Violence against Women and Girls Strategy

Susan Murray Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jess Phillips]

As somebody who has sat on a number of multi-agency risk assessment conferences over the years, what I will not do is just do what lots of people have done before. It is very easy to stand up and say, “a multi-agency response is the response to that”, but it just becomes words. It actually has to mean something. The strategy is not just something for one partner to do; it is for all of them.

[Susan Murray (Mid Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

What specific interventions does the strategy propose to reduce repeat offending and to stop abusers having unfettered access to their children, in particular those who are already known to the police and other agencies, when that puts the mother at risk?

[Jess Phillips]

The hon. Lady will have to wait to see what the strategy says. What I can say is that, because we were not waiting for the strategy, the Government announced a £53 million investment in schemes to deal with the most violent perpetrators—those most responsible for, as she says, repeat offending. We have already also said that it will end the presumption of contact and unfettered access. We did not need to wait for the piece of paper; we are cracking on.