Oral Answers to Questions

Jessica Toale Excerpts

Wednesday 10th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

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

[Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)]

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

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

11. What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to help tackle violence against women and girls.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alex Davies-Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for that really important question. Making the online environment a safer place for women and girls is a priority for this Government. It is this Government who are outlawing depictions of strangulation in pornography. It is this Government who are taking action to tackle violence against women and girls in all places. The Online Safety Act 2023 placed a requirement on tech platforms to proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content, much of which disproportionately affects women and girls, including harassment and intimate image abuse. Ofcom recently published guidance outlining further steps that services can take to make platforms safer for women and girls, but we are also developing a wider strategy to tackle this issue further.

[Jessica Toale]

Shut It Down is an organisation set up by two teachers at Glenmoor and Winton Academies in my constituency. It aims to prepare teachers for tough conversations and work with male pupils to tackle misogyny, and to promote positive masculinity and healthy relationships. What more can the Minister and her Department do to support such projects, and to tackle the culture of violence against women and girls at the earliest possible stages?

[Alex Davies-Jones]

Shut It Down and organisations like it are a brilliant tool. Everyone should feel safe and valued in school. We want our schools to counter misogynistic views by teaching boys about respect, empathy and equality. We will support teachers on how to deliver the revised statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education, which strengthens consent on healthy relationships, with free resources available. We will be piloting a teacher training grant in 2026.