Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to create safer streets, particularly during the evening and at night.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are delivering on the people’s priorities to cut crime and make our communities safe. The Safer Streets Fund provides local areas with the resources they need to prevent crime and improve safety in high crime locations across England and Wales. Since 2020, three Rounds of the Fund have completed, worth £70 million in Government investment. These rounds have focused on reducing neighbourhood crimes, such as burglary and robbery, and preventing violence against women and girls in public through interventions such as improved street lighting and home security, as well as education and training initiatives. The Fund has included funding for street pastors and similar guardianship initiatives.
The Safety of Women at Night (SWaN) Fund also ran over the 2021/22 financial year and was focused on improving women’s safety in the night time economy, including through awareness raising initiatives, creating safe spaces, and targeting perpetrator behaviour. The SWaN and all rounds of the Safer Streets Fund are subject to independent evaluation to assess impact.
This Government has committed £50 million a year to the Safer Streets Fund for the next three years. A fourth round of the Fund launched in March, open to Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, the British Transport Police, and eligible civil society organisations. This round focuses on improving the safety of women and girls in public, including in the night-time economy, as well as tackling neighbourhood crime and anti-social behaviour.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to assess the role of street wardens in supporting street safety.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are delivering on the people’s priorities to cut crime and make our communities safe. The Safer Streets Fund provides local areas with the resources they need to prevent crime and improve safety in high crime locations across England and Wales. Since 2020, three Rounds of the Fund have completed, worth £70 million in Government investment. These rounds have focused on reducing neighbourhood crimes, such as burglary and robbery, and preventing violence against women and girls in public through interventions such as improved street lighting and home security, as well as education and training initiatives. The Fund has included funding for street pastors and similar guardianship initiatives.
The Safety of Women at Night (SWaN) Fund also ran over the 2021/22 financial year and was focused on improving women’s safety in the night time economy, including through awareness raising initiatives, creating safe spaces, and targeting perpetrator behaviour. The SWaN and all rounds of the Safer Streets Fund are subject to independent evaluation to assess impact.
This Government has committed £50 million a year to the Safer Streets Fund for the next three years. A fourth round of the Fund launched in March, open to Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, the British Transport Police, and eligible civil society organisations. This round focuses on improving the safety of women and girls in public, including in the night-time economy, as well as tackling neighbourhood crime and anti-social behaviour.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential contribution of street (a) pastors and (b) angels to public safety.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are delivering on the people’s priorities to cut crime and make our communities safe. The Safer Streets Fund provides local areas with the resources they need to prevent crime and improve safety in high crime locations across England and Wales. Since 2020, three Rounds of the Fund have completed, worth £70 million in Government investment. These rounds have focused on reducing neighbourhood crimes, such as burglary and robbery, and preventing violence against women and girls in public through interventions such as improved street lighting and home security, as well as education and training initiatives. The Fund has included funding for street pastors and similar guardianship initiatives.
The Safety of Women at Night (SWaN) Fund also ran over the 2021/22 financial year and was focused on improving women’s safety in the night time economy, including through awareness raising initiatives, creating safe spaces, and targeting perpetrator behaviour. The SWaN and all rounds of the Safer Streets Fund are subject to independent evaluation to assess impact.
This Government has committed £50 million a year to the Safer Streets Fund for the next three years. A fourth round of the Fund launched in March, open to Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, the British Transport Police, and eligible civil society organisations. This round focuses on improving the safety of women and girls in public, including in the night-time economy, as well as tackling neighbourhood crime and anti-social behaviour.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent spiking incidents at music festivals over summer 2022.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Government is clear. Spiking is a heinous crime and we must stamp it out. We have been working with the Festivals and Outdoor Events sector and the National Police Chief’s Council to ensure that they, alongside event organisers, local authorities, law enforcement, and hired security staff are taking appropriate action to protect potential victims and deter would be offenders. This includes opportunities for joint communications, updated guidance for audiences and staff and a shared understanding of the emergency service response to spiking incidents.
A letter will be sent to colleagues across the House shortly setting out further detail.
More broadly, the Government is taking a number of actions to address Spiking, including:
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will (a) adopt a public health approach to the prevention of sexual violence and (b) take steps to reduce such criminal behaviour.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Tackling and preventing violence against women and girls (VAWG), including sexual violence, is a key priority for this Government. As set out in our Tackling VAWG Strategy, our approach is focused on prioritising prevention, ensuring victims receive the support they deserve, seeing perpetrators brought to justice, and making sure agencies work together effectively.
We welcome the fact that more victims of sexual offences, which are all too often hidden crimes, are coming forward and reporting to the police, however, we know there is much more to do.
