Tag: Sarah Champion

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 14 of the document Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, published by the Government in March 2015, when her Department plans to consider an extension of the offence of wilful neglect.

Karen Bradley

As the honourable Member for Rotherham will recall, during the passage of the Serious Crime Bill in the last session of Parliament, the previous Government made a commitment to undertake a public consultation on the options for reporting child abuse and to lay a report before Parliament on the outcome of the consultation within 18 months of Royal Assent of the Serious Crime Act (i.e. by September 2016). This commitment was extended in March 2015, under the Government’s Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Report, to consult on options for imposing sanctions for deliberate or reckless failures to take appropriate action in relation to child abuse or neglect, where it is a professional responsibility to do so.

The Government will launch its consultation exercise in Spring 2016, to run for twelve weeks and will then consider carefully the need for any further statutory measures in the light of responses. This will enable the Government to lay proposals before Parliament by September 2016, as it has committed to do.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of child deaths (a) by people who have been found guilty of and (b) related to domestic violence.

Caroline Dinenage

The family courts take the issue of domestic violence extremely seriously. The Child Arrangement Programme and Practice Direction 12J set out a strong and clear framework where domestic violence is alleged and all judges receive specific training on this framework.

In prisons the National Offenders Management Service accredited programmes are a proven way of tackling intimate partner violence and reducing reoffending in custody and the community. All programmes are based on the latest theory base and are regularly updated to make sure they continue to be as effective as possible. Provision of these services is widely available and provides an effective response to the causes of intimate partner violence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 37 of the document Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, published by the Government in March 2015, what progress her Department has made on the establishment of a national task force of specialist professionals to support local authorities where child sexual exploitation is a particular concern.

Karen Bradley

The Government’s ‘Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’ report launched in March 2015 announced the establishment of a new national taskforce to help local areas faced with significant concerns relating to high volumes of child sexual exploitation.

We are currently finalising the way the taskforce, to be known as the Child Sexual Exploitation Response Unit, will work. The Response Unit will be launched in the Spring.

The Response Unit will provide help to local areas experiencing particular issues and/or high volumes of child sexual exploitation cases by offering a range of support including advice from expert practitioners who have first-hand experience of tackling child sexual exploitation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of domestic violence refuges which have closed as a result of lack of funding in each of the last five years.

Mr Marcus Jones

Domestic Abuse is a devastating crime. That is why we are determined to ensure that victims get the help they need when they need it. In last year’s Spending Review we secured new £40 million funding to support victims of domestic abuse.

It is for local areas to assess their needs for domestic abuse services and to make decisions on the provision of safe accommodation, including refuges and support for victims of domestic abuse.

In the new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy published on the 8 March, we set out our ambition to improve services for women suffering from domestic abuse, commiting to a new Statement of Expectations to set out for the first time what we expect from local areas.

To support this, we are launching a new two year fund for refuges and other forms of accommodation-based support and to help local areas take the steps they need to meet the National Statement.

The new funding builds on the £3.5 million funding to support victims of domestic abuse and is on top of the £10 million funding to stop refuges closing and strengthen the provision of safe accommodation in the last spending review period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of convictions for carrying out female genital mutilation.

Karen Bradley

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse.

The Serious Crime Act 2015 introduced a number of measures to break down potential barriers to prosecution, including:

• a new mandatory reporting duty which requires specified professionals to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police; • extending extra-territorial jurisdiction over offences of FGM committed abroad; • providing lifelong anonymity for victims of FGM; • introducing FGM Protection Orders which can be used to protect girls at risk; and • creating a new offence of failing to protect a girl from the risk of FGM.

To help ensure the police have the guidance they need to tackle FGM effectively, in March 2015 the College of Policing published Authorised Professional Practice on FGM and this was updated in September 2015. In addition, lead FGM prosecutors have been appointed for each Crown Prosecution Service area and have agreed joint FGM investigation and prosecution protocols with their local police forces.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what definition her Department uses for BAME.

Mike Penning

The Government has traditionally used a mix of terms to describe the groups we are working with on race equality: Black and Minority Ethnic (BME); Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), also ethnic minority and minority ethnic.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the Government’s funding for community projects to tackle female genital mutilation has been spent.

Karen Bradley

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.

In 2014/15, the Government provided over £380,000 to community organisations through the Home Office’s FGM Community Engagement Initiative and the Department for Communities and Local Government’s FGM and forced marriage prevention projects.

The 29 projects all included prevention work with a focus on building the confidence of women and communities to speak out against these practices and raising awareness of the serious consequences they can have.

Evaluations show that over 25,000 people were reached and feedback from participants demonstrates increased awareness of the context, manifestation and harm caused by FGM and forced marriage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will bring forward policies to tackle violence against women and girls in the BAME communities.

Karen Bradley

The Government published a new Violence Against Women and Girls strategy on 8 March committing £80 million between 2016 and 2020 to protect women and girls from violence and abuse. The increased funding will help to deliver our goal to work with local commissioners to ensure a secure future for rape support centres, refuges and the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Forced Marriage Units, whilst driving a major change across all services which promote early intervention and prevention.

The strategy sets out how we will support local areas in implementing tailored services for victims who experience different forms of discrimination or additional barriers to accessing support. This includes the launch of a Service Transformation Fund from 2017 which will help to meet the needs of women and girls experiencing multiple disadvantage including victims from black and minority ethnic communities.

We continue to challenge the cultural attitudes that may underpin practices of FGM and forced marriage. We have criminalised forced marriage, set up a specialist FGM Unit, created a mandatory duty for frontline professionals to report FGM to the police, and will publish multi-agency FGM guidance for front-line professionals which we will put on a statutory footing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much of the funding for tackling female genital mutilation has been allocated to prevention work.

Karen Bradley

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.

In 2014/15, the Government provided over £380,000 to community organisations through the Home Office’s FGM Community Engagement Initiative and the Department for Communities and Local Government’s FGM and forced marriage prevention projects.

The 29 projects all included prevention work with a focus on building the confidence of women and communities to speak out against these practices and raising awareness of the serious consequences they can have.

Evaluations show that over 25,000 people were reached and feedback from participants demonstrates increased awareness of the context, manifestation and harm caused by FGM and forced marriage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps police and social services take when a girl is identified as being at risk of female genital mutilation.

Karen Bradley

On 1 April the Government published updated multi-agency guidance on female genital mutilation (FGM), which we have placed on a statutory footing for the first time. The guidance applies to all frontline professionals in England and Wales, and includes steps police and social services should take when a girl is identified as being at risk of FGM. The guidance will help increase awareness of FGM; improve compliance with good practice in order to afford victims of this terrible abuse the greatest possible protection. It will also help to support effective training of frontline professionals and a more effective multi-agency response. The guidance is available on GOV.uk

The Government has introduced FGM Protection Orders through the Serious Crime Act 2015 which can be used to protect a potential victim or other family member who may be at risk of FGM. Data released on 31 March 2016 shows that 32 FGMPOs were issued between their introduction in July 2015 and December 2015.