Extract from oral
questions to the Minister for Women and Equalities
Harassment and Violence against Women and Girls
(Washington and Sunderland
West) (Lab)
1. What recent steps the Government has taken to help tackle
harassment and violence against women and girls.(904635)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home
Department ( )
Tackling violence against women and girls is an important
Government priority. We are supporting the Protection from
Sex-based Harassment in Public Bill of my right hon. Friend the
Member for Tunbridge Wells (), which will make public sexual
harassment a specific offence. We also provided more than
£160,000 of funding last year to the National Stalking Helpline,
run by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which I have met. It responded to
7,440 calls and emails from or relating to victims of stalking
between last April and March this year.
Mrs Hodgson
As the Minister will know, 71% of women have experienced
harassment in public spaces, yet too many people continue to
accept these patterns of violence or harassment, or do not have
the confidence or resources to confront such behaviour when they
see it. The Northumbria
police and crime commissioner recently launched a
fantastic initiative for active bystander training to prevent
assault and the behaviours that lead to it. What will the
Government do to encourage similar positive action to tackle the
root of misogyny in other places across the country?
Miss Dines
The hon. Lady is right to highlight the work of the Northumbria
police and crime commissioner. We have provided
£3.6 million to the safer streets fund and the safety of women at
night fund. I was surprised to read that one in six adults—not
only women and girls but men and boys—has been stalked. That is
horrendous. The Government are funding projects in that area
through substantial funding of millions of pounds.
Extracts from
Westminster Hall debate on Antisocial Behaviour in Town
Centres
(Wansbeck) (Lab):...If we look at Northumbria
police I have to place on record that the police
in my constituency do a marvellous job—every one of them—and they
know that they are really under-resourced. That is the real issue
on the high street: the police are under-resourced, and they have
to assess and deal with crimes as they happen in real time. Do
the police go to where the assaults are happening, or do they go
to where somebody is pulling plants out of flowerbeds on the high
street? I do not want to trivialise what is happening on the high
street, because it is very, very important. There is theft taking
place in the shops. There is vandalism. There is antisocial
behaviour, and there is unruly behaviour. We have also noticed in
my constituency an increase in racist abuse...
...I would imagine that, at the very same time, there were other
crimes assessed by the police to be a priority compared with what
is happening on the high street. We have all sorts of issues on
the high street. They have mentioned racism. I live in a
constituency that I think is roughly 99.1% white, and racism has
never, ever been an issue, but it is becoming an issue. The
people themselves are asking the police to deal with the racial
abuse—and again, it is not a priority. I mentioned the 20,000
police being taken off the streets in 2010, and we should never
forget that. It really galls me, by the way, when we hear the
Conservatives, time after time, saying, “We are putting police
back on the street.” They should not have taken the police off
the street in the first place. Since 2010, Northumbria
police has lost 1,000 police officers. Because of the
inflationary crisis, next year it will have to find a further £12
million, which will cause extra pressures...
For context, OPEN HERE
