Colleen Fletcher
Main Page: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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Colleen Fletcher (Coventry North East) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Robertson. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Jess Phillips) on securing and so ably leading this important debate about funding for domestic violence refuges.
In the days leading up to the debate, I spoke to refuge providers, especially in Coventry, and to people who work with victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence about their concerns about the proposed reforms to refuge funding. I want to use the words of one of those individuals, who knows at first hand the devastating impact those reforms will have. She told me:
“I’m very worried about the proposed ‘supported housing’ funding reforms. The thought that 52 percent of refuges will either close or reduce the space available for such vulnerable women and children is unthinkable. Put this against a backdrop of massive increases in the numbers of victims of domestic and sexual violence coming forward to report to the police and access specialist support services such as refuges, and this proposed reform can be seen for what it is – a huge backwards step for combatting violence against women and girls.
As a sexual violence agency we rely on being able to refer to the specialist support and critical safety net that our refuges provide to some of our most vulnerable clients. Without them we know women and children will be put into far greater danger as some will inevitably feel they have no choice but to go back to the vicinity and the control of the perpetrator. This will undoubtedly contribute to an increase in violence and deaths as a result of domestic abuse.”
She concluded:
“The government has given commitments time and time again that they will protect domestic abuse refuges. These proposals appear to fly in the face of this commitment.”
I hope that the Government will heed those warnings, rethink their reckless proposals and seek instead to implement a sustainable funding solution that protects refuges and the life-saving services they provide.