Violence Against Women and Girls

Baroness Bousted Excerpts

Monday 17th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Cluny (Lab)]

It is vital that every woman and child in the UK is included, and that is why we are taking a cross-departmental and cross-sector approach, so that all information, including from the third sector, is captured and fed into the strategy. The Home Secretary has already announced a package of reforms to improve confidence in the policing process, which will go to the heart of some of the issues that are being raised. Much stronger training on violence against women and girls is being offered to police officers, and options are being developed to interact with other bodies that have specialist knowledge. We will integrate that into the strategy.

[Baroness Bousted (Lab)]

My Lords, 95% of boys watch pornography before they are 18. This can lead to greater acceptance of sexual harassment and violence against girls and women. By July this year, sites offering pornographic content must have in place highly effective age-enforcement action. Is the Minister confident that this deadline will be successfully met, and that children, girls and women will be protected?

[Baroness Smith of Cluny (Lab)]

The Government are resolute in their commitment to keeping children safe online. I have already mentioned some of the actions of Ofcom. Services in scope of the Online Safety Act must take action to tackle illegal pornographic content, and Ofcom will be able to take robust enforcement action against companies that fail to comply.