Oral Answers to Questions

Jen Craft Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jo Platt (Leigh and Atherton) (Lab/Co-op)]

1. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

2. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[Alison Taylor (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jen Craft]

In November, a report by the child safeguarding practice review panel found that a focus on child sexual abuse in the home has been lost in the past 20 years. Its key finding were: that there were systematic failings across the board in identifying and responding to signs of child sexual abuse; that there is an over-reliance on the criminal justice system; and, crucially, that children’s voices are not being heard. How will the Minister ensure that a focus on in-home child sexual abuse is built into the Government’s violence against women and girls strategy, and that it will have children’s voices at its heart?

[Jess Phillips]

We are working with Cabinet Office colleagues and others across Government on the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. It is vital to ensure that any strategy includes therapeutic and other support for child victims, so that they can take action, and we can ensure justice.