Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 24
24
Accepted
Utilise Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to raise awareness of abuse against Muslim women.
Recommendation
The Government should use work around the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to raise awareness of the abuse of Muslim women in this country. It should complement an updated hate crime action plan. (Recommendation, Paragraph 103)
Government Response Summary
The government states it is already raising awareness of abuse through the Protecting What Matters plan, awareness-raising campaigns, the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, increased funding for safe accommodation and new measures to prevent and tackle ‘honour’-based abuse.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
63. The recently published Protecting What Matters outlines the Government’s approach to improving social cohesion based on three key pillars: confident communities, focusing on pride in place and community initiatives; cohesive communities, focusing on integration and combatting religious hatred; and resilient communities, focusing on combatting extremism. The plan outlines how we will ensure hate crimes are prosecuted with the full force of the law and includes commitment to strengthening national reporting mechanisms for hate crime and plans for combatting online hate crime to make sure offences are swiftly investigated. It also details how we are rolling out training on religious hatred across the Civil Service. 64. The Government is currently prioritising the implementation of measures outlined in Protecting What Matters, as well as continuing existing programme to address hate crime and religious hatred. 65. Our stance on Violence against Women and Girls remains firm – it is abhorrent and has no place in our society. Ending it is a central mission for the Government and a personal priority for the Prime Minister, who wants to see a modern United Kingdom where women and girls can live free from the fear of violence and abuse. Our cross-cutting strategy, Freedom from Violence and Abuse, published on 18 December 2025, sets out our whole system approach to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. 66. This strategy is designed to protect and support all women and girls, regardless of faith, ethnicity or background as well as raise awareness about the types of violence they may face. This applies to Muslim women, alongside all others who experience abuse. Measures to support this include; supporting schools to challenge misogyny, launching major awareness-raising and behaviour change campaigns, establishing the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, and a £30 million increase, to expand provision of safe accommodation for victims, survivors and children. Muslim women will also benefit from new measures to prevent and tackle ‘honour’-based abuse. 67. We recognise the importance of specialist and ‘by and for’ services in providing the tailored, culturally sensitive support victims want and need. Over the next decade, as set out in the Strategy, the Government will build a system designed around victim and survivors, including a new national commissioning statement with clear definitions of ‘by-and-for’ and specialist services, helping funders allocate funding more effectively.