Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls: Funding

Question

14:49:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether funding they provide to tackle violence against women and girls is available through open application processes; and what assessment they have made of the impact on women’s organisations which cannot access such funding.

My Lords, in begging leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, I declare my interest as the CEO of the Muslim Women’s Network UK.

The Home Office ran a competition for an £8.3 million fund for 2023-25 for “by and for” and specialist victims’ support services. No competition was run in 2025-26; the funding decisions for 2025-26 were on the basis of impact, quality of delivery, value for money and our policy objectives. We recognise the importance of opening up opportunities to access funding for organisations tackling violence against women and girls, and are currently deciding our approach and provision for 2026 onwards.

My Lords, minority ethnic women face higher rates of domestic homicide and suicide linked to abuse, yet successive Governments continue to laud how much they are funding to tackle FGM, honour-based abuse and forced marriage, even though the main killer of minority ethnic women is intimate partner abuse, which barely gets a mention. The white lens through which black and Asian women are viewed needs to change. Will the Minister consider this? Funding is inaccessible to small specialist providers, particularly faith-based ones. According to civil servants, direct funding from the Home Office for any type of new applicant will not be available for another two years. Will the Government review their current position and make funding available this year to tackle domestic abuse in faith communities?

I recognise the issues that the noble Baroness has raised. We have met outside the Chamber to discuss those issues and I am happy to reflect upon what she said as a whole. She will know that the Home Office has increased the funding on violence against women and girls by some 36% in this current year over what the previous Government were funding, to over £102 million. We will look at a strategy to tackle violence against women and girls in the summer as part of the Government’s plan for change to ensure that we halve domestic violence and violence against women and girls over the next 10 years. The target issues that she has mentioned are extremely important in that, and I hope that we can reflect on that and continue the dialogue that we have had.

My Lords, the Government have clearly set themselves a very taxing target to halve violence against women and girls. Value and cost effectiveness are hugely important. The current short inquiry, whose invitation to submit evidence has just closed, will need a radical new approach, and not all organisations will get funding support, even though they have in the past. How do the Government plan to manage quality applications for funding and any transition for unsuccessful applicants and, even more importantly, the support services that women are able to access even now?

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. I should not repeat myself, but the Government are currently developing a strategy on violence against women and girls. We are hoping to produce that during the summer at the very latest. We have increased the funding overall by some 36% to £102 million. We are looking at how that resource is allocated. No decisions were made this year because of the issues around the spending review to ensure that we can do exactly what the noble Baroness wants; that is, to ensure that organisations have stability, know what expenditures are coming downstream over a longer period, and are not left in the lurch in relation to a loss of services. We are in a period of flux, but the Government’s intention is extremely clear: to halve the level of violence against women and girls over a 10-year period, and the funding has been put in to begin that process this year.

My Lords, one of the reasons that some groups still think that young girls should be subjected to female genital mutilation is because they believe they are religiously instructed so to do. In fact, there is no foundation at all for this in the Koran and, therefore, one of the most important ways of combating FGM is through education. It is not just education about the Koran, but about the fact that people take children abroad to be cut as well as doing it here. One way to combat this is through those groups that are working in the educational field, some of which tell me that they find it very hard to access funding. Will the Minister look closely at that, because they will be doing the Government’s job in a certain way in trying to fight FGM?

I am grateful for the question. FGM is a crime: it should be recognised as a crime and prosecuted as a crime. The Government have put in place additional support at borders to ensure that we monitor individuals who may be taken abroad for FGM—which, again, is a crime—and we are planning additional resources and measures on that. The noble Lord is absolutely right that education and wider knowledge of that crime are extremely important. As he said, there is no religious basis for it; it is a crime, it should be treated as such and this Government will do that.

My Lords, the domestic violence strategy that the Minister mentioned will be very welcome, as it is much needed. But does he accept, as we all know—the figures are stark—that violence against women and girls is on the rise? It is an epidemic in this country, and the funding gap is still there even with the increase that he outlined. Many of the organisations to which the noble Baroness, Lady Gohir, referred, rely on a range of funding from local authorities, charities and so on. A lot of these funding streams are being cut and drying up, particularly in local government. Is he satisfied that women, particularly those from minority backgrounds who need specialist support, as we have heard, will still be able to access the support—in many cases, life-saving support—that they need?

I am never satisfied, because we have to ensure that we tackle these crimes head on. That is why development of the strategy on violence against women and girls, led by my honourable friend in the House of Commons, Jess Phillips, is extremely important. The Home Office resources I mentioned have gone up by 36% to over £100 million, but the Ministry of Justice is also providing significant amounts of resource for preventive activity on violence against women and girls, including by investing in action on perpetrators who have been sentenced and will come out at some point in the future. There is a local authority role as well. All I can say to the noble Baroness is that we have set an ambitious target; it is ambitious for the reason that this is a crime and it needs to be driven down. Therefore, with her help and that of others, when that strategy is published, we will achieve those objectives over that 10-year period.

My Lords, in its 2025 Annual Audit report, the charity Women’s Aid noted that just over half of all referrals into community-based domestic abuse support services were rejected. Some 23% of these rejections were because the service could not contact the client. This suggests that many victims of domestic abuse are not able to access the services that they need and are at risk of slipping through the cracks because of communications issues. I am sure the Minister will understand these concerns, so will he outline the steps that the Government are taking to assist support services to contact the women and girls who are referred to them, so that no one who needs help is missed?

It is extremely important that those who need that help and support get it. It is one reason why we have continued the work of the previous Government in funding a national helpline on violence against women and girls, which includes help and support for victims of honour-based violence as well. There are always improvements that can be made and, as part of the development of the strategy, we will be looking at what is most effective over those 10 years to ensure that we help and support victims, that we reduce the number of perpetrators and that those who have been convicted of perpetrating these offences are supported by the Ministry of Justice to turn their lives around when they come out of prison. The noble Baroness makes some valid points, but I hope she will examine the strategy in detail when it is published.

Is the Home Office discussing with the Department for Education what sort of training is being given in schools, particularly to boys?

I will certainly look at that for the noble and learned Baroness. Again, I am accountable for this area, but the direct responsibility is with my colleague Jess Phillips. I will raise that with her to see what discussions are going on, but the noble and learned Baroness can rest assured that the strategy we are bringing forward on violence against women and girls is a cross-government strategy, to which all departments are contributing. I will examine the specific responsibilities of the DfE and get back to the noble and learned Baroness.

My Lords, the Government’s strategy is welcome, particularly in so far as it affects women in the country who have linguistic and cultural difficulties in trying to articulate what is happening to them and trying to seek help. Given that one-third of complaints about domestic violence are made by men and boys, and that number is increasing, what plans do the Government have to enhance provision for those men and young boys who are subject to domestic violence?

The noble Baroness makes an extremely important point. Domestic violence is seen through the window of being violence against women, but it is also male on male, female on male, and a range of other forms. I will take that away and respond to her in due course.