Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Bonavia 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.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

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

--- Later in debate ---

[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.

[Kevin Bonavia]

In my constituency of Stevenage, we have an excellent charity called SADA—Survivors Against Domestic Abuse. Such charities rely on multi-agency working to deliver essential services to those affected by domestic abuse. How are the Government continuing to support organisations in working closely together to continue to provide effective services to those who have suffered domestic abuse?

[Jess Phillips]

I thank SADA for the amazing work that it does. In December 2024, we prioritised confirming funding for those delivering frontline services. In the next few weeks, we will work on agreeing decisions about our wider budget that will support the Government’s ambition of halving VAWG in a decade, to deliver on our manifesto commitments.