Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure all funding and commissioning processes that relate to Violence Against Women and Girls recognise and value specialist support provision as required under the Istanbul Convention.

Addressing gender-based violence and abuse, and improving support and outcomes for victims and survivors, is a top priority for the Government. These crimes have a terrible, profound and lasting effect on society.

The Government published our progress towards ratification of the Istanbul Convention in October 2020. We recognise the important role support services play in ensuring that all survivors of these crimes can access the support they need to help them cope and recover from their experiences.

As part of this commitment, the Ministry of Justice (who is only one of many funding sources for specialist support provision) provides funding to 91 rape support services across England and Wales to provide free, independent, specialist support to female and male victims of sexual violence, including victims of child sexual abuse.

In 2020-21 rape support services received £12m (an uplift of 50% per funded centre from 2019/20) in recognition of the extra demand placed upon them and to reduce waiting lists.

In 2021-22, we will provide just under £151m for victim and witness support services. This includes an extra £51m to increase support for rape and domestic abuse victims, building on the emergency funding from this financial year to help domestic abuse and sexual violence services meet Covid-driven demand. This compares to a total budget of £48.5m in 2010-2011.

• £27 million will go to creating more than 700 new posts for Independent Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Advisers. Research shows if a victim is supported, they are around 50% more likely to stay engaged in the criminal justice system.

• £20.7 million for local, community-based sexual violence and domestic abuse services, helping to reduce the amount of time survivors have to wait for support.

• £2 million for smaller specialist organisations helping BAME, LGBTQ+ or disabled victims.

• £1.3 million for remote and online services – allowing more victims to access support while at home. £800k of this will go to Finding Legal Options for Women Survivors (FLOWS), a digital tool that helps victims of domestic abuse to apply for emergency protection from the courts.

Police and Crime Commissioners will receive £68m from this fund this year to commission support services based on local need, including support for victims of VAWG based crimes.

In recognition of increased demand, the Rape and Sexual Abuse Fund has been extended for a further year, extending the funding provided to these services to four years (2019-2023) to provide the sector with the stability they need and we will continue to work closely with them to monitor demand.