Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Witherden Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

2. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab)]

5. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[Dr Simon Opher (Stroud) (Lab)]

7. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jess Phillips]

Sadly, what my hon. Friend describes is something that I think everybody in the House would recognise. We are strengthening the justice system to better support victims, and we have committed to ensuring that there are specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force and that police officers receive stronger training on violence against women and girls, including on coercive and controlling behaviour. We will also ban anyone with a history of violence against women and girls from joining the police force and we will increase the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner through the Victims and Courts Bill, so that they can hold criminal justice systems accountable and independently scrutinise the victims code of compliance.

[Steve Witherden]

Survivors of domestic abuse and violence, along with their children, must be able to access affordable housing. The local housing allowance, introduced by the last Labour Government to cover the lowest 50% of private rents, now covers only 1% of private rents in Wales and 2.4% in England. Does the Minister agree that unfreezing LHA and linking it once more to actual local rents is vital to reducing the risk of homelessness for survivors and ensuring that they have the safety of a stable home when fleeing abuse?

[Jess Phillips]

I thank my hon. Friend for his passionate plea, and I absolutely will take up his suggestions in the meetings to which I have already referred. Tier 1 local authorities in England have a legal requirement to assess and address the need for support within safe accommodation for all domestic abuse victims. The Government have increased the funding to local authorities to £160 million this year—an uplift of £30 million from previous years—to provide further support in safe accommodation for domestic abuse survivors. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has published statutory guidance, which is clear that local authorities should ensure that sufficient suitable support in safe accommodation is available to meet the needs of victims locally.