Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Greg Hands and Baroness Featherstone(13 years, 3 months ago)
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Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con)
3. What steps she is taking to tackle violence against women and girls.
The Minister for Equalities (Lynne Featherstone)
On 8 March this year, we published our action plan on tackling violence against women and girls. We have already delivered on that in several areas, including a commitment to provide more than £38 million of Home Office and Ministry of Justice funding over four years for local specialist services to support victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Greg Hands
Under the last Labour Government, rape crisis centres were closing at a rate of two per annum. Will the Minister confirm that this Government will never do anything to put such important services and their funding at risk?
Lynne Featherstone
I thank my hon. Friend for pointing that out. It is true that under the previous Government, the number of rape support centres in England and Wales fell dramatically. This Government have committed £10 million to local rape support centres over the next three years. The Ministry of Justice is working with the sexual violence sector to open 15 new centres where there are gaps in provision. The first four of those will open this year in Hereford, Trafford, Devon and Dorset. Further work is being done to identify other parts of the country where there is an acute need for such services.
Socio-economic Equality Duty
Debate between Greg Hands and Baroness Featherstone(14 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Lynne Featherstone
I think the hon. Lady misheard. I did not say that. I said that if we want to make a difference with substantive legislation, we should introduce it. I have already said that the Equality Act 2010 is substantive legislation, but that duty is a little bit of it that is not substantive.
Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con)
My hon. Friend is right to focus on specific measures. Does she therefore agree that it would be better to enact practical measures such as the right to request flexible working?