VAWG group transparency

#28 — DfE's updated RSE curriculum shows potential, but lacks sufficient data on under-16s.

Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation: DfE also told us that it has made relationships and sex education (RSE) compulsory in schools since 2020, and in May 2024 revised the curriculum to include discussions on online harm, social media influencers, sharing of intimate imagery and upskirting …

Gov response: 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2025 6.2 The new VAWG Strategy will place prevention at the very heart of the government’s approach to halving VAWG in a decade. …

Not Addressed

#24 — Lack of clear definitions for specific VAWG crime types hinders effective strategy and response.

Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation: The lack of clear definitions for some specific VAWG crime types also contributes to these challenges. The Domestic Abuse Commissioner told us that the government needs to decide a clear definition of so–called ‘honour’–based abuse55 while Professor Katrin Hohl described …

Gov response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2025 5.2 The government will use a broad suite of metrics to comprehensively measure the ambition and work on tackling VAWG. This will …

Accepted

#22 — Inadequate data recording obscures the full extent of VAWG, particularly for minoritised groups.

Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation: Written evidence submitted to the Committee highlighted the importance of ensuring all specific VAWG crime types are reflected within this target, and that there is transparency over how these crimes impact different people. Southall Black Sisters told us that the …

Gov response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2025 5.2 The government will use a broad suite of metrics to comprehensively measure the ambition and work on tackling VAWG. This will …

Accepted

#20 — Home Office evidence review highlights effective VAWG interventions but reveals data gaps.

Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation: The Home Office has also sought to improve its understanding of what works by conducting a review of the available evidence at a national level, which it intends to publish with the new VAWG strategy, in summer 2025.45 Officials told …

Gov response: 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 4.2 The recommendation is being implemented through work undertaken to support the VAWG Strategy and any ongoing analytical work on tackling VAWG. 4.3 The Home …

Accepted

#24 — Utilise Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to raise awareness of abuse against Muslim women.

Women and Equalities Committee

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)

Gov response: 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 …

No Published Response

#1 — Muslim women experience increasing, gendered, and intersectional abuse and discrimination in the UK.

Women and Equalities Committee

Recommendation: Muslims in the UK face increasing levels of online, verbal, and physical abuse and discrimination. Muslim women are disproportionately likely to face such abuse and experience it in ways that are specifically gendered and often linked to their race and/or …

Gov response: 1. The Government welcomes the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry into Gendered Islamophobia and the resulting report, published on 30 January 2026, exploring the discrimination, harassment and abuse Muslim women presently face. We are grateful …

No Published Response

#18 — Keep Committee fully appraised of Government's work and decisions regarding ICAI's future.

International Development Committee

Recommendation: As its Parliamentary oversight body, this Committee must be kept fully appraised of the Government’s work and decision-making around ICAI’s future. (Recommendation, Paragraph 37)

Gov response: Agree 32. The UK takes transparency and value for money in its Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending very seriously as illustrated by a range of mechanisms we draw on including National Audit Office (NAO) reports, …

No Published Response

#43 — Set out communication plan for dynamic alignment realities to businesses and the wider public.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Recommendation: The Government should set out in its response to this report how it intends to communicate the realities of dynamic alignment—not only to affected businesses, farmers, producers, and industry stakeholders, but also to the wider public—explaining the benefits and challenges …

Gov response: The government accepts this recommendation. On 9 March, Defra published further information on the SPS agreement asking businesses in the agri-food sector to start preparing for changes now. This announcement set out the benefits of …

No Published Response

#42 — Realities of dynamic alignment and its implications remain poorly explained to the public.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Recommendation: While the Government has been vocal in advocating for an SPS deal and highlighting its benefits for farmers, traders, and the wider UK economy, the realities and implications of dynamic alignment have not been well explained to the public. There …

Gov response: The government accepts this recommendation. On 9 March, Defra published further information on the SPS agreement asking businesses in the agri-food sector to start preparing for changes now. This announcement set out the benefits of …

No Published Response

#40 — Publish plans for parliamentary scrutiny of dynamic alignment and Parliament's future role.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Recommendation: We believe that our remit and responsibilities make this Committee the most appropriate body for scrutiny of SPS policy. We are therefore disappointed that the Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations refused to appear before us. We echo …

