Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce violence against women and girls; what funding is available to (a) local authorities and (b) policing agencies to reduce that violence; and what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the causes of that violence.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

This Government has set out the unprecedented ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade and will treat it as the national emergency that it is. Achieving this requires a transformative approach to the way we work together across Government, public services, the private sector, and charities.

Following the spending review announcements in October, the Home Office and other departments across Government are deciding how their budgets are allocated to deliver the Government’s priorities in 2025/26. This includes working with the police to ensure justice is delivered for victims of VAWG.

On 28th November 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160 million in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025/26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support for victims in safe accommodation. MHCLG published details of the provisional local government finance settlement for 2025-26 on 18^th December 2024.

The Safer Streets Mission is the vehicle to drive delivery across Government to halve VAWG, halve knife crime, and restore confidence in the policing and justice system. All relevant departments will be responsible for achieving the government’s ambition to halve VAWG. Discussions with Cabinet colleagues are continuing to take place, including through a VAWG Ministerial Group.