Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to protect women and girls in or around parks and commons in Clapham and Brixton Hill constituency.

We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve the level of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. That means working across Government departments to tackle threats to women’s safety in all areas of their lives, including in public spaces like parks and commons.

We recognise the devastating impact crimes such as harassment and sexual violence can have and we expect every such offence to be treated seriously from the point of disclosure, every victim to be treated with dignity and every investigation and every prosecution to be conducted thoroughly and professionally.

On 2 February 2025, we announced a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection to improve the police response to these crimes, backed by £13.1m of Home Office funding. Centralising policing expertise will drive national coordination and action by the Centre, which will include the development of strengthened specialist training for officers across the country, helping to ensure they offer consistent protection for victims and relentlessly pursue perpetrators of these vile crimes; including those which take place in public spaces.

We will set out more detail on our approach to halving VAWG in a new cross-government strategy to be published later this year.