Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what technology they are (1) using, and (2) developing, to improve the safety of women.

The Home Office is supporting policing to build its digital capability and maximise the use of technologies to ensure it can respond effectively to crime and protect the public, including women.

The Single Online Home (SOH) is a national platform that provides a digital front counter and online services for the public. SOH launched a pilot domestic abuse reporting service in October 2020 across five forces following heightened risks of hidden harms during the pandemic. Designed in consultation with forces, the NPCC Domestic Abuse Lead, and external charities, the service is very much victim focused and provides victims with a discrete reporting mechanism to access the support they need. The service has received a total of 1168 reports and is being used to inform a national roll out.

In light of the recent and tragic death of Sarah Everard, we have more than doubled the size of the Safer Streets Fund, which will bring funding for these local projects to £45 million in the 2021/22 financial year. Through the Safer Streets Fund, we will work with Police and Crime Commissioners and Local Authorities to deploy measures such as CCTV and improved street lighting that improve the safety of public spaces, with a focus on increasing the safety of women and girls.

Through our landmark Domestic Abuse Bill we will also strengthen our response to perpetrators and improve our support to victims. The Bill will introduce mandatory polygraph examinations of high-risk domestic abuse offenders on licence.

We intend to publish two strategies this year focussed on tackling Violence Against Women and Girls and Domestic Abuse, which will ensure a cross-government response to ensuring and increasing the safety of women and girls.

We have published the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper, which includes specific measures to work with private companies and ensure that they are held to account for tackling illegal activity and content, such as hate crime, harassment, and cyber-stalking, as well as activity and content which may not be illegal but is nonetheless highly damaging to individuals (legal but harmful). The Full Government Response will be followed by legislation, which we are working on at pace, and will be ready this year.