Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Violence against Women and Girls

Tuesday 17 March 2026 · 7 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Ministry is investing over half a billion pounds in victim support services over three years.
  • The funding of 6 million over two years will enable the introduction of independent legal advisers for all adult rape victims.
  • The Government is determined to tackle non-consensual sharing of intimate images, whether individuals are clothed or not.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Charlie Maynard Lib Dem Witney
Justice & Courts Women & Equalities
Context

The government has published a strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, including funding for victim support services.

Question

What steps his Department is taking through the criminal justice system to help tackle violence against women and girls. The Minister's department is investing over half a billion pounds in victim support services over three years and rolling out free independent legal advisers for all adult victims of rape.

Answer from Alex Davies-Jones

Our violence against women and girls strategy sets out how we will halve these crimes. The Ministry is investing more than half a billion pounds in victim support services over three years, alongside rolling out free independent legal advisers for all adult victims of rape.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific funding allocation and its adequacy relative to the number of cases awaiting trial was not directly addressed.

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Q2 Charlie Maynard Lib Dem Witney
Justice & Courts Women & Equalities
Context

The government's strategy includes the introduction of free independent legal advisers for adult victims of rape, but funding is limited to £3 million annually over two years.

Question

Only £3 million has been provided a year for the next two years to fund the service. Given 12,500 sexual offence cases awaiting trial in Crown courts, including Oxfordshire's Crown court that serves my constituency of Witney, does the Minister believe this funding is adequate?

Answer from Alex Davies-Jones

The funding of £6 million over two years will enable us to introduce independent legal advisers for all adult rape victims, and that is alongside the support package we are introducing in our courts system.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specifically whether £3 million per year is adequate was not addressed. The response provided general information about the service without addressing funding adequacy.

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Q3 Andrew Slaughter Lab Hammersmith and Chiswick
Women & Equalities
Context

The government's violence against women and girls strategy aims to halve violent crimes, but the metric used for this goal is based on crime survey data for those aged 16 and over.

Question

How will children under 16 be included in the recording and monitoring process for violence against women and girls to ensure their needs are addressed?

Answer from Alex Davies-Jones

The strategy covers everyone, including children and those under 16. We will ensure that the data captures a broad spectrum so young people are not excluded.

Answered
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Q4 Roger Gale Con Herne Bay and Sandwich
Women & Equalities
Context

Current legislation provides some protection for women and girls against revenge porn but does not cover clothed images accompanied by offensive material.

Question

Will the Minister take a long, hard look at providing legal protections where non-consensual online intimate images of individuals in clothing are accompanied by offensive materials?

Answer from Alex Davies-Jones

We are determined to tackle non-consensual sharing of intimate images, whether individuals are clothed or not. The Government will come for those responsible.

Answered
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Q5 Matt Bishop Lab Forest of Dean
Safeguarding & DBS Women & Equalities
Context

The hotel chain Travelodge was involved in a high-profile case related to violence against women and girls, prompting questions about company duties for customer safeguarding.

Question

Does the Minister agree that tackling such issues must include clearer legal duties for companies like Travelodge to co-operate fully with safeguarding expectations of customers?

Answer from Alex Davies-Jones

We are looking into what more we can do. We are convening a roundtable with relevant Ministers to discuss the tourism aspect and better regulation and support for customer safety.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not directly state whether clearer legal duties will be imposed on businesses.

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Q6 Kieran Mullan Con Bexhill and Battle
Women & Equalities
Context

The government's early release schemes have been criticized, especially regarding transparency about the potential number of individuals being released.

Question

When I asked them to tell us what their estimates and modelling were on the number of people who were due to be let out earlier, at first they denied having any information; then admitted it but refused to publish it. Shouldn't the Government be transparent about this?

Answer from Alex Davies-Jones

We introduced risk assessments in our early release scheme, unlike the Conservatives who had no such protections. We will not take lectures on transparency from the hon. Member.

Not addressed: The specific request for transparency about the number of people due to be released was not addressed directly.

How: Criticized Previous Government'S Actions

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Q7 Kieran Mullan Con Bexhill and Battle
Justice & Courts Women & Equalities
Context

The MP noted that early release policies are allowing thousands of rapists, paedophiles, and perverts to be released from prison. Victims were previously given estimated dates for releases which have now been brought forward.

Question

I wish that the Minister got as angry about the fact that her Government are releasing thousands of rapists, paedophiles and perverts from prison early. If the Government will not tell us about the reality of the consequences, surely they should at least tell the victims. One of the worst aspects of this policy is the fact that many of those victims will have been given an estimated date for when the perpetrators would be released. That date will now be brought forward, and the perpetrators will get out of prison earlier than the victims were led to believe. Does the Minister think that, at the very least, the Government should write to the victims in advance to let them know that they are letting the perpetrators of those horrendous crimes out of prison earlier?

Answer from Alex Davies-Jones

I will tell you what makes me angry, Mr Speaker: it is the fact that the last Government presided over an increase in the number of crimes of violence against women and girls of 37% in just five years. That was not a Government who tackled violence against women and girls. That was not a Government who took it seriously. As for communication and notification, it is this Government who are introducing the victim contact scheme in our Victims and Courts Bill to ensure that victims are notified, which the last Government refused to do. It is this Government who are writing to victims to ensure that they are given information.

Not addressed: The question about early release notification was not directly addressed; instead, the answer criticised the previous government and highlighted current initiatives without addressing whether they would write to victims in advance.

How: Criticising The Opposition, Changing Subject

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