Gov response: The Minister for the Cabinet Office intends to bring forward primary legislation which will allow Defra to implement the SPS Agreement. The detail of this legislation, and its timing, is dependent on the progress of …

No Published Response

#28 — Provide details of ministerial working group meetings and expand to include frontline agencies

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Recommendation: In its response to this report, the Government should provide details on how many times the group has met since September 2025 and share minutes of its discussions. Defra should expand the ministerial working group to include an additional operational …

Gov response: The government partially accepts this recommendation. As set out above, the newly established Illegal Imports Improvement Project brings together a range of workstreams and stakeholders to focus on delivery of meaningful improvements to the current …

No Published Response

#2 — Establish and publish the scope of SPS negotiations for effective consultation

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Recommendation: The Government and EU should establish the scope of the SPS negotiations as a priority and publish this information on an interim basis, prior to the conclusion of negotiations, to enable effective consultation and scrutiny. (Recommendation, Paragraph 16)

Gov response: The government accepts this recommendation. On Monday 9 March 2026, Defra published a list of EU legislation – and any related EU rules made under the listed EU legislation – currently in scope of the …

No Published Response

#27 — Require formal report outlining prison rehabilitation's contribution to violence against women reduction target

Justice Committee

Recommendation: The Government must outline how rehabilitation in the prisons, including for both convicted and remand prisoners, is going to contribute to the Government’s target of reducing of violence against women and girls by 50 per cent, with a formal report …

Gov response: Partially Accept. The Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. We have published our VAWG Strategy which sets out our plan to do just …

Partially Accepted

#4 — Publish minutes of cross-government groups tackling VAWG as soon as practicable

Home Affairs Committee

Recommendation: We recommend that minutes of cross-government groups that have been set up to tackle VAWG should be published as soon as practicable after their meetings. (Recommendation, Paragraph 13)

Gov response: As part of analytical work undertaken to support the development of the new VAWG strategy, the Home Office has conducted a review of existing data from across government and wider stakeholders. This enabled us to …

Under Consideration

#3 — Increase transparency on cross-government VAWG work to build public confidence

Home Affairs Committee

Recommendation: Assessing the Home Office’s previous work, we are not convinced that it has the capacity or imagination to deliver on the Government’s target to halve VAWG in a decade. The Government needs to be more transparent about the work that …

Gov response: Local authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and mayors are independent of government. We therefore do not offer comment on the first part of the recommendation. The Home Office does not collect granular data on …

Under Consideration

#2 — Introduce standardised VAWG definition into government strategy and report annual levels

Home Affairs Committee

Recommendation: We recommend that a new standardised definition of VAWG, to be used across government, police and the third sector, should form part of the Government’s VAWG strategy. We further recommend that the Government reports annually to the Committee on the …

Gov response: The Home Office, in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, coordinates and leads on several cross-government meetings at Ministerial and Official level, including extensive external engagement to inform the VAWG Strategy. This includes a cross-government …

Under Consideration

#23 — Inconsistent VAWG definitions across government impede consistent progress monitoring and accurate measurement.

Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation: There are also different definitions of VAWG used across government, which makes it difficult to monitor progress in a consistent way. For example, the definition of VAWG used by the Home Office includes all victims and survivors of VAWG–related offences, …

Gov response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2025 5.2 The government will use a broad suite of metrics to comprehensively measure the ambition and work on tackling VAWG. This will …

Accepted

#21 — Home Office VAWG prevalence measurement strategy uses limited data and undefined headline metrics.

Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation: Government has set an ambition to halve the prevalence of violence against women and girls in the next decade. To measure progress against this ambition, the Home Office told us it intends to use prevalence estimates from Crime Survey for …

Gov response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2025 5.2 The government will use a broad suite of metrics to comprehensively measure the ambition and work on tackling VAWG. This will …

Accepted

#14 — Home Office acknowledges current lack of comprehensive VAWG spending data, promising future improvements.

Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation: We asked the Home Office about the potential implications of this on how well it can prioritise efforts and ensure that work is not being duplicated. The Home Office agreed it did not have a comprehensive account of exactly what …

Gov response: 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2025 3.2 The government is committed to delivering its ambition to halve VAWG in a decade, underpinned by a transformational approach to be …

Not Addressed

#5 — Require Home Office to outline VAWG halving progress measurement and ensure departmental intelligence sharing.

