Refuges: Females

(asked on 10th September 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what Government funding has been allocated for women’s refuges in each year from 2015 to 2020.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 13th September 2018

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime that nobody should have to suffer. The Government is committed to protecting victims of domestic abuse. In the 2015 Spending Review Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) secured £40 million for domestic abuse services, including refuges. From the £40 million, MHCLG has allocated the following amounts to local authorities through competitive funding rounds:

  • £10 million across 2014-2016, including around £3 million in 2014-2015 and £7 million in 2015-2016, which helped 148 local authorities in England strengthen refuge provision for victims and offer support to women from outside their own area.
  • £3.5 million across 2015-2016 which supported 46 local authorities in England and their partners to deliver 710 new bed spaces in refuges and other types of safe accommodation for 3,798 victims of domestic abuse.
  • £20 million across 2016-2018, including around £3.5 million in 2016-2017 and £16.5 million in 2017-2018, which includes £1.1 million of top-up funding. The fund supported 80 projects across 258 local authorities in England, helping to create more than 2,000 bed spaces in refuges and other types of safe accommodation and giving support to over 19,000 victims and their families.

On 2 July we launched a further £18.8 million fund for domestic abuse services, including refuge, to cover 2018-2020. The fund was open to all local authorities across England to bid for a share, and we will be announcing the successful projects in due course.

Additionally, since 2015 MHCLG have provided almost £889,000 to Women’s Aid for two projects, Routes to Support and No Woman Turned Away. Routes to Support (formerly UK Refuges Online) is part-funded by the Government and is a UK-wide online database containing information about domestic abuse and other violence against women services, including refuge. No Woman Turned Away provides additional caseworker support to women facing difficulties in accessing refuge. We are continuing to fund these vital projects in 2018/19.

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