Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes

(asked on 16th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what metrics her Department uses to assess the effectiveness of its spending on prostitution/sexual exploitation specialist support services.


Answered by
Victoria Atkins Portrait
Victoria Atkins
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This question was answered on 2nd July 2020

The Government and the Police remain rightly focussed on combatting the harms and exploitation associated with prostitution and helping those that wish to leave sex work. During the current unprecedented circumstances, we have also provided £750m to a range of charities. This will support those organisations at risk of financial hardship that are providing key frontline services to vulnerable people affected by the pandemic. We understand that those involved in prostitution can be vulnerable to exploitation. That is why £76m of this funding will be allocated to charities and organisations throughout the country to support the vulnerable in our society during the pandemic, including for victims of modern slavery, sexual violence and domestic abuse. Of this, the Ministry of Justice is providing £10m to support sexual violence services through Covid 19 pressures. A further £3m per annum until 2022 will also be invested in the recruitment of more Independent Sexual Violence Advisors across the country. The Home Office will distribute £7.8 million in emergency support for charities helping vulnerable children who have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak (including those supporting children who may be at risk of sexual abuse). Wider funding from the £750m will be provided by the National Lottery Community Fund, which is currently open for applications.

Previously, we have provided funding for women’s charities to help women exit prostitution through the tampon tax and from dedicated funding of £100 million for specialist Violence Against Women and Girls services.

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