In June 2021 we published the End-to-End Rape Review Report and Action Plan which outlined a robust programme of work to achieve a significant improvement in the way the criminal justice system responds to rape. As set out in the update we published on 16 June, progress to date includes:
More broadly, through the VAWG Strategy we have:
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) estimate she has made of the number of drink spiking-related offences in the last 12 months and (b) steps the Government is taking to tackle that offence.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The recent reports of spiking of drinks are of course concerning. It is not possible with the data that the Home Office holds to provide a full picture on the scale of such attacks or to make accurate estimates into whether or not there has been an increase.
This is an ongoing matter which the police are investigating and the Home Secretary has asked police forces to provide an update.
Action which the Government is already taking on spiking includes:
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the rise in the prevalence of spiking.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
This is an issue which the government takes very seriously. The public have a right to feel safe on the streets and they expect the government, law enforcement, and the private sector to ensure this.
Action which the Government is already taking on spiking includes:
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to assess gaps in the existing legal framework regarding making public sexual harassment a specific criminal offence.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Sexual harassment in public places is an appalling practice, which this Government is committed to tackling. Women and girls have the right to both be and feel safe on our streets.
As set out in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, published last July, we are looking carefully at where there may be gaps in existing law and how a specific offence for public sexual harassment could address those. This includes paying close attention to the views and reports of campaigners in this area. We are also closely considering the recent comments of the Law Commission on this subject.
In addition, in order to tackle public sexual harassment:
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of victims of rape who withdrew their complaint after reporting it to the police in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Rape and sexual violence are devastating crimes that can have a long-lasting impact on victims. We have taken a hard and honest look at how the criminal justice system deals with rape; in too many instances it is simply not good enough. We apologised at the time for this and will not rest until we have delivered real improvements – transforming support for victims, ensuring cases are investigated fully and pursued rigorously through the courts.
We know that rape and sexual offences are still all too often hidden crimes, and we want to see more victims having the confidence to come forward to report them to the police. The large increase in the latest figures is likely to reflect both more victims coming forward to report sexual offences in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 and more latterly the re-opening of the night-time economy following COVID restrictions easing.
It is key that we must ensure that victims receive their rights under the Victims’ Code, which, together with improving the provision of support services, will mean more victims should have the confidence and support they need to stay engaged in the justice process. Our plans for the Victims’ Bill to improve accountability and ensure victims feel supported are critical to improve victim engagement.
The Home Office does not hold information on the precise number of rape offences recorded by the police where the victim withdrew their complaint after reporting it. The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of rape offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and the number of these offences where the investigation was closed as the victim did not support any further action. This also includes cases which were reported by a third party where the victim did not wish to report an offence, and those where the victim is unable to support further investigation for another reason. The latest statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what comparative assessment she has made of the amount of funding her Department allocated to the prevention of domestic abuse and the (a) social and (b) economic cost of domestic abuse in England and Wales in each year from 2016; and what assessment she has made of the potential cost of (a) unreported cases, (b) the impact on the mental health of victims and their children and (c) the number of days of paid work lost in each of those years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Preventing the cycle of abuse is a key issue which starts in childhood. That is why we are providing over £3 million this year to services supporting children experiencing domestic abuse which is going towards therapeutic support and early intervention schemes. This fund provides for children of all ages with services funded including one-to-one, group counselling and parent and child sessions, art and play therapy and funding to support with access to other services that may benefit children and young people negatively impacted by domestic abuse. The fund allows these specialist service providers to offer a response tailored effectively to those in need.
This year, the Home Office alone has allocated £43 million to tackling violence against women and girls.
We have allocated £25 million this financial year to hold perpetrators of domestic abuse to account for their behaviour. As part of this we have awarded funding to Police and Crime Commissioners to increase the availability of interventions that work with perpetrators to improve safety for related victims, reduce the risk posed by the perpetrator and prevent reoffending.
Through the VAWG Strategy we are investing:
The Home Office estimated the social and economic costs of domestic abuse to be £66 billion for the victims identified in England and Wales in 2016/17[1] (which equates to £74 billion in today’s prices[2]).These estimated costs are associated with all victims identified through the Crime Survey in England and Wales in year 2016/17, including those who may have chosen not to report to the police.
The biggest component of this estimated cost was £47 billion for the physical and emotional harms suffered by victims. Table 8 in the Home Office. The economic and social costs of crime second edition, contains the estimated emotional cost for each type of domestic abuse. We do not have costs associated with the impact of domestic abuse on victims’ children.
Other costs that result as a consequence of domestic abuse include the lost output (estimated in the region of £14bn). Table 10 in the Home Office. The economic and social costs of crime second edition, contains the estimated average time lost at work following domestic abuse offences.
[1] Home Office. The economic and social costs of crime second edition.
[2] Note the costs are uprated to 2021/22 prices using the latest HMT GDP Deflator and only account for changes in inflation and do not consider other changes in prevalence and unit costs.