Home Office Minister Alex Davies-Jones said the courage of victims drives her work and said the safety of women and girls must be at the heart of the Government’s work
Halving violence against women and girls within a decade requires “cultural change”, the minister responsible has said.
Home Office Minister Alex Davies-Jones said the courage of victims drives her work as she said the safety of women and girls must be at the heart of the Government’s work.
Speaking to The Mirror at Labour party conference in Liverpool, Ms Davies Jones also described meeting with survivors of sexual and domestic violence as a “privilege” and an “inspiration”.
Ms Davies-Jones said: “What is really going to drive this is everybody pulling together in terms of it not being seen through a lens of criminal justice perspective anymore. It’s not just me and the Ministry of Justice, or Jess Phillips and the Home Office.
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“This is every government department, whether that is Education, Health, Housing, or the DWP, all coming together and saying what is my contribution in ensuring women and girls can feel safe in this country, and when they’re not, when the worst happens, making sure that the state is there to protect them.
“This is a 10-year strategy, so as well as having the funding behind some of these policies, it is about that cultural change, that political leadership and changing the narrative in order to win the hearts and minds of the public, and take them with us.”
The drive will include policies such as Raneem’s Law, which puts domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, introducing legislation on spiking, on deep fake pornography, on strangulation pornography, and making sure there’s disclosure when sexual abusers change their name.
In July last year Keir Starmer entered No10 vowing to halve VAWG within a decade. Data from earlier this year showed nearly two in every 100 adults in England and Wales were victims of sex assault in the year to March.
Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate around 900,000 over-16s experienced sexual assault, including attempted offences, in that time. The grim stats also reveal that one in eight women experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking in that time.
The Welsh Labour MP also described the “incredible” women she met with and how it motivated her. She said: “It is incredibly difficult, it is incredibly emotional but it all stays with me, and all I can do is take that pain and that passion forward in wanting to build on it and say we need to do better.
“If they can find the strength to do it, then I can do that. I feel that responsibility, but I also feel pride in being able to do that. It’s incredibly empowering, inspiring and what drives me forward.”
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