Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their announcement on 18 September that protection zones around abortion clinics will be in force from 31 October, when they intend to respond to the Abortion clinic safe access zones: non-statutory guidance consultation, which ran from 1 December 2023 to 22 January 2024.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government’s priority has been to commence Safe Access Zones as quickly as possible. The College of Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service will produce guidance for the police and prosecutors. We have engaged with our partners extensively on this issue and we do not believe it is necessary to issue government guidance as well, so this Government will not be following up the previous Government’s consultation on non-statutory guidance for Safe Access Zones.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 7 August (HL344), how many staff in the Home Office are permitted to undertake diversity-related network time during core working hours; what is the percentage of overall working time they are permitted to spend on such network activity; how many hours are allocated in total; what are the names of each of the networks being funded; and what plans they have to (a) increase, or (b) reduce, such funding.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As the noble Lord will be aware, successive governments have supported civil service staff to engage in network activity designed to foster a more inclusive workforce. The funding for that activity within the Home Office over the period 2019-24 was set out by the previous government in HC26338.
For network chairs and other representatives elected by their colleagues, the time they may spend on network activity is capped at 50 per cent of their working hours, and their role within the Department will always be given first priority over staff network activity. Time allocation is pro rata based on working pattern and contract, but the total amount of time allocated to network activity by relevant officials is currently equivalent to 19 FTE staff per year.
In August 23, the Home Office reported an allocated support time amounting to 19 FTE for the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure and Impact Review.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 9 June 2022 (HL Deb col 1240) that re-categorising crime types and publishing a “violence against men and boys” strategy could lead to complaints from women and domestic abuse organisations, what steps they have taken to confirm this concern is justified.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, and the commitments they make, address all victims of these crimes, regardless of gender.
These documents were informed by the Violence Against Women and Girls Call for Evidence. It received over 180,000 responses, including over 500 written submissions from experts, academics, and stakeholders, with a broad spectrum of representation across domestic abuse charities and organisations. We also ran several focus groups on specialist areas, including male victims, migrant victims/survivors and perpetrator management.
We analysed responses and found a set of key themes. They included a call for a joined-up response to supporting victims and survivors and for a more co-ordinated approach across government and society to tackling these crimes.
It is our assessment that the introduction of a separate strategy for ‘violence against men and boys’ could be perceived to directly contradict this feedback.
We do understand that there are specific challenges that male victims of these crimes do face. This is why we published the refreshed Supporting Male Victims policy document in 2022, which strengthens the government’s response to male victims.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the Youth Endowment Fund has been invested in working with parents of young people.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office will be investing up to £23 million in intervention programmes that evidence suggests will be effective in helping to stop young people from being drawn into violence.
This will be delivered through Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in existing serious violence hotspot areas. Investment will be made in programmes working with young people who are at risk of engagement or currently involved in violence. We will shortly be opening a competition process for VRUs to apply for the programme funding. As such, we cannot provide details of interventions working with parents, until the successful bids are selected.
The funding will also pilot the Creating Opportunities Forum, a new programme to support young people who may be at risk of serious violence to access employment opportunities. The rest of the funding is for a small number of grants including our Young People’s Advocates who work with young women and girls at risk of violence.
The Government has also invested £200 million in early intervention and prevention support initiatives over 10 years to support children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF).
The YEF has 5 family focused projects from their launch grant round that work with parent and child. The nature of support includes but is not limited to therapy, resilience projects and protecting a child from abuse from the family. The total invested amount across all 5 projects is just over £5.7 million.
The YEF will launch its second grant round of 2021 in September: “A Supportive Home”, which will focus on the role of home and families to prevent youth violence. The YEF will identify programmes that are ready for robust impact evaluation or should be supported to reach this point within two years and intends to invest up to £20 million depending on the quality of applications.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the £23 million for early intervention programmes to prevent young people being drawn into violence, announced on 8 March, will be used to work with their parents.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office will be investing up to £23 million in intervention programmes that evidence suggests will be effective in helping to stop young people from being drawn into violence.
