Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls: Funding

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful for the question. FGM is a crime: it should be recognised as a crime and prosecuted as a crime. The Government have put in place additional support at borders to ensure that we monitor individuals who may be taken abroad for FGM—which, again, is a crime—and we are planning additional resources and measures on that. The noble Lord is absolutely right that education and wider knowledge of that crime are extremely important. As he said, there is no religious basis for it; it is a crime, it should be treated as such and this Government will do that.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, the domestic violence strategy that the Minister mentioned will be very welcome, as it is much needed. But does he accept, as we all know—the figures are stark—that violence against women and girls is on the rise? It is an epidemic in this country, and the funding gap is still there even with the increase that he outlined. Many of the organisations to which the noble Baroness, Lady Gohir, referred, rely on a range of funding from local authorities, charities and so on. A lot of these funding streams are being cut and drying up, particularly in local government. Is he satisfied that women, particularly those from minority backgrounds who need specialist support, as we have heard, will still be able to access the support—in many cases, life-saving support—that they need?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am never satisfied, because we have to ensure that we tackle these crimes head on. That is why development of the strategy on violence against women and girls, led by my honourable friend in the House of Commons, Jess Phillips, is extremely important. The Home Office resources I mentioned have gone up by 36% to over £100 million, but the Ministry of Justice is also providing significant amounts of resource for preventive activity on violence against women and girls, including by investing in action on perpetrators who have been sentenced and will come out at some point in the future. There is a local authority role as well. All I can say to the noble Baroness is that we have set an ambitious target; it is ambitious for the reason that this is a crime and it needs to be driven down. Therefore, with her help and that of others, when that strategy is published, we will achieve those objectives over that 10-year period.