Recommendation 1

HM Government Accepted

The government already adopts a single consistent definition of VAWG. ‘Violence against women and girls’ covers a wide range of crime types that are disproportionately experienced by women and perpetrated by men. These include but are not limited to: • domestic abuse; • stalking; • sexual violence, including rape and other sexual offences; • ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA), including forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM); • online and technology-facilitated abuse, including ‘cyberflashing’ and non-consensual intimate image abuse; • fatal VAWG, including domestic homicides, femicides, and suicides and sudden or unexplained deaths which occur in the context of abuse; • sexual exploitation, including in relation to prostitution and human trafficking; and • spiking, which though not necessarily an offence that disproportionately affects women and girls, does frequently impact them The definition is evidenced by prevalence data which shows women and girls are far more likely to experience these crimes. The government’s definition includes men and boys, who can be victims of these crimes. It is vital that all victims, regardless of sex, get the support they need. Child sexual exploitation and abuse will also be an important part of our forthcoming VAWG strategy, whilst being the subject of its own distinctive and transformative workstream specific to those horrendous crimes. 7.5% of adults in England and Wales are estimated to have experienced sexual abuse before they were 16. The police, who are operationally independent, have had their own working definition of VAWG, and we are working with policing to agree the approach for the newly established National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection. These definitions do not impact the way VAWG crimes are recorded or investigated by the police, or the government’s monitoring of trends in VAWG data. All identified metrics will align to the government’s definition of VAWG to ensure progress is being measured in a consistent way. The best measure of VAWG prevalence is reported through the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), which is publicly available and published quarterly. The CSEW provides individual prevalence estimates for domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking, and sexual harassment. On 24 July 2025, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published new crime figures which included a new combined prevalence measure for VAWG. This is the first time a headline measure of this kind has been developed to measure progress against tackling VAWG. This measure estimates the proportion of people aged 16 years or over that experienced any of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking in the previous 12 months, based on responses to the Crime Survey for England and Wales. The methodology used to calculate the new measure and the reasoning behind this was published on Gov. uk at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ crimeandjustice/articles/developingacombinedmeasureofdomesticabuse sexualassaultandstalkingenglandandwales/july2025 More than one headline metric is required to measure progress against this ambition, so we will also have supporting headline metrics for female homicide victims, repeat domestic abuse, and the prevalence of sexual harassment as measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales. We will develop a suite of sub-metrics capturing data across government to further support how we measure progress. The suite of metrics will capture the breadth of government work on tackling VAWG to allow a more comprehensive understanding of VAWG in society. Examples include the impacts and harms of online and tech-facilitated VAWG. The ONS regularly publishes VAWG statistics as part of the Crime Survey for England and Wales on their website. The latest release can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/ bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/latest. The Home Office plans to publish regular progress updates on delivery against the VAWG Strategy.