"I understand, with all that is going on in this age of austerity—there is not enough money to fund everything—that there are issues around some of the funding for women, but the Home Secretary and I could not have been clearer about the priority that the Government place on tackling …..." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"I thank my hon. Friend, who raises an important point. If there is nowhere for a victim of domestic violence to go, post coming out of a refuge, we are not solving any of the problems. I am happy to do as she suggests...." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"I would point out to the hon. Lady that the ring fence around the Supporting People budget was removed under the Labour Government, and that that £6.5 million budget has been cut by only 1%. If local authorities are not using it appropriately, I suggests she takes the matter up …..." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"I thank my hon. Friend for that question. People who come on spousal visas—they are generally but not exclusively women—are left in a very vulnerable situation when they find themselves victims of domestic violence. The previous Government began the Sojourner project, which provided some breathing space for those women. We …..." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"The Government are committed to ending the abusive practices of forced marriage and honour killings, and to ensuring that victims are protected. These practices are indefensible and never acceptable. Our action plan to end violence against women and girls sets out our approach, which includes raising awareness, development of training …..." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"Up to now, this has been a civil matter under protection orders. We are making it a criminal offence to breach a civil order, and we will be consulting on the actual offence becoming a criminal one before Christmas...." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"We have an inter-ministerial group on violence against women and girls, to which the Department for Education sends a Minister. As the hon. Lady knows, issues relating to forced marriage are principally, though not exclusively, explored within personal, social and health education. The Department for Education continues to work closely …..." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"Tackling hate crime is an issue that the Government take extremely seriously, and we are committed to doing more to support and protect victims. We are meeting the coalition commitment to improve the recording of such crimes, and working with the police and other partners to encourage more victims to …..." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"We take all bullying very seriously, including homophobic and transgender bullying. The Department of Health has issued new guidelines on bullying that are much more condensed and to the point. Also, Ofsted has now included behaviours in its inspection regime. The hon. Lady is right: this is an appalling form …..." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech
"I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and I am sorry to learn that he had such an experience. The statistics on hate crime are quite frightening. In 2010, there were 48,000 incidents. I would very much like to congratulate the police force in West Yorkshire. It is vital …..." Baroness Featherstone - View Speech