Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what alternative support the Government has offered the Women's Aid SOS Campaign on countering domestic violence following funding reductions.

We are supporting local commissioners to ensure they have all the information they need to make informed decisions about commissioning sexual violence and domestic violence services in their area by holding a series of regional commissioning events on tackling violence against women and girls.

Local authorities have to make some tough spending decisions, but we made sure protecting vulnerable people, including victims of domestic and sexual violence, was a priority in the spending review. For the first time, the Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding up to 2015 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services, rape crisis centres, the national domestic violence helplines and stalking helpline.

We will continue to work with the women’s sector to support this work on the commissioning of services.