Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that all police forces have mandatory training to support victims of online harassment and stalking.

It is vital that the police and other frontline professionals have the right framework to follow when supporting victims of stalking, both online and offline. That is why the Government is legislating in the Crime and Policing Bill to introduce multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking and ‘Right to Know’ statutory guidance for the police to set out the process by which they should release identifying information about online stalking perpetrators to victims.

The Home Office has also allocated £13.1 million to launch the new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection and their work includes enhancing the police response to stalking. Centralising policing expertise to tackle these crimes will drive national coordination, with the development of strengthened specialist training for officers across the country ensuring they offer consistent protection for victims.