‘Watershed moment’ as Government publishes Violence Against Women and Girls policy.
The Labour MP for Milton Keynes Central has welcomed the Government’s much awaited strategy to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
“I was really struggling not to get overly emotional because a lot of us have come to this place in order to make a change for the women and girls in our lives and in our constituencies,” she said.
An extra £19 million will be invested into refuges and safe accommodation, which joins a £550 million injection into the Department for Justice to expand counselling, court guidance, and children’s services for victims.
In addition, all police forces will have dedicated rape and sexual offences investigation teams, and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders will be introduced, imposing curfews, electronic tags, and exclusion zones on sex abusers.
The strategy also outlined an unprecedented investment into preventing these crimes from occurring in the first place. The Government has announced plans for every student in England to be educated on healthy education and consent, and a new helpline will be set up to tackle relationship abuse between young people.
Many of these initiatives focus on tackling violence against women and girls on online spaces, with new police squads being established to investigate and target online abusers, as well as early intervention in schools for young people who display worrying and harmful behaviour.
