Ending violence against women in wake of Everard has failed, says watchdog

A government strategy to stop violence against women set up in the wake of the killings of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa has failed, a watchdog has ruled.

- BARNEY DAVIS

Despite spending millions, the victims of violence against women and girls (VAWG) have not had improved outcomes with an “epidemic” of violence spiralling out of control.

VAWG is a “significant and growing problem” affecting one in 12 women, the National Audit Office (NAO) said, adding that the Home Office “is not currently leading an effective crossgovernment response”.

The report will put pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s government with Labour’s key pledge to halve VAWG in the next decade. But the NAO said that to meet this target, the Home Office “will need to lead a coordinated, whole-system response that addresses the causes of VAWG”.

While the Home Office under the Conservatives created a dedicated team to lead its 2021 VAWG strategy, the NAO said the department had “found it challenging to get buy-in from other government departments”, with an oversight group working to progress the strategy not having met until a year after the launch.

VAWG has spiralled into a “national emergency” with more than 1 million violent crimes against women and girls recorded by police in 2022/23, accounting for just under 20 per cent of all police-recorded crime – excluding fraud – in England and Wales.

A ministerial oversight group for the strategy “only met four times in three years”, with Public Accounts Committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown saying: “It is disappointing that the Home Office does not know where money is being spent and whether it is making a difference.