This will be delivered through Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in existing serious violence hotspot areas. Investment will be made in programmes working with young people who are at risk of engagement or currently involved in violence. We will shortly be opening a competition process for VRUs to apply for the programme funding. As such, we cannot provide details of interventions working with parents, until the successful bids are selected.
The funding will also pilot the Creating Opportunities Forum, a new programme to support young people who may be at risk of serious violence to access employment opportunities. The rest of the funding is for a small number of grants including our Young People’s Advocates who work with young women and girls at risk of violence.
The Government has also invested £200 million in early intervention and prevention support initiatives over 10 years to support children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF).
The YEF has 5 family focused projects from their launch grant round that work with parent and child. The nature of support includes but is not limited to therapy, resilience projects and protecting a child from abuse from the family. The total invested amount across all 5 projects is just over £5.7 million.
The YEF will launch its second grant round of 2021 in September: “A Supportive Home”, which will focus on the role of home and families to prevent youth violence. The YEF will identify programmes that are ready for robust impact evaluation or should be supported to reach this point within two years and intends to invest up to £20 million depending on the quality of applications.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of Violence Reduction Units in preventing gang and knife crime committed by those from families where there is little or no father involvement.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
This government is investing £70m over two years to support the development of Violence Reduction Units. Some VRUs have commissioned targeted initiatives aimed at parents and families which strengthen family-based decision-making, provide counselling support and support those with incarcerated parents. The impact of VRUs’ work will take time to be seen, and evidence from the Glasgow VRU suggests that the effect will be gradual and will accumulate over time.
The Home Office has commissioned an independent process evaluation of VRUs during 2019/20 which will be published later this summer. Evaluation of VRUs during 2020/21 will include both process and impact elements allowing us to investigate how and why any initial impact is occurring. The Youth Violence Commission has welcomed the Government’s commitment to VRUs and the package of challenge and support we have put in place for their success.
Whilst an assessment has not been made of the role of family hubs in preventing knife crime, this government has invested £1.085bn through the Troubled Families programme. The programme, which is delivered by local authorities and their partners, is driving public services to work together to provide effective, coordinated support to our most disadvantaged families. The risk of serious violence is one of the recently added criterion for suitability for the programme.
Similarly, this government has made early intervention and prevention a priority, investing £200 million in initiatives to support young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund. We are also investing £500 million through the new DCMS Youth Investment Fund over five years, helping to build 60 new youth centres across the country, refurbish around 360 existing youth facilities, and provide over 100 mobile facilities for harder to reach areas. The YIF will also support the provision and coordination of high-quality services for young people, and an investment in the youth workforce.v
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the current, and (2) the potential future, role of family hubs in preventing knife crime.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
This government is investing £70m over two years to support the development of Violence Reduction Units. Some VRUs have commissioned targeted initiatives aimed at parents and families which strengthen family-based decision-making, provide counselling support and support those with incarcerated parents. The impact of VRUs’ work will take time to be seen, and evidence from the Glasgow VRU suggests that the effect will be gradual and will accumulate over time.
The Home Office has commissioned an independent process evaluation of VRUs during 2019/20 which will be published later this summer. Evaluation of VRUs during 2020/21 will include both process and impact elements allowing us to investigate how and why any initial impact is occurring. The Youth Violence Commission has welcomed the Government’s commitment to VRUs and the package of challenge and support we have put in place for their success.
Whilst an assessment has not been made of the role of family hubs in preventing knife crime, this government has invested £1.085bn through the Troubled Families programme. The programme, which is delivered by local authorities and their partners, is driving public services to work together to provide effective, coordinated support to our most disadvantaged families. The risk of serious violence is one of the recently added criterion for suitability for the programme.
Similarly, this government has made early intervention and prevention a priority, investing £200 million in initiatives to support young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund. We are also investing £500 million through the new DCMS Youth Investment Fund over five years, helping to build 60 new youth centres across the country, refurbish around 360 existing youth facilities, and provide over 100 mobile facilities for harder to reach areas. The YIF will also support the provision and coordination of high-quality services for young people, and an investment in the youth workforce.v