Oral Answers to Questions

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

I agree with my hon. Friend. This Labour Government are determined to ensure that all women have choices when it comes to balancing work and family life. That is why we are expanding access to childcare through new free breakfast clubs and new primary-based nurseries, and I am delighted that my hon. Friend’s constituents will benefit from one of those new free breakfast clubs.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

T6. Perpetrators hanging around school, malicious contact with customers, and rat poison being sent to my constituents’ homes are all frightening experiences faced by victims of domestic abuse, but police responses are inconsistent, even when perpetrators are on bail. What is the Secretary of State doing to work with other Departments to ensure that everyone in the system, from call handlers to Crown Prosecution Service workers, has training on forms of non-violent abuse to ensure that children and women are protected?

[Bridget Phillipson]

The hon. Lady raises some incredibly important points and shines a light on the experiences of victims in her constituency. This Government are determined to halve violence against women and girls. That is why, as my hon. Friend the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls set out earlier, we are taking a range of actions right across Government. We are of course always happy to consider further areas where action is needed, so that all women and girls are able to live free from abuse and intimidation within our society.