Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to work with local (a) businesses and (b) authorities to provide safe spaces for child victims of sexual street harassment in Newham.

Public sexual harassment is an appalling crime which the Government is committed to tackling. Our children have the right to both be and feel safe on our streets.

We are providing just over £1.2 million in funding, for the next two years, to the Children's Society for a programme to drive targeted action to respond to child sexual abuse and exploitation. The programme works with national and local partners, including businesses, to identify exploitation trends and work collaboratively to prevent harm.

In addition, we have:

• awarded £125 million through the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night Funds, covering a range of interventions including enhanced street lighting and CCTV, bystander training programmes and taxi marshals;
• are supporting Rt Hon. Greg Clark MP’s Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Bill, which provides that if someone commits an offence under section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 (intentional harassment, alarm or distress) and does so because of the victim’s sex, they can receive a longer sentence. In cases involving children, there are potentially additional offences that may be relevant;
• have ensured new guidance is in place for the police and prosecutors on public sexual harassment; and are running the “Enough” public communications campaign, which aims to target and challenge public sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women and girls by, for example, empowering bystanders to intervene safely.