Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Accepted
Require Home Office to outline VAWG halving progress measurement and ensure departmental intelligence sharing.
Recommendation
There are considerable gaps in the Home Office’s understanding of the scale of violence against women and girls, which will undermine its efforts to target interventions and monitor progress against its ambition to halve VAWG. To improve its chances of success, the Home Office must outline clearly how it intends to measure progress against its ambition to halve the prevalence of VAWG in a decade. This approach must be understood and accepted by all relevant government departments, and there must be clear milestones within this 10–year period to support effective accountability. The Home Office intends to use the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) to measure prevalence, but acknowledged that the survey does not collect data on all crime types, nor does it collect responses from under–16s. The Committee is concerned that monitoring progress in this way fails to adequately reflect the broad range of abuse types, and will therefore only present a partial view of how trends in prevalence are changing over time. Gaps in data make it difficult to develop a suitably agile response to VAWG. It is currently impossible to track a single case through the entire criminal justice system due to limitations in available data. Additionally, while education and healthcare settings can often be where some VAWG crimes first become apparent, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the Department for Education (DfE) do not routinely capture or share appropriate intelligence with the Home Office. recommendation As part of its Treasury Minute response, the Home Office should set out how it will: • Measure progress against its ambition to halve VAWG in a decade, demonstrating what alternative indicators will be used to measure progress in those areas not covered by the Crime Survey for England and Wales; and • Ensure all relevant departments, notably DHSC and DfE, are sharing intelligence relating to VAWG appropriately, to build up government’s understanding of the scal
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will measure progress against its ambition to halve VAWG using a new combined headline metric from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), supported by additional metrics on repeat domestic abuse, sexual harassment, and female homicides. The Safer Streets Mission will serve as the forum for departments to share relevant VAWG intelligence, with further details in the new VAWG Strategy.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. ambition and work on tackling VAWG. This will include a headline metric on the prevalence of VAWG as reported through the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). This will be measured by a new combined measure of those who have experienced domestic abuse, and/or sexual assault and/or stalking in the previous 12 months. The target to halve VAWG within a decade will be set against this headline prevalence measure. The government will use supporting headline metrics covering repeat domestic abuse, the prevalence of sexual harassment as measured by the CSEW, and female homicides. A range of other sub-metrics will be used to provide a more comprehensive picture of VAWG in society and measure the effectiveness of the interventions. The suite of sub-metrics will be set out in the new VAWG Strategy. It will include data related to forms of VAWG not covered by the headline or supporting headline metrics, such as online VAWG. The range of measures and data sources selected will ensure that victim interactions with services outside of policing and the CJS are captured, including education, housing and healthcare. This will allow the government to monitor the whole system response to tackling VAWG and the success of the range of interventions outlined in the Strategy. The Safer Streets Mission provides the forum by which departments will share relevant information on VAWG. All government departments have contributed to the development of the performance framework, ensuring a range of metrics are included on the scale of VAWG and the full government response. Further detail will be published in the VAWG Strategy.