Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle people who commit fraud by developing fake romantic relationships on (a) Tiktok and (b) other steaming platforms and manipulate victims into transferring large sums of money.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Online Safety Act (OSA) was passed in November 2023 and requires all in-scope platforms to tackle fraud originating on their platforms. Fraud is included in the Act as an illegal harm, meaning in-scope companies must take proactive measures to stop fraudulent content appearing on the platform, and remove fraudulent material quickly when they become aware of it. In addition, the Act's Additional Duties for Categorised Services will require the largest companies to provides features for users to verify users on their platforms, and interact with other verified accounts.
Ofcom, acting as the independent regulator, will have the power to levy significant fines on companies who they deem are not doing enough to tackle fraud on their platforms. As of 17 March 2025, Ofcom's illegal harm duties are now in force, and the regulator will now start assessing platforms' compliance with their new obligations under the Act, and will launch enforcement action where they uncover concerns.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession to include all migrant survivors of domestic abuse.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this government and our mission is to halve levels of violence against women and girls within a decade.
We are reviewing all the issues impacting migrant victims of domestic abuse including the scope and operation of both the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (formerly the Destitution Domestic Violence Concession) and the provisions of Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse.
We will communicate the outcome of these reviews as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2025 to Question 36526 on Legal Ombudsman, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) resolve complaint cases awaiting investigation for more than four years; and whether the Legal Ombudsman has a procedure for prioritising those cases where delay may cause further harm to the complainant.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The legal profession in England and Wales, together with its regulators, operate independently of government. The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) is the independent body responsible for administering the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) Scheme and the Legal Services Board (LSB), in its role as oversight regulator, has statutory duties in relation to monitoring the OLC.
My officials have engaged with the LeO, which has advised that, at present, it has no complaints that have been waiting four or more years for allocation for investigation. There are two cases where initial contact with the LeO occurred over four years ago, but where enquiries were either premature (not previously responded to by the legal provider, as required by legislation) or lacked sufficient information to proceed.
The LeO has also advised it operates a policy for prioritising cases where a continued delay is likely to have an adverse impact on the complainant, such as cases involving vulnerability, significant medical issues or a required reasonable adjustment.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to introduce a firewall to prevent data sharing between public services and immigration enforcement to help encourage migrants to report domestic abuse through her forthcoming Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of domestic abuse are able to report to the police. As outlined in the Immigration White Paper, we recognise the specific barriers migrant victims can face and we will strengthen the protections in place to support them.
We will publish a new strategy on tackling Violence Against Women and Girls in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of funding available for specialist by and for violence against women and girls organisations that support (a) Black, Asian and minority ethnic survivors, (b) migrant victim-survivors and (c) migrant victim-survivors with No Recourse to Public Funds.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government recognises the specific challenges that both Black, Asian and minority ethnic survivors, and migrant victim-survivors, can face when accessing support. These can include cultural and language barriers, fear of reporting to the police, and difficulty accessing refuge and support.
To address this, we fund financial and wraparound support to migrant victims of domestic abuse through a scheme delivered by Southall Black Sisters, a by-and-for organisation. This can include accommodation, subsistence, counselling and immigration support. Funding for the scheme was increased by £398k in 2024/25, with a further uplift of £600k in 2025/26, bringing total investment to £2.4m. Migrant victims here on certain visa routes can also access the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession, which provides three months recourse to public funds.
In addition, we are investing £1.96m in the Flexible Fund, delivered by Women’s Aid Federation England and a consortium of over 470 services. This provides financial support to victims of domestic abuse, including those with no recourse to public funds, to enable them to leave abusive situations where their financial situation otherwise prevents that.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of funding available to specialist by and for violence against women and girls organisations.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We recognise the vital role of specialist and ‘by and for’ services in providing the tailored support that victims and survivors of VAWG need to recover and rebuild their lives. That’s why in May 2025 we announced a £19.9m investment to provide vital support to victims of VAWG, increase awareness of VAWG and fund projects across the country aimed at preventing these horrific crimes. This includes:
The Home Office continues work on improving the commissioning of ‘by and for’ services at the local level to help stabilise and strengthen the sector.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has had recent discussions with (a) Tiktok and (b) other social media platforms on taking steps to help reduce incidents of fraud where people develop fake romantic relationships and manipulate victims into transferring large sums of money.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Fraud is a priority offence under the Online Safety Act. This means that since the illegal harms duties came into force in March, user-to-user services, including TikTok, must take proactive steps to prevent users from encountering fraudulent content on their platforms and swiftly remove it where it does. These duties apply to a range of fraud types, including romance scams, and are enforceable by Ofcom.
Ministers and officials in DSIT have regular discussions with in-scope platforms on the implementation of the Online Safety Act and their broader efforts to tackle fraud.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to publish the minutes or summaries of any meetings of the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy Advisory Panel.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy Advisory Board met on 19 March 2025 and 30 April 2025, and bilateral engagements with sector organisations and experts, as well as ministerial roundtables on specific VAWG issues, have taken place regularly.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what dates the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy advisory panel has met since its establishment.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy Advisory Board met on 19 March 2025 and 30 April 2025, and bilateral engagements with sector organisations and experts, as well as ministerial roundtables on specific VAWG issues, have taken place regularly.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions she has had with the (a) Home Secretary and (b) Minister for Women and Equalities on (i) level of funding and (ii) future sustainability for the holistic advocacy wrap around service provided by Southall Black Sisters.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
All Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales receive annual grant funding from the Ministry of Justice’s victim and witness budget to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims. This includes ‘core’ funding for victims of all crime types and funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. PCCs allocate funding locally at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need. PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support services to meet the need of victims in their area. Such services will include specialist organisations like the Southall Black Sisters.
The Ministry of Justice is not involved in local commissioning decisions.
Ministry of Justice officials engage regularly with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime regarding their grant funding and locally commissioned services.
I co-chair the Violence Against Women and Girls Board joint ministerial group with the Home Office Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls. This board is attended by other government departments that are working together on the VAWG strategy.