Public Accounts Committee

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 …

Gov response: 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). …

Accepted

#16 — Provide and publish detailed updates on Inter-Ministerial Group work, meetings, attendees, and family engagement.

Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee

Recommendation: In its response to this Report, the Government should provide: • an update on the work of the Inter-Ministerial Group to date; • the dates and attendance of any Inter-Ministerial Group meetings since January 2024; • the names of each …

Gov response: 49. The Government agrees with the Committee that the Local Authority Housing Fund can play an important role in enabling councils to acquire properties for use as temporary accommodation. Earlier this year we announced a …

Accepted

#10 —

International Development Committee

Recommendation: There is a lack of transparency surrounding the UK’s Women, Peace and Security spending, including how much Official Development Assistance is directed towards Women’s Rights Organisations, making it difficult for civil society organisations and other actors to track and assess …

Response Pending

#7 —

Petitions Committee

Recommendation: We recommend that the Online Safety Bill should include abuse based on the characteristics protected under the Equality Act and hate crime legislation as priority harmful content in the primary legislation. It should also list hate crime and Violence Against …

Gov response: We thank the Committee for this recommendation. An overarching principle of the Bill is to ensure that what is unacceptable offline is also unacceptable online. This is why all in-scope services will be required to …

Accepted

#1 — Committee reviewed evidence from key organisations on tackling violence against women and girls.

Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation: On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Home Office, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department for Science, Innovation and …

Gov response: The government agrees with this recommendation. Recommendation implemented The Home Office has set up robust governance and accountability through the Safer Streets Mission. Governance for the Mission includes a dedicated violence against women and girls …

Accepted

#2 —

Women and Equalities Committee

Recommendation: The rise of online abuse and harassment of female parliamentary candidates and MPs, including rape and death threats, is intolerable. It is unacceptable that such behaviour has become commonplace and contributed to female MPs standing down at the last general …

No Published Response

#5 —

Petitions Committee

Recommendation: The Government’s online safety proposals do not go far enough in acknowledging and seeking to tackle the heightened levels of abuse faced by some communities online. While the requirement for Ofcom to consult with civil society groups in Tackling Online …

Gov response: We agree that companies should be required to give separate consideration to the risks faced by different user groups. We have therefore amended the risk assessment provisions to require companies to consider the risk of …

Partially Accepted

#23 — Include non-consensual intimate image abuse in VAWG definition and identify prevalence data.

Women and Equalities Committee

Recommendation: The Government should ensure that NCII abuse is included when creating a common definition of VAWG, as part of its mission to reduce it by 50% within the next decade. It should also identify what data can be used to …

Gov response: Accept Tackling VAWG that takes place online and/or is facilitated through technology, including non-consensual intimate image abuse, falls under the Government’s definition of VAWG. This will be an important part of the new cross-Government Strategy, …

No Published Response

#6 —

Petitions Committee

Recommendation: We recommend that the Online Safety Bill should include a statutory duty for the Government to consult with civil society organisations representing children and users who are most affected by online abuse on the legislation’s ongoing effectiveness at tackling online …

Gov response: We thank the Committee for this recommendation. The Online Safety Bill is designed to bring into scope services which pose the greatest risk of harm to users and where there is currently limited regulatory oversight. …

Not Accepted

#18 — Stress importance of women-led organisations in peace negotiations and peacebuilding structures.

Foreign Affairs Committee

Recommendation: The UK Government should stress the importance of the participation of women-led and women’s rights organisations in any peace negotiations and peacebuilding structures, and should lead by example by including such groups in all events in which it participates. (Recommendation, …

Gov response: The Government agrees with this recommendation. The Government is committed to the meaningful participation of Women’s Rights Organisations (WROs) in international conversations, especially in peacebuilding and conflict resolution contexts, in line with our commitments through …

Accepted

#62 — Unacceptable levels of abuse and intimidation threaten democratic participation by candidates

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

Recommendation: The abuse, harassment and intimidation seen at the general election was totally unacceptable and antithetical to our democracy. The level and extent to which this occurred is a serious cause for concern. Candidates for election must be able to go …

Gov response: This Government recognises the threat and harm caused by harassment and intimidation and is determined to root it out of our democracy. In recent years, the scale and nature of this harassment have worsened, both …

Accepted