Commons
Westminster Hall
25 November 2025
3 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls: London
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer.
First, as everybody else has done, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) who, at some personal cost to herself, always speaks up on these issues, and does so with clarity, brilliance and braver…
Oh yes—the pilot is in the hon. Gentleman’s area.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
17 November 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
I thank the hon. Lady for raising this case with me, and I am happy to look into it in more detail. It is a fundamental principle that victims of sexual violence are entitled by law to anonymity, and breaching that anonymity is a crime. I am very interested to hear from her and to see how we can ens…
I agree entirely with my hon. Friend, and we are working urgently to establish the inquiry. Baroness Casey is supporting that work. She and I recently met some of the people my hon. Friend is talking about, and I look forward to updating the House.
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
17 November 2025
2 contributions
Grooming Gangs Inquiry: Remit
The national inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse will mirror the Casey audit, and therefore cover England and Wales. That said, all parts of the UK must work together to protect children and bring perpetrators to justice. We have committed to sharing relevant findings with d…
I thank the hon. Gentleman—others are stating from a sedentary position that the SNP Government in Scotland have said something different. However, any information can be given to the inquiry. In the example that the hon. Gentleman gave, where people are trafficked into Scotland, that evidence can b…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
17 November 2025
8 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government, and our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade has begun. We will deliver a transformative cross-Government approach that is underpinned by the new strategy, which we will publish soon.
I thank and give special mention to my hon. Friend and to my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Dr Tidball), who have worked tirelessly since they arrived in the House to join some of us who had been trying to get the Conservatives to change the presumption of contact in domestic…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
5 November 2025
Topical Questions
The Minister for Women and Equalities is already wearing a pink jacket. I absolutely pay tribute to the group in my hon. Friend’s constituency. The Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), who is the Minister with responsibility for tackling…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
5 November 2025
13 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government. We will deliver a cross-Government, transformative approach underpinned by the new strategy, which we aim to publish as soon as possible. This strategy is overseen by the violence against women and girls ministerial boa…
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. However, there have been recent successful campaigns by British Transport police and the Rail Delivery Group, which is the rail industry-funded group representing the views of the rail industry, to encourage reporting of offences against women and girls, and w…
+11 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
21 October 2025
Points of Order
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I am not sure what the hon. Member is confused about. A victims panel was set up to look at both the terms of reference and the appointment of a chair. There is a variety of different groups of people. Some of them have done both; some of them have taken p…
Commons
Proceedings
21 October 2025
31 contributions
Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry
As stated in my previous statement to the House on 2 September and in my letter to the Home Affairs Committee yesterday, the Government remain resolute in delivering Baroness Casey’s recommendations following her national audit of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. These crimes committ…
The right hon. Gentleman cannot have listened to my remarks at all if he is suggesting that the Government have silenced anybody. The Government have not handled the process; it has been handled by a grooming gang charity. He cited and named a victim of crime.
If the right hon. Gentleman had done a…
+29 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
3 September 2025
5 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls
We are committed to halving violence against women and girls within the next decade. We are working tirelessly to deliver that ambitious plan to tackle these heinous acts through our violence against women and girls strategy. Ministers across Government meet regularly to drive progress through the v…
I am sure that the whole House has sympathy for the case that the hon. Gentleman has outlined. I understand that the inquest is ongoing, but to answer the substantive point of his question, children’s and adult social care have historically not always been what victims felt they could rely on, with …
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 September 2025
26 contributions
Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
I would like to update the House on the progress being made to deliver Baroness Casey’s recommendations following her national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, which was published before the summer recess.
The sexual exploitation and abuse of children by grooming gangs are …
I partially thank the shadow Home Secretary for his tone, but I will correct the record. I did not say that he had done nothing: I said that Baroness Casey said that there had been
“a decade of inaction on these appalling crimes by previous Governments”.
That is exactly what I said.
I answered in…
+24 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 September 2025
Violence against Women and Girls: Pornography Prostitution
Thank you, Sir Desmond, for thinking of the time that I might have to respond. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship.
