Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to help protect women and girls in (a) the home environment and (b) public places who are at risk of domestic violence.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Government is committed to tackling violence against women and girls in all its forms. The landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021 established a wide-ranging statutory definition of domestic abuse that incorporates a range of abusive behaviours beyond physical violence, and brings in important new protections including Domestic Abuse Protection Notices (DAPNs) and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) to provide flexible, longer-term protection for victims from all forms of domestic abuse.
Accompanying this legislation, in July 2022 the Government published detailed statutory guidance outlining the many forms domestic abuse can take to ensure that domestic abuse is properly understood by public agencies seeking to tackle this abhorrent crime and provide adequate support to victims.
In July 2021, the cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy was published to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online and on the streets. In March 2022 we published a complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan in March 2022 which seeks to transform the whole of society’s response to prevent offending, support victims, pursue perpetrators. In the Plan, Government committed to:
To help protect women and girls in public places and raise awareness of VAWG, in March 2022, the Government launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign which seeks to change public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment and to help create an atmosphere in which women and girls can report such crimes to the police with confidence.
These measures will strengthen protections and support for women and girls at home and in public places, who are at risk of domestic violence and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps she is taking with the CPS to improve prosecution rates for offences against retail and emergency workers.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The CPS treats assaults against retail and emergency workers extremely seriously. In accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, charges are selected to reflect the seriousness and extent of the offending and give the court adequate powers to sentence.
The CPS is a signatory to a Joint Agreement on Offences against Emergency Workers which provides a framework to ensure the more effective investigation and prosecution of cases where emergency workers are the victim of a crime. It also sets the standards victims of these crimes can expect.
The CPS has issued legal guidance to prosecutors on the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018. This guidance highlights that the Act requires courts to consider an offence against an emergency worker as an aggravating factor in sentencing. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 has extended the statutory aggravating factor cover to assaults on those providing a public service including those who provide goods or facilities to the public.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to mark the contribution of emergency workers killed in the line of duty.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
It is important that we recognise the vital role emergency service workers play in society. This is never more true than when they make the ultimate sacrifice. That is why the government was pleased to support the national memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, and why the Home Secretary and Ministers regularly show their support for the police during commemorative events.
All UK honours and medals are in the personal gift of HM The Queen under the Royal prerogative. The Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medal (HD Committee) gives advice to The Queen on honours matters, including new forms of official national recognition. The Honours and Appointments Secretariat in the Cabinet Office supports the Committee and will consider the options for recognition.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Attorney General:
If he will hold discussions with the CPS on improving prosecution rates for assault of emergency workers in (a) Kettering, (b) North Northamptonshire and (c) England.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
I agree that we should do everything we can to protect our emergency workers. I hope that the Honourable Member will be pleased to know that between 2019 and 2020 the numbers of prosecutions for these offences increased by 27.2% in the East Midlands CPS Area and by 25.1% overall across England and Wales.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve support in the justice system for the victims of violence against women and girls.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Protecting women and girls from violence and abuse, and supporting victims, are key priorities for this Government. These crimes are extremely serious and have a huge impact both for those subjected to such violence and more broadly on our economy, health services, and the criminal justice system.
In 2021-22, we will provide just under £151m for victim and witness support services. This includes an extra £51m to increase support for rape and domestic abuse victims, building on the emergency funding already provided to help domestic abuse and sexual violence services meet Covid-driven demand. This compares to a total budget of £48.5m in 2010-2011.
This funding includes £27m for 700 Independent Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Advisers and £20.7m for local sexual violence and domestic abuse services.
We continue to work closely with the Home Office on the development of the Government’s forthcoming Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. The new Strategy will focus on prevention, drive forward improvements in the effort to target perpetrators, respond to the changing nature of crimes against women and girls and, most importantly, will continue to put victims at the heart of our approach.
In addition, the forthcoming Victims’ Bill, which we will consult on later this year, will ensure that all victims are supported, and their rights are recognised, at every stage of the criminal justice system and beyond
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people convicted of assaulting an emergency worker have been given an immediate custodial sentence of longer than six months since that offence was introduced.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Ministry of Justice has published information on convictions and sentencing outcomes up to December 2020, available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool:
In the ‘Offence’ filter, select ‘8.22 Assault of an emergency worker’. Number of defendants convicted will populate Row 24, and those sentenced to immediate custody will populate Row 35. The number of defendants who received sentence lengths greater than 6 months will populate Rows 60 to 77.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has plans to amend the equality impact assessment for assaults on emergency workers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to include information on the impact on disabled people.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The government has already published a full equalities assessment on its proposals to increase the maximum penalty of assaulting an emergency worker. I am aware of the ongoing nature of the Public Sector Equality Duty and our obligation to consider the equalities impacts of the proposals as they develop and are implemented in light of any new evidence. However there are no plans to update this assessment at this stage. As explained in the assessment, statistical data in relation to offenders who are disabled are not centrally recorded.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of adequacy of steps taken against Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers in response to crimes of sexual violence committed in the conflict in Tigray; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK is appalled by reports of atrocities including widespread rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated by different armed groups in Tigray. This is unacceptable. Both the Governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea have committed to hold perpetrators of human rights violations to account, but we have yet to see any indication of how they propose to do this. The UK will support the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure that their joint investigations into atrocities in Tigray with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission are independent, transparent and impartial and that those responsible for these human rights violations and abuses are held to account.
We are working to promote justice for survivors of sexual violence, to provide support to survivors and children born of conflict related sexual violence and to prevent sexual violence from occurring. Preparations are underway to deploy expertise from the UK Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative Team of Experts to the region. British Embassy staff conducted a mission to assess the protection of civilians and humanitarian access in Shire, Tigray, on 4-7 April. It included the assessment of the current Gender-Based Violence response, specific emergency services provided in camps and the gaps that need to be filled. They interviewed staff and volunteers supporting survivors of sexual violence to identify essential activities required to address the immediate needs of the survivors as well as the accountability needs to ensure well-informed and effective assistance.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2020 to Question 78583 on Emergency Services: Crimes of Violence, when he plans to write to the hon. Member for Shipley to supply that information.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Obtaining the necessary information to fully answer the question asked on 22 July 2020, involves accessing the Police National Computer (PNC). This system can only be accessed via a fixed location in our offices. Access to the PNC has been severely restricted since March 2020 due to the national restrictions and the need to minimise non-essential travel.
Work to clear the backlog of parliamentary questions, alongside data uploads and other priority work using the PNC, has commenced but there is continued reduced capacity to do this due to the need to adhere to social distancing guidelines. I will write to the Hon Member with the requested information as soon as possible.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the use of rape as a weapon of war in Tigray.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK is appalled by reports of gender-based violence that includes widespread rape in the Tigray region. The G7, under the UK Presidency, issued a statement on 2 April condemning human rights violations and abuses and sexual and gender based violence. The UK also condemned in the strongest terms the reported killings of civilians and acts of sexual violence via a joint statement on Ethiopia with 41 other countries at the 46th Session of the Human Rights Council. We support the UN's call for a "zero tolerance" policy for such crimes and we continue to call for independent, international investigations into allegations of human right abuses.
British Embassy staff conducted a specific protection mission in Shire in Tigray on 4-7 April. It included the assessment of the current Gender-Based Violence response, specific emergency services provided in camps and the remaining gaps. They interviewed staff and volunteers supporting survivors of sexual violence to identify essential activities required to address the immediate needs of the survivors as well as the accountability needs.