Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that funding and commissioning processes for violence against women and girls services do not disadvantage smaller, specialist ‘by and for’ organisations.

The Ministry of Justice provides over £130 million a year to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales to commission local therapeutic, emotional and practical support services (including ‘by and for’ services) for victims and survivors of crime in their area; and over £21 million a year to specialist sexual violence organisations through the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF). To support local commissioning decisions, we have also published the Victims Funding Strategy (2022) and the Victim Services Commissioning Guidance (2024) which set out what commissioners are expected to consider when procuring services. All commissioners of victim support services, including local authorities, are encouraged to review these documents when carrying out procurement exercises.

The Victim Services Commissioning Guidance has a specific chapter on commissioning services for victims from marginalised groups. It states that local commissioners should engage meaningfully with specialist and ‘by and for’ organisations to ensure that services for marginalised groups are sufficiently tailored and fit for purpose. This includes consideration of the resource constraints of those organisations, the expertise they can provide in designing services, and ensuring funding applications and grant processes are proportionate, fair and accessible.