
The House Workplace’s response to the “severe and rising downside” of violence towards ladies and women (VAWG) has been ineffective, the UK’s spending watchdog has stated.
In a report printed on Friday, the Nationwide Audit Workplace (NAO) stated the division had “not led an efficient whole-system response” to the rising incidence of rape and sexual assault recorded by police.
Its efforts because the lead on the federal government’s response to VAWG have to this point “not improved outcomes” for victims, the report discovered.
A House Workplace spokesperson stated the report had appeared on the earlier authorities’s “failure to ship systemic change”, and that Labour was “delivering a step-change within the authorities’s response”.
The report famous that three separate methods geared toward lowering VAWG have been printed since 2010, when the Conservative social gathering started its 14 years in energy.
However the NAO stated its personal evaluation of Workplace for Nationwide Statistics knowledge confirmed the share of girls aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales to have suffered a sexual assault was estimated to be 4.3% in 2023-24, up from 3.4% in 2009-10.
It stated incidents of rape and sexual assault recorded by police had elevated nearly fourfold throughout the identical interval, from 34,000 to 123,000 – however cautioned that this may very well be partially defined by improved recording of those crimes.
The NAO additionally discovered “little proof” that the House Workplace had improved on earlier methods, whereas the division and the broader authorities had “a poor understanding of what works to stop and deal with VAWG”.
The report added that as a part of the 2021 technique, a minimum of £4.2m had been spent on analysis into stopping VAWG, however the tasks it funded have been “but to offer insights to tell any future interventions”.
The report famous that “low cost charge and lengthy wait instances” contributed to a substantial variety of rape victims dropping out earlier than instances reached a conviction.
In the meantime, solely a minority of home abuse instances recorded by police led to fees, the NAO stated.
In 2021, beneath the earlier Conservative authorities, the division created a devoted group to steer VAWG technique.
The NAO stated the House Workplace “discovered it difficult to get buy-in from different authorities departments” and had a “restricted understanding” of the extent of assets dedicated to addressing VAWG throughout authorities.
Its devoted group didn’t meet till a yr after the launch, the NAO discovered, and had solely met 4 instances in whole.
The House Workplace “doesn’t know what impact the federal government’s work is having on VAWG”, the report stated.
The NAO stated: “Authorities’s efforts to deal with violence towards ladies and women haven’t but improved outcomes for the victims of those crimes.
“The shortage of an efficient, cross-government method and a restricted understanding of what works to assist scale back these crimes, means the House Workplace can’t be assured that authorities is doing the very best it will probably to maintain ladies and women protected.”
Whereas in opposition, Labour pledged to halve VAWG in a decade.
The report stated the brand new authorities had set an “bold goal”, however that to fulfill it the House Workplace would wish to “lead a coordinated, whole-system response that addresses the causes of VAWG”.
Andrea Simon, director of the Finish Violence In opposition to Ladies Coalition, stated: “The shortage of consideration to prevention is deplorable, particularly as we all know VAWG is considerably under-reported.”
However she added that the technique’s “price” couldn’t “be decided solely on a value-for-money foundation”.
“The harms of VAWG are so vital and far-reaching that the societal significance of addressing it have to be recognised,” Ms Simon stated.
Abigail Ampofo, interim CEO of Refuge, stated the report’s findings “come as no shock”.
“We all know all too effectively VAWG is horrifically widespread,” she added.
“And but, confidence within the justice system is at an all-time low, and daily survivors proceed to be failed, which is having devastating and at instances, deadly penalties.”