Oral Answers to Questions

Liz Jarvis Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Anneliese Dodds]

It is vital that service providers have clear guidance about the Equality Act. The EHRC has already published non-statutory guidance on the legislation for separate and single-sex service providers, and the new Government have also acted to underline that single-sex refuges, for example, are fully legally compliant, as I emphasised when I visited such a refuge in September.

[Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)]

6. What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on tackling 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.

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

I am not sure that Mr Speaker would allow me to go into quite that level of detail on the amount of discussions I have with the Home Secretary on this issue. It would take hours, because this happens every single day. This weekend, the Government announced that we will be spending £13.1 million to create a national policing centre for violence against women and girls and public protection, and that is due to launch in April.

[Liz Jarvis]

According to the National Audit Office’s report published on Friday, the epidemic of violence against women and girls is getting worse, and current prevention activities have largely

“focused on reducing reoffending rather than avoiding initial offences.”

In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which includes my Eastleigh constituency, 39,221 domestic abuse incidents and crimes were recorded from April 2023 to March 2024. Following recent tragic events, what measures is the Minister taking to encourage prevention and foster the cultural change necessary to keep women and girls safe?

[Jess Phillips]

I thank the hon. Lady, and I am sure the entire House agrees with the tone with which she speaks about domestic abuse in her area. The National Audit Office wrote what, frankly, can only be considered to be a damning indictment of the previous Government’s violence against women and girls strategy. We will do everything we can to ensure prevention, both through education and with those who perpetrate, which will be a fundamental part of our strategy. Unlike previous strategies, we will actually do it.