Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 21 October 2024 (HL1289), what steps they have taken to work closely with the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs' Council to strengthen the training for officers on violence against women and girls; where is progress up to; and how they are monitoring this with specific regard to intimate image abuse.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As set out in the written answer of 21 October, the College of Policing set the curriculum for policing which includes educational outcomes on image-based abuse. At present, forces choose how to deliver this training, often by commissioning local experts and support services.
However, to ensure that every force has the right specialist capability to investigate Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) crimes, including Intimate Image Abuse, we have invested £13.1 million into the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, which launched in April 2025. This included a £2 million uplift to support improvements in police training – this work is now under way, beginning with an extensive review of the current approach.
The Home Office will be working closely with the College and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to ensure the training covers all forms of VAWG, including intimate image abuse. In addition, innovative, data-driven and evidence-based police practices is being prioritised through ringfenced funding for academic input into the development of training and guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they are measuring their ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade; and whether this measure will include online digital violence such as image-based sexual abuse.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s mission to halve Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) within a decade will be underpinned by the upcoming VAWG Strategy. Our headline measure will be the prevalence of VAWG as reported through the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). This will be measured by a new combined measure which will provide one figure for those who have experienced domestic abuse, and/or sexual assault and/or stalking in the previous 12 months.
Our target to halve VAWG within a decade will be set against this headline prevalence measure. We will also use a suite of other sub-metrics that provide a more comprehensive picture of VAWG in society and measure the effectiveness of our interventions.
The strategy will be published shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to prevent access to intimate images when public authorities gain access to iCloud under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 contains numerous safeguards including independent oversight, to ensure data is only requested on an exceptional basis and when strictly necessary and proportionate.
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the funding of the Revenge Porn Helpline is adequate and sustainable in the light of growing demand.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is providing £150,000 to the Revenge Porn Helpline in 2024/5. They provide high-quality support and advice to victims of non-consensual intimate image sharing and raise awareness of intimate image abuse nationally and internationally. Since its establishment in 2015, the Helpline has demonstrated an ability to successfully remove from circulation 90% of the images reported to the Helpline by victims.
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what training members of the police are undertaking to communicate and assist victims of image-based abuse.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Intimate image-based abuse can have a devastating impact on the lives of its victims and this Government will treat violence against women and girls (VAWG), online and offline, as a national emergency.
The College of Policing set the curriculum for policing which includes educational outcomes on image-based abuse. At present, individual forces choose how to deliver this training, often by commissioning local experts and support services.
The Government is determined that every force must have the right specialist capability to investigate these crimes properly. We will therefore work closely with the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs' Council to strengthen the training for officers on VAWG.
Under the Online Safety Act 2023, it is an offence to send, share or threaten to share “deepfake” pornography. This is part of a new “base offence” that criminalises someone for sharing an intimate image without consent. This Government has committed to banning the creation of sexually explicit “deepfake” images.