Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Acknowledged
Mandate Home Office to outline coordinated cross-government VAWG spending and long-term funding stability.
Conclusion
Short–term and fragmented funding hinder government departments’ efforts to maximise the impact it is having both at the local and national level. The Home Office spent £149 million from April 2021 to the end of September 2024 tackling VAWG. Meanwhile, other government departments spent around £979 million over broadly the same period. It is vitally important that departments coordinate spending so that they can prioritise effectively and ensure efforts are not duplicated. As lead department, the Home Office is best placed to oversee this. However, throughout the 2021 Strategy, the Home Office did not understand the cross–government spend committed to tackling VAWG, nor did it centrally 4 coordinate funding. Short–term funding settlements can also impact locally run services’ ability to provide adequate, specialist support to survivors of VAWG. Single–year funding settlements make it difficult for local services to recruit and retain specialists, and this has devastating consequences for support services particularly those run ‘by–and–for’ the people that they serve. ‘By–and–for’ services play a crucial role in ensuring that every survivor has access to, and trust in, local support, regardless of their specific needs. The Home Office told us that it intends to address these challenges by approaching funding settlement bids in a more coordinated way in the upcoming Spending Review. recommendation In light of the forthcoming Spending Review, the Home Office should then write to the Committee within one month outlining how government’s approach is changing in order to coordinate all spending on VAWG– related activities across government and provide long–term funding stability to the sector.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation and states that a transformational approach will be set out in the upcoming VAWG Strategy to ensure funding stability. It commits to writing to the Committee with an update on cross-government VAWG spending and long-term funding plans after the Spending Review and internal allocation processes are complete.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. underpinned by a transformational approach to be set out in the upcoming VAWG Strategy. This includes ensuring that maximum stability is provided to the sector so that they can continue to deliver for victims and respond to perpetrators. The Home Office is due to undergo the departmental budget allocations process, following the Spending Review, through which the final funding allocation will be agreed. The coordination of VAWG spending across government will also be subject to other Government departments completing their own internal allocation processes. Once the Home Office has decisions and clarity on plans for cross-government spending on VAWG for the Spending Review period, the Home Office will write to update the Committee.