Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 21 October 2024 (HL1289), what steps they have taken to work closely with the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs' Council to strengthen the training for officers on violence against women and girls; where is progress up to; and how they are monitoring this with specific regard to intimate image abuse.

As set out in the written answer of 21 October, the College of Policing set the curriculum for policing which includes educational outcomes on image-based abuse. At present, forces choose how to deliver this training, often by commissioning local experts and support services.

However, to ensure that every force has the right specialist capability to investigate Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) crimes, including Intimate Image Abuse, we have invested £13.1 million into the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, which launched in April 2025. This included a £2 million uplift to support improvements in police training – this work is now under way, beginning with an extensive review of the current approach.

The Home Office will be working closely with the College and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to ensure the training covers all forms of VAWG, including intimate image abuse. In addition, innovative, data-driven and evidence-based police practices is being prioritised through ringfenced funding for academic input into the development of training and guidance.