Oral Answers to Questions

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Tuesday 21st November 2023 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

1. Whether he plans to take legislative steps to help end violence against women and girls.

[Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)]

3. Whether he plans to take legislative steps to help end violence against women and girls.

--- Later in debate ---

[Owen Thompson]

I welcome the Minister to her place. We need to be doing much more to tackle the culture of toxic masculinity that, sadly, still exists. We recently had a situation in Midlothian where one of our councillors faced sexual harassment at a public event. When they complained and raised the issue, the perpetrator’s colleagues simply said, “But he’s a good guy.”. We need to do much more to tackle that sort of attitude. Despite the complaint being made and the complainant being believed, no action was ever taken. What more can this Government do to ensure that in these situations action is taken so that we protect women and girls from such unfortunate situations?

[Laura Farris]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I know that he does a lot of work on perpetrator programmes through the White Ribbon scheme in Scotland. I am sorry to hear about the experience of one of his local councillors, and I draw to his attention the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023, which recently received Royal Assent. It creates an offence of intentional harassment carried out because of a person’s sex. It is quite possible that that covers his friend’s case, so I would be grateful if he wrote to me or came to see me to discuss it further.