Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 26
26th Report - Tackling Violence against Women and Girls
Published 16 May 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Tackling Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Professor Katin Hohl told us that the most common age of survivors and perpetrators of sexual violence is between 11–20 years old.63 Evidence submitted by the Youth Endowment Fund suggested that 7% of girls and 6% of boys between 13–17 years old had experienced sexual violence in the last year. The research also found that 27% of these respondents had been in a romantic relationship over the past year, with nearly 49% having experienced violent or controlling behaviours. This research also found that children aged 13–15 years in relationships are significantly more likely to report violence or controlling experiences (58%) compared with those aged 16–17 (42%).64 Written evidence from Operation 58 C&AG’s Report, para 15 59 Q 46 60 C&AG’s Report, para 15 61 C&AG’s Report, para 1.5 62 VAWG0050 63 Q 8 64 VAWG0014 19 Encompass highlighted that the likelihood of becoming a perpetrator of domestic abuse in the future is increased if you experienced or witnessed it as a child.65
From: Public Accounts Committee, 26th Report - Tackling Violence against Women and Girls (HC 644), 16 May 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-sixth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 16 July 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-sixth report from Session 2024-26
Published 18 September 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with the Committee's recommendations across the areas covered, including governance, survivor engagement, funding, evidence, measurement, prevention and online safety.
- On cross-government accountability, the government says it has set up "robust governance and accountability" through the Safer Streets Mission, and that it is developing options for a cross-Whitehall team to monitor delivery of VAWG commitments.
- On funding, the Home Office will write to update the Committee once it has decisions and clarity on cross-government VAWG spending. Coordination is stated to depend on other departments completing their own internal allocation processes.
- On measuring progress, the target to halve VAWG within a decade will be set against a headline prevalence measure from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, with a target implementation date of September 2025.
- On prevention, delivery of the actions by September 2025 is stated to be "contingent on the publication of the Tackling VAWG Strategy within that timeframe". DSIT will "aim to update" the Committee in six months on early findings from Ofcom's Tracker.