Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what role she plans for policing to play in achieving the objective of halving violence against women and girls in a decade.

This Government has been clear that the level of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable, and we are treating it as the national emergency that it is. Victims must feel confident in the police’s ability to handle their case and we are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered.

The Home Office has invested £13.1 million funding to launch a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) to improve the policing response to VAWG and child sexual abuse and exploitation. Launched in April 2025, the NCVPP provides coordinated leadership within policing to drive up operational standards and skills across all 43 forces in their response to VAWG crimes. Through the NCVPP, we are working closely with the College of Policing to develop strengthened, specialist training for officers across all operational levels - frontline, specialist, and leadership.

The new VAWG Strategy will set the direction for the next decade, driving forward the Government’s bold ambition to halve VAWG within ten years. We are working tirelessly across government to deliver a Strategy that will set out bold, concrete actions to prevent violence and abuse, pursue perpetrators and bring them to justice, and protect victims and survivors. It’s vital we get it right. We're working towards publication of the Strategy as soon as possible.