Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[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.

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

We will deliver a cross-Government violence against women and girls strategy, and we are already taking significant steps to ensure that VAWG is treated as the national emergency that it is. That includes embedding the first domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms under Raneem’s law, starting in five police forces, and further extending the roll-out of domestic abuse protection orders to Cleveland and north Wales.

--- Later in debate ---

[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.

[Sarah Edwards]

On International Women’s Day, our community in Tamworth came together to not only celebrate the achievements of women, but reflect on the important issue of the safety of women and girls. Local women Tamanna and Mckenzie took the initiative to organise a walk-and-talk event, bringing together key organisations, including the UP Creative Hub community interest company and Tamworth Street Angels. They had never organised an event before, and they managed to pull together 50 women in just two weeks. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Tamanna and Mckenzie on that fantastic event, and on their dedication to raising awareness of such an important issue?

[Jess Phillips]

Absolutely, gladly. Tamanna and Mckenzie deserve all our praise. It is infectious; the first time we do such a thing often leads to the second. The rising of the women is the rising of us all.