I thank and commend my hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride and Strathaven (Joani Reid) for securing this debate. She is clearly very passionate and informed about t…
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
4 contributions
Topical Questions
Yes, I do. I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the important work that BRAVE has done in Berkshire. Grassroots organisations are at the heart of work to support domestic abuse victims and the communities they live in. Tackling domestic abuse is at the heart of the Government’s mission and, I sho…
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that it should be for Parliament and the Government to decide who has a right to remain in our country. As set out in our immigration White Paper, we intend to clarify these issues and the application of article 8 rights in the UK.
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
3 contributions
National Inquiry: Grooming Gangs
As the hon. Member will be aware, child protection and policing are devolved to the Scottish Government. We regularly engage with them on a range of issues, including the national inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse that was announced by the Government. On 26 June, officials…
Of course. I agree with the hon. Gentleman, but he should take up that issue with the Scottish Government, as it is devolved. As I have said, we will make sure that all learning is passed on to the devolved Administrations.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
3 contributions
Domestic Abuse: Joint Tenancies
The Renters’ Rights Bill will allow individuals to end joint tenancies, supporting domestic abuse victims to leave their abuser if they share a home. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced a £30 million increase to the domestic abuse safe accommodation grant, raising…
I thank my hon. Friend for raising Molly’s case—our hearts go out to her and her children for the trauma they are living with. Her case raises many issues, including the need for early intervention in domestic abuse cases, the need to improve therapeutic support for victims and, as my hon. Friend ha…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
We did discuss whether or not I was allowed to intervene. I have been involved with cases of harassment and malicious communications involving antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred. Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that criticising Jewish people should be allowed?
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 June 2025
Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Tracy Gilbert) for securing the debate. The depth of her knowledge and passion about this issue was obvious as she spoke. The men she spoke of in her opening remarks, and th…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
2 June 2025
Topical Questions
My hon. Friend makes an important point that short-term funding massively hampers the sector. The vast majority of violence against women and girls funding comes from local authorities and, in fact, other Departments, but I will absolutely commit to looking at how the Home Office manages its contrac…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
2 June 2025
2 contributions
Rape Gangs: Statutory Inquiry
Child sexual exploitation and abuse are the most horrific crimes, and the Government are taking decisive action to ensure that victims and survivors of grooming gangs get the justice that they deserve. We are delivering on the key recommendations of the seven-year independent inquiry into child sexu…
The idea that I or the Prime Minister have ever put anything other than the interests of the victims of grooming gangs at the heart of everything that we have ever worked for is, frankly, for the birds. We have increased the number of arrests of the perpetrators that the right hon. Gentleman talks a…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
2 June 2025
4 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls
We are already taking significant steps to make sure that violence against women and girls is treated as the national emergency that it is. That includes launching our domestic abuse protection orders, and investing almost £20 million this year in specialist services for victims and in projects to h…
Yes, of course. As my hon. Friend knows, I have had a strong bond with Doreen for many years. Of course I would be delighted to meet him and her.
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
7 May 2025
4 contributions
Grooming Gangs
The Government are taking unprecedented action to improve the response to these heinous crimes, so that we get more perpetrators behind bars and get justice for victims and survivors. We are increasing investment in the taskforce, and every police force has been asked to review cases that were close…
To answer the hon. Gentleman’s final point, to be clear, national statutory inquiries do not send anyone to prison. He rightly mentioned Baroness Casey and her work in Rotherham, and others’ work in Rochdale. The reason why we know about some of the terrible behaviours is because of the brilliant lo…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
7 May 2025
8 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls
The Government have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, and we have already set out a number of transformative measures to overhaul the policing response to these terrible crimes. This includes announcing a £13 million investment in the new nat…
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. The Victims Minister and I chair the violence against women and girls cross-government board, which meets very regularly. It has led to our violence against women and girls strategy, which sits within that. It is an expert group that helps us on policy. It inc…
+6 more contributions in this session