Violence against Women and Girls Strategy

Debate between Gurinder Singh Josan and Jess Phillips

Thursday 18th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jess Phillips]

A nine-year-old looking at any pornography on any social media site or any site in the UK is illegal. If there are instances of that, they should be reported. We saw a case recently of a pornography site not having age verification. It was fined £1 million by Ofcom and asked to put age verification in place. Those sites will be blocked in the UK if that is not the case. Such measures are already in place, but I ask the hon. Lady to get her schools to report those particular issues, which we will raise with Ofcom. It is important to say that misogyny existed before the internet—tackling misogyny has had to be done for quite a long time. I absolutely agree that we need to support teachers because of what young people are seeing, both inside and outside schools, and the strategy deals with that.

[Gurinder Singh Josan (Smethwick) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister and all those in Government who worked so hard on this strategy. The shadow Minister, through her rhetoric, does her best to demonise whole communities, but the Minister is right to recognise that abuse occurs in all communities. However, she will be aware of the need to be sensitive to cultural differences experienced by women and girls from different communities. The Minister has already recognised the value of by-and-for organisations working to provide culturally sensitive support for women and girls, and I trust that that support for those organisations will continue, but one area where progress needs to be made is in relation to honour-based abuse. Will the Minister commit to support calls from Karma Nirvana and around 60 other organisations, including Sikh Women’s Aid, for a statuary definition of honour-based abuse, to recognise honour as an aggravating factor in criminal sentencing, and to require multi-agency guidance to identify honour-based abuse?

[Jess Phillips]

I am very happy to say that coming up with a statutory definition of honour-based abuse, and working on statutory guidance with the organisations that my hon. Friend has identified, are very much in the strategy. I am very proud to do that, because we absolutely need cultural sensitivity in the services we provide, and we need to listen to the voices of the women in those services. It is an honour to work with those organisations, and I will continue to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gurinder Singh Josan and Jess Phillips

Monday 17th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Gurinder Singh Josan (Smethwick) (Lab)]

9. What steps her Department is taking to tackle violence against women and girls.

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

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government, and our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade has begun. We will deliver a transformative cross-Government approach that is underpinned by the new strategy, which we will publish soon.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jess Phillips]

I would be happy to speak to my hon. Friend and her constituent about that case; I have heard similar cases with regard to high-worth, powerful rapists or alleged rapists. It is vital that we undertake a proper change to how our policing and justice system works for rape victims, whether through Operation Soteria or other interventions such as the new national centre for VAWG; we need to improve the situation across the country, not just see pockets of good practice. It is going to take time, but I am more than happy to work with her on that.

[Gurinder Singh Josan]

The Minister will be aware of the important role played by specialist “by and for” organisations in supporting victims from minority communities and bringing crucial cultural awareness to the table. Sikh Women’s Aid recently held an all-women’s meeting in which it focused on the trauma and fear generated by recent racially aggravated attacks in the west midlands, including in my constituency. Will the Minister outline what steps the Home Office is taking to ensure that specialist community support services, including “by and for” organisations such as Sikh Women’s Aid, are properly resourced so that victims from all backgrounds—whether white working-class girls or Sikh women and girls—can receive culturally-sensitive support?

[Jess Phillips]

We recognise the vital role of specialist “by and for” services in providing tailored support to victims and survivors. It has been my personal pleasure over many years to work alongside the brilliant women at Sikh Women’s Aid, who operate so furtively in our local area. I meet regularly with Imkaan, the umbrella lead for such “by and for” services, to seek solutions to exactly the problem of ensuring that there is not a postcode lottery and that everybody can have specialist support.

Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry

Debate between Gurinder Singh Josan and Jess Phillips

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jess Phillips]

To go back to the previous answer, the chair of the inquiry will set the tone for the inquiry. That is why we have to put in place the right chair and a system for victims who want to take part in the inquiry that will care for and look after them, and that is what we are working to achieve.

[Gurinder Singh Josan (Smethwick) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for her responses, and I absolutely agree that it is crucial to get this right, so can she be absolutely clear that the inquiry will not be watered down, particularly in its focus on grooming gangs and ethnicity, including on models of grooming where groomers focused on the ethnicity of victims, whether that be young white girls or even Sikh girls?

[Jess Phillips]

Absolutely. I absolutely pay tribute to the community response in my hon. Friend’s local area to recent incidences of very hideous sexual violence, and I put on record my love to the families and victims involved. I absolutely agree: this is a grooming gangs inquiry, and it will follow what Baroness Casey stated. As I said in my statement, it will be three years long, it will not shy away and it will be a grooming gangs inquiry.