Women’s Aid responds to announcement in the King’s Speech to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade
Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said:
“Women’s Aid welcomes the new government’s announcement in the King’s Speech to bring forward plans to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade, and the actions that will be taken under the Crime and Policing Bill to achieve this. We are pleased the Prime Minister recognised the incredible work of our Patron Melaine Brown MBE in yesterday’s parliamentary speech that followed.
For a long time, survivors of domestic abuse have been failed, or in the case of marginalised survivors ignored, by the criminal justice system’s poor response to offences relating to violence against women and girls. It is crucial that the valuable knowledge of specialist domestic abuse services is recognised by the police and courts, to enable collaborative working and knowledge can be shared through training. Specialist domestic abuse services are experts at meeting the needs of the communities they serve and must be at the centre of this government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
Funding challenges across the country have resulted in a postcode lottery when it comes to survivors accessing support, with many being devastating turned away from help. This must change. The funding gap of £232 million that domestic abuse services are currently experienced must be plugged, with proper investment into these lifesaving services being made, and commissioning practices improved and mirror government’s best practice guidance.
As the Prime Minister acknowledged in his address to Parliament yesterday, ending violence against women and girls is an enormous undertaking. It is important that the government quickly establishes how they will measure the success of their pledge, given they have previously stated there is no reliable prevalence data on domestic abuse. At Women’s Aid, we know that the data we have drastically underestimates the reality of the situation, as domestic abuse often goes unreported.
We are pleased to see that the new ‘mission driven’ government are committed to ending violence against women and girls but recognise there is still a significant amount of work that needs to be done for this to be actualised. Women’s Aid look forward to working with them to deliver on their commitments, offering our expert knowledge and insights to ensure positive change.”.
ENDS
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