Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether organisations led-by and for Muslim women which address violence against women and girls in their communities receive adequate funding.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently hold any grants with specific faith-centric specialist services regarding Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The Home Office has supported a range of specialist 'by and for' services, including services for Black and minoritised women, and is assured that Muslim women are appropriately represented in the demographics of victims supported by those organisations.
On 28 November, the Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160m in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025-26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support in frontline safe accommodation services. Furthermore, the Home Office has been able to continue the majority of grants held by Interpersonal Abuse Unit for the next financial year 2025-26. This includes support for migrant victims, delivery of the national VAWG Helplines, and specialist support for children affected by domestic abuse.
This Government is aware of the gaps in 'by and for' provision across England and Wales. The Duty to Collaborate provisions of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 which, once implemented, will ensure a more strategic approach to local commissioning in England for victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and serious violence. It will require Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, and Integrated Care Boards to collaborate when commissioning and, as part of this, consult on, produce, and implement a joint local strategy and needs assessment which demonstrates how they are fulfilling this duty.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what organisations are planned to receive funding from the Home Office to tackle violence against women and girls in the 2025–26 financial year; and of these organisations, how many are faith-centric organisations, and how many are led-by and run for Muslim women.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently hold any grants with specific faith-centric specialist services regarding Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The Home Office has supported a range of specialist 'by and for' services, including services for Black and minoritised women, and is assured that Muslim women are appropriately represented in the demographics of victims supported by those organisations.
On 28 November, the Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160m in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025-26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support in frontline safe accommodation services. Furthermore, the Home Office has been able to continue the majority of grants held by Interpersonal Abuse Unit for the next financial year 2025-26. This includes support for migrant victims, delivery of the national VAWG Helplines, and specialist support for children affected by domestic abuse.
This Government is aware of the gaps in 'by and for' provision across England and Wales. The Duty to Collaborate provisions of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 which, once implemented, will ensure a more strategic approach to local commissioning in England for victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and serious violence. It will require Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, and Integrated Care Boards to collaborate when commissioning and, as part of this, consult on, produce, and implement a joint local strategy and needs assessment which demonstrates how they are fulfilling this duty.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what organisations are being funded by the Home Office to tackle violence against women and girls in this financial year; and of these organisations, how many are faith-centric organisations, and how many are led-by and run for Muslim women.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently hold any grants with specific faith-centric specialist services regarding Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The Home Office has supported a range of specialist 'by and for' services, including services for Black and minoritised women, and is assured that Muslim women are appropriately represented in the demographics of victims supported by those organisations.
On 28 November, the Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160m in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025-26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support in frontline safe accommodation services. Furthermore, the Home Office has been able to continue the majority of grants held by Interpersonal Abuse Unit for the next financial year 2025-26. This includes support for migrant victims, delivery of the national VAWG Helplines, and specialist support for children affected by domestic abuse.
This Government is aware of the gaps in 'by and for' provision across England and Wales. The Duty to Collaborate provisions of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 which, once implemented, will ensure a more strategic approach to local commissioning in England for victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and serious violence. It will require Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, and Integrated Care Boards to collaborate when commissioning and, as part of this, consult on, produce, and implement a joint local strategy and needs assessment which demonstrates how they are fulfilling this duty.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether faith-centric women's organisations which address violence against women and girls in their communities receive adequate funding.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently hold any grants with specific faith-centric specialist services regarding Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The Home Office has supported a range of specialist 'by and for' services, including services for Black and minoritised women, and is assured that Muslim women are appropriately represented in the demographics of victims supported by those organisations.
On 28 November, the Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160m in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025-26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support in frontline safe accommodation services. Furthermore, the Home Office has been able to continue the majority of grants held by Interpersonal Abuse Unit for the next financial year 2025-26. This includes support for migrant victims, delivery of the national VAWG Helplines, and specialist support for children affected by domestic abuse.
This Government is aware of the gaps in 'by and for' provision across England and Wales. The Duty to Collaborate provisions of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 which, once implemented, will ensure a more strategic approach to local commissioning in England for victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and serious violence. It will require Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, and Integrated Care Boards to collaborate when commissioning and, as part of this, consult on, produce, and implement a joint local strategy and needs assessment which demonstrates how they are fulfilling this duty.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of why women from minority ethnic groups are over-represented in domestic homicide data; and what steps they intend to take to reduce those rates.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Domestic homicide is a tragic crime and we are committed to developing the evidence base to improve our understanding of the triggers and causes of deaths related to domestic abuse, including for women from minority ethnic groups. This includes funding research by the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Domestic Homicide Project, which captures information on domestic abuse related deaths from all 43 polices forces and provides information on the ethnicity of both victims and perpetrators.
Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) also allow for in depth learning from these deaths. The Domestic Homicide Review Library holds all published DHRs to allow for more analysis of patterns and trends of domestic homicides and suicides linked to domestic abuse going forward.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of transnational marriage abandonment cases since 2016.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since 31 January 2024 those who find themselves a victim of domestic abuse in the form of transnational marriage abandonment (TMA) can apply for entry clearance (Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE)) under Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse to the Immigration Rules.
Data on the number of applications under the TMA route is published each quarter on gov.uk under the category ‘Settlement VDA LTE’: Visas and Citizenship data: Q2 2024. The data shows there were 9 cases in Q1 and 19 in Q2.
Prior to this, cases of TMA were not distinguishable in published statistics. Moving forward, the prevalence of TMA cases can be monitored over time.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government between 2018 and 2022 how many British citizens, if any, have reported being in a forced marriage to individuals in the UK who have students visas.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Since April 2019, police forces in England and Wales have been required to provide quarterly data returns to the Home Office on so-called ‘honour’-based abuse offences, including forced marriage. The most recent data show 172 forced marriage related offences recorded in the year ending March 2023.
In addition, the joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) also publishes statistics on forced marriage cases reported to the unit. The most recent statistics show the FMU provided support in 280 cases of forced marriage in 2023.
The Home Office does not hold data on forced marriages relating to individuals with student visas.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications were received for transitioning from a student visa to a spousal visa each year from 2018 to 2022, and what percentage of the applicants were male.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on how people move through the immigration system in the Migrant Journey report. The report contains information on the number of people starting a journey each year broken down by immigration route (e.g. study) and how many extend into other categories (e.g. family) at the end of each year, following their initial leave. The latest report covers up to the end of 2022.
The Home Office publishes data on grants of extensions of stay in the UK, in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release.
Table Exe_D02 shows the number of grants of extensions of stay in the UK, by current and previous category of leave, available from Immigration system statistics data tables. Data on extensions by previous category is available for main applicants and calendar year 2020 only. This data will be updated for 2021 onwards in future Immigration system statistics publications.
Please note, the published statistics relate to the number of grants, not applications.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the success rate of applications for transitioning from a student visa to a spousal visa each year from 2018 to 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on how people move through the immigration system in the Migrant Journey report. The report contains information on the number of people starting a journey each year broken down by immigration route (e.g. study) and how many extend into other categories (e.g. family) at the end of each year, following their initial leave. The latest report covers up to the end of 2022.
The Home Office publishes data on grants of extensions of stay in the UK, in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release.
Table Exe_D02 shows the number of grants of extensions of stay in the UK, by current and previous category of leave, available from Immigration system statistics data tables. Data on extensions by previous category is available for main applicants and calendar year 2020 only. This data will be updated for 2021 onwards in future Immigration system statistics publications.
Please note, the published statistics relate to the number of grants, not applications.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of asylum seekers who have (1) self-harmed, (2) attempted suicide, or (3) died by suicide, who are currently either living or lived in initial and dispersed asylum accommodation provided by the Home Office via contracts.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office operates a Safeguarding Hub to support vulnerable individuals. Both the Home Office and its accommodation providers have robust processes in place to ensure that where someone is at risk, they are referred to the appropriate statutory agencies of police, NHS, and social services to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions.
As well as making safeguarding referrals to the appropriate statutory agencies other actions include attendance at child/adult protection meetings with police and social workers and liaising with both external and internal partners to share information. The statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.