WE ARE A MAGAZINE ABOUT LAW AND JUSTICE | AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO
February 07 2025
WE ARE A MAGAZINE ABOUT LAW AND JUSTICE | AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO

Government strategy to reduce violence against women and girls is failing

Government strategy to reduce violence against women and girls is failing

Photo: Andy Aitchison

Reported incidents of rape and sexual assault have risen fourfold in the past decade, according to a new report that says the Home Office has made ‘little progress’ to improve the situation.

One in 12 women will be victims of male violence every year, and 20% of all recorded police incidents relate to gender-based violence. Despite this, government actions over the past few years ‘have not led to improved outcomes’.

The report by the National Audit Office ahs found that the Home Office has made little progress in implementing its 2021 strategy to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG). The report shows that the Home Office is not leading an effective cross-government effort, nor does it have a consistent way of measuring progress.

The report stresses that VAWG is a serious and growing problem, with reported incidents of rape and sexual assault against women increasing fourfold in the past decade from 34,000 to 123,000, partly explained by improved recording. In contrast, the report found that the prevalence of domestic abuse had slightly decreased. Charity Refuge – a service provider to those who experience domestic violence – found this result surprising and inconsistent with their own experience with victims. The new Labour government have promised to half violence against women and girls in the next decade.

Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and VAWG, said that she will ‘refuse to allow’ the strategy to become  ‘just a piece of paper that no bugger does anything with’. Keir Starmer promised that his government would halve VAWG in the next decade. However, the government’s policies in this area are yet to be implemented. Labour has already put on hold their election manifesto promise to set up specialist tribunals to tackle the backlog of rape cases.

The Victim’s Commissioner, Baroness Newlove, quoted in the Independent, commenting on the report said that ‘there remains a critical lack of understanding about what truly works’.

The report found that the Home Office had not led an effective ‘whole-system approach’ and that they use a different definition of VAWG to the police. The group that was established to progress the strategy only met four times in three years, and available expertise was not properly utilised to inform the strategy.

The Audit Office highlighted that the Home Office has consistently underspent its own budget allocated to the strategy, by an average of 15% between 2021-22 and 2023-2024, although the percentage decreased to 3% for 2023-2024. It was also shown to have not centrally coordinated the funding across government and relevant departments.

The Home Office had delivered 78% of their commitments but had committed to implement them in full by December 2024.  Abigail Ampofo, interim CEO of Refuge, remarked that ‘when a woman is being killed by a partner or ex-partner every five days in England and Wales, 78% is not enough’.

The Director of the Centre of Crime and Justice Studies, Richard Garside, said that ‘uncomfortable truths’ must be faced in order to develop ‘effective policies that are big and bold enough to work’.

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