Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the positive role advanced technology can play in the reporting and prevention of violence against women and girls.

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government. In our ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government Strategy’, we committed to use every tool available – including advanced technology – to protect women and girls from harm.

That is why the Strategy sets out a whole-system response, bringing together regulators, industry and policing to make better use of data, digital tools and innovation. As part of this, the Government is working with leading technology companies, academics and experts to develop and implement a world-first deepfake detection evaluation framework, which will help tackle synthetic media threats including AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery and child sexual abuse material.

At the same time, we are driving the use of advanced technology across policing to strengthen prevention and reporting of VAWG offences. Data-driven policing tools, including digital risk assessment tools such as the Metropolitan Police Service’s V100, use advanced analytics to identify and target the most dangerous perpetrators.

We are working with the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) to explore how these tools can improve the identification of high harm perpetrators, while it works closely with forces to drive innovation and strengthen the adoption of technology to support more effective investigations across all VAWG offences.

The Home Office has also provided central funding to the policing-led Digital Public Contact Programme to deliver a range of modern contact capabilities for victims. This includes Single Online Home (SOH), which ensures easier access to crime information and reporting, and My Police Portal, currently being trialled in eight forces to improve support and deliver more consistent victim experiences, and Video Response for non-emergency reporting for VAWG victims.