Oral Answers to Questions

Darren Paffey Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Paffey (Southampton Itchen) (Lab)]

3. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[Kevin Bonavia (Stevenage) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)]

We will deliver a cross-Government violence against women and girls strategy, and we are already taking significant steps to ensure that VAWG is treated as the national emergency that it is. That includes embedding the first domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms under Raneem’s law, starting in five police forces, and further extending the roll-out of domestic abuse protection orders to Cleveland and north Wales.

[Darren Paffey]

I thank the Minister for her answer. A constituent of mine in Southampton Itchen suffered horrendous domestic and sexual abuse while she was a serving police officer, but inexplicably the rules did not allow her to take her complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and made her a victim of the very system that was meant to offer her protection. Does the Minister agree that a woman’s right to get justice should not depend on the job that she happens to do? Will she meet me and my constituent to discuss the changes needed so that we can better protect dedicated public servants such as her?

[Jess Phillips]

I absolutely agree. I am more than happy to meet my hon. Friend and his constituent. Allegations of any crime involving serving police officers should be investigated robustly and independently by the police. Outside of criminal investigations, disciplinary investigations, including those involving serious assault and sexual violence, are referred to the IOPC under mandatory referral criteria, but there is more to do.