella of violence against women and girls must be treated as a victim first and foremost. If they feel able to, they can report their offences to the police or use helplines.
Gareth Davies
Con
Grantham and Bourne
Question
Does the Minister agree that one way we can strengthen the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is to expand section 54 to include investment portfolios?
Minister reply
The Minister has already met with her hon. Friend to discuss this area of potential policy development and is looking carefully at his suggestion.
Tan Dhesi
Lab
Slough
Question
Will the Government adopt Labour’s detailed proposal to criminalise street harassment?
Minister reply
While launching a public communications campaign, the Minister continues to explore whether a bespoke street-harassment offence is necessary and is keen to understand what is needed in addition to legislation.
Question
Does my hon. Friend agree that we must tackle misogynistic attitudes in society more broadly?
Minister reply
The Minister wants to build on existing relationships and sex education, as well as reach the wider public with a public communications campaign and university outreach.
Wendy Chamberlain
Lib Dem
North East Fife
Question
What relationship does the national policing lead have with HMICRFS?
Minister reply
The national policy lead will be a recommendation accepted by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary and fire and rescue services.
Question
How can the Minister use her energy to work across government to deliver safety for young girls?
Minister reply
The Minister is looking at every option, including legislation and behaviour of perpetrators, to ensure women and girls feel supported in reporting incidents.
Bob Blackman
Con
Harrow East
Question
What more can she do to ensure that victims come forward?
Minister reply
The Minister is ensuring that people know offences must be reported and working across government to fight youth violence.
Pontypridd
Question
How does the strategy change the lives of women who feel compelled to tell friends at the end of a night out, ‘Just text me when you get home’?
Minister reply
The Minister believes that this strategy sets out ambition over this Parliament and beyond to change attitudes and improve trust in victims.
Diana R. Johnson
Lab
Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham
Question
The right hon. Member Diana R. Johnson expressed her respect for the Minister and highlighted a recent meeting she had with the Minister, the hon. Member for Wycombe, and Lisa Squire, whose daughter was raped and murdered in 2019. She emphasised the importance of encouraging people to report non-contact, low-level sexual offences as they are often precursors to more serious crimes. Johnson asked if the police and courts will be able to take early intervention under the new strategy.
Minister reply
The Minister thanked the right hon. Lady for bringing Mrs Squire to meet her and highlighted that the strategy includes reviewing the police management of sex offenders, strengthening sexual risk orders and sexual harm prevention orders in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, and encouraging victims to report non-contact offences such as indecent exposure or following.
Shadow Comment
Jess Phillips
Shadow Comment
The shadow response criticises the strategy for being insufficiently ambitious. Jess Phillips highlights issues such as low rape prosecutions and rising domestic abuse, questioning why a new policing lead would succeed where others have failed without proper resources. She also questions specific measures like the rape helpline's scope and effectiveness, demanding clear guarantees about its operational capacity. The Labour response calls out the lack of attention to non-disclosure agreements in workplaces, the absence of a national strategy for adult victims of sexual exploitation, and the need for public sexual harassment laws. Phillips further notes that there is no long-term funding provided for specialist services expected to deliver most of the strategy's measures.
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