VAWG Service Funding Bias
Value for money criteria for Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) funding skewing decisions towards larger providers.
171 items
9 sources
2 inquiries
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#15 - Short-term funding settlements critically undermine VAWG services' ability to recruit and retain specialist staff.
Written evidence submitted to the Committee highlights the impact that short–term funding settlements can have on locally run services’ ability to provide adequate, specialist support to survivors of VAWG. Women’s Aid told us that single–year finding settlements limit service providers’ ability to recruit and retain specialist staff