Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

Equality Ministers work closely with colleagues across Government to tackle violence against women and girls.

The Minister for Women sits on the Ministerial Steering Group overseeing the delivery of the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy and the Domestic Abuse Action Plan. This group met most recently on 18 October 2023 to assess progress, which includes;

• Adding the issue of violence against women and girls to the revised Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR), meaning it is now set out as a national threat for forces to respond to alongside other threats such as terrorism, serious and organised crime, and child sexual abuse;

• Investing £168 million through the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night funds to make our streets safer;

• Launching a fund for VAWG ‘by and for’ services over two years to a total of up to £6 million, from 2023/24 – 2024/25. The fund is for services across England and Wales, supporting LGBT people, people with a disability, or ethnic minorities affected by VAWG;

• Launching the ‘Enough’ behaviour change campaign in March 2022, which has reached millions of individuals across England and Wales.

As part of that cross government work the Equality Hub is supporting the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill. Parliament agreed the final version of the Bill on Friday 20 October and it will now receive Royal Assent, strengthing protections for employees against workplace sexual harassment.