Women’s Aid respond to National Audit Office report on Government efforts to tackle violence against women and girls
Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said:
“Women’s Aid welcomed the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, launched by the Government in 2021, which was intended to ensure a strong focus on prevention and a cross-government approach, but nearly five years on we share concerns raised in the new National Audit Office (NAO) report that there has not yet been the whole-system change needed to deliver meaningful outcomes for women and children.
For us the biggest concern around the previous strategy, as identified by the NAO, is that the Government does not know how well it is doing in tackling VAWG. There is no consistent definition of VAWG across Government and policing, nor a robust framework for monitoring and evaluating that is grounded in what works. As a result of this, it is impossible to know if progress is being made or not. In the upcoming strategy, there needs to be an agreed upon definition of VAWG which is used across departments and agencies, and clear metrics for measuring success focused on reducing harm, not solely incidents. The Government should take full advantage of the new VAWG advisory board and its sector representatives who have access to meaningful data and evidence on VAWG, and who are well placed to assess the impact of spending and commitments on VAWG across government.
There is particular pressure on the new Government to provide a tangible VAWG strategy that can actually be delivered on, as they have made a pledge to halve this epidemic the next decade. The figures reported by the NAO are only the tip of the iceberg, and this problem is much larger than it would appear. We know that only 1 in 5 women report abuse to police, and as our recently published Annual Audit found 1.6 million women experience domestic abuse alone last year. Violence against women and girls is a national emergency, that can no longer be ignored. We need to see a funded plan that addresses and measures progress on prevalence as well as the harmful attitudes that drive VAWG, along with adequate funding to support services, so that women and children can be safe.”
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