Asked by: Margaret Mullane (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what role she plans for policing to play in achieving the objective of halving violence against women and girls in a decade.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government has been clear that the level of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable, and we are treating it as the national emergency that it is. Victims must feel confident in the police’s ability to handle their case and we are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered.
The Home Office has invested £13.1 million funding to launch a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) to improve the policing response to VAWG and child sexual abuse and exploitation. Launched in April 2025, the NCVPP provides coordinated leadership within policing to drive up operational standards and skills across all 43 forces in their response to VAWG crimes. Through the NCVPP, we are working closely with the College of Policing to develop strengthened, specialist training for officers across all operational levels - frontline, specialist, and leadership.
The new VAWG Strategy will set the direction for the next decade, driving forward the Government’s bold ambition to halve VAWG within ten years. We are working tirelessly across government to deliver a Strategy that will set out bold, concrete actions to prevent violence and abuse, pursue perpetrators and bring them to justice, and protect victims and survivors. It’s vital we get it right. We're working towards publication of the Strategy as soon as possible.
Asked by: Margaret Mullane (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her planned timeline is for waiving visa fees for spouses and children of current and former serving personnel who are of non-UK nationality.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains committed to supporting current and former serving personnel and their families; ensuring that they do not face any disadvantage due to their service.
The Home Office is actively working with the Ministry of Defence on the manifesto commitment to scrap visa fees for veterans and their dependants and will keep stakeholders updated on progress.
Asked by: Margaret Mullane (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) help prevent and (b) support the victims of tool theft.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise the negative impact theft has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living.
We are continuing to work with the police-led National Business Crime Centre and industry via the Combined Industries Theft Solutions forum to explore ways to tackle and prevent the theft of tools.
We are also working alongside the police and businesses to tackle these crimes and ensure perpetrators receive just punishment, including work to make tradespeople’s vans secure.
Following engagement with the Home Office and National Vehicle Crime Working Group, Thatcham Research agreed to add to their New Vehicle Security Assessment (NVSA), locks and alarms on the back of vans (previously NVSA only covers the cab area of vans) and a motion sensor on the load area of the van. This is supported by crime prevention advice developed by the Police Crime Prevention Initiatives: Secured by Design - Vans & Tool Theft.
A key part of making acquisitive crime less attractive to criminals is making stolen goods harder to sell on. That is why we are working closely with policing and academic leads to examine what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the ability to profit from this criminality.