Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) what steps she is taking to tackle domestic abuse and (b) whether she plans to increase funding to (i) Enfield and Haringey Metropolitan Police Service, (ii) Enfield Council and (iii) grassroots community organisations in Enfield North constituency to help tackle domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and the Government continues to take action tackle it. Our Domestic Abuse Act became law this April. This is a truly game changing piece of legislation which will transform our response to victims in every region in England and Wales and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.

Early in the new year, we will publish a strategy dedicated to tackling domestic abuse. It will be informed by the 180,000 responses we received to our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Call for Evidence. The strategy will seek to transform the whole of society’s response to domestic abuse in order to prevent offending, support victims and pursue perpetrators, as well as to strengthen the systems in place needed to deliver these goals.

Producing a strategy dedicated to tackling domestic abuse is in recognition of its pervasiveness and the devasting harm it is having on millions of lives.

The strategy will seek to build on the spotlight the pandemic has shone on domestic abuse, putting it front and centre of the public’s minds, in order to make tackling it everyone’s business.

Last year we announced an additional £2 million in funding for domestic abuse organisations to ensure that vital helplines and online services continue to be easily accessible throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This year (2021-22) we will be investing £25m towards preventing and combatting perpetrators.

We are also investing £5 million for a ‘Safety of Women at Night’ fund, in addition to the £25 million Safer Streets fund that focuses on the prevention of violence against women and girls in public spaces at night, including in the night-time economy. In addition to this, Metropolitan Police funding will be up to £3,072.3m in 2021/22, an increase of up to £132.4m on the 2020/21 police funding settlement.

We will continue to fund organisations providing support to victims of these heinous crimes, including those from minoritized backgrounds, children and those requiring bespoke support for a range of abilities. Allocation of funding to specific organisations for 2022-23 has not yet been determined.