Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the (a) College of Policing and (b) National Police Chiefs' Council policing framework for violence against women and girls include male victims.

The Government adopts a single consistent definition of violence against women and girls (VAWG) which recognises that women and girls are disproportionately affected by certain crimes but includes all victims, including male victims. The police are operationally independent and have developed their own working definition as part of their policing framework, which recognises the same offences but does not include men and boys.

These differences do not impact the way VAWG crimes are investigated or recorded by the police. The different definitions also do not impact on the Government measuring trends, for which we utilise all available data that aligns with the agreed Government definition.