On Monday, 15th March, I met the Criminal Justice Taskforce, together with the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary, the Justice Secretary, the Director of Public Prosecutions (head of the Crown Prosecution Service) and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
The Government is listening to people’s concerns. To help inform the development of our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, we have opened a survey on tackling violence against women and girls. The survey can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-call-for-evidence
We are continuing to address ways to protect people and it is a priority for this government. Whilst I appreciate there is more to do, we have taken significant victim protection measures since 2010. For example, we have (including but not limited to):
- Outlawed up-skirting
- Created a new criminal offence of “coercive control”. (I personally prosecuted the first case of this offence in the Court of Appeal that was referred as an unduly lenient sentence.)
- Strengthened the ban on “rough sex” defence
- Outlawed non-fatal strangulation
- Created the offence of stalking - and then doubled maximum sentence
- Criminalised sending of revenge porn images, and threatening to do so
- Introduced measures to make it easier for victims to give evidence in court
- Passed Modern Slavery Act
- Increased funding for Rape Support Centres by 50%
- Created a new Victims’ Code, setting out twelve key rights for victims from complaint through to trial and sentence
- Very significant funding boost for Domestic Abuse Helplines
- Cash increase for refuge spaces
- #itstillmatters and #youarenotalone Government campaigns launched
Following our Criminal Justice Taskforce meeting, the Government is taking immediate steps to provide further reassurance for women and girls. This includes doubling the size of the Safer Streets fund, which provides neighbourhood measures such as better lighting and CCTV, bringing the funding for these local projects to £45million, alongside a commitment from the Government to work with police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners to ensure these target areas of potential concern for women and girls and are now more focussed on preventing sexual violence. This could include targeting parks and alleyways, and routes from bars, restaurants and nightclubs as we see a return to the night-time economy, in line with the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.