Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Accepted
Long-term policy alignment between Home Office and MoJ crucial for broader crime reduction ambitions.
Conclusion
The joint working, supported by the Government, between the police and the criminal justice system was essential in bringing about swift justice to the perpetrators of the disorder. This helped to prevent further disorder. However, we agree with the Policing Minister that it is not right for other serious crimes to see significant delays to justice. The Government’s broader ambitions to reduce crime will require better long-term alignment between Home Office policies on crime and policing and those of the Ministry of Justice relating to the criminal justice system and the prison estate. (Conclusion, Paragraph 68)
Government Response Summary
The government outlines its actions to reduce Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), its policing reform and Joint Police Reform Team and states that effective policing requires collaboration, shared priorities, and targeted support.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government has set out an unprecedented objective of halving the levels of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in a decade. We will deliver a cross-Government transformative approach, underpinned by a new Strategy to be published later this year based on the best possible evidence, both in the UK and internationally. The new VAWG Strategy will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to pursue the Government’s ambition to halve VAWG in a decade. It will take a long-term approach to addressing systemic issues over 10 years with prevention and education being fundamental to the approach. We will use every tool available to target perpetrators and expect to see sustained work across policing to drive up standards and to ensure there is always a swift and specialist response to these appalling crimes. The Home Office have already announced £13.1 million funding for a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) to improve the national coordination and response to violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse. The Centre was launched in April 2025 to enable policing to better target these crimes. However, as set out in the Plan for Change, the Safer Streets Mission to halve knife crime, half violence against women and girls and restore the public’s confidence in policing cannot be achieved through further investment alone. We need to set up the policing system to succeed in the long-term and address systemic issues so that policing can better deliver for the public. The Home Office’s White Paper on policing reform will set out a significant and ambitious package of reforms to policing in England and Wales that will drive quality, consistency and efficiency and ensure that all police forces are equipped to deliver the Government’s Safer Streets Mission and Plan for Change. As part of this bold new approach, the Home Office set up a Joint Police Reform Team. This brings together expertise from the Home Office, APCC, and NPCC. It is co-producing policy, shaping reform priorities, and ensuring joint decision-making to deliver meaningful and lasting change. The reset reflects a commitment to stronger partnership working between policing and Government. The Home Secretary has made clear that effective policing cannot happen in isolation – it requires collaboration, shared priorities, and targeted support where Government can add value, such as prevention programmes and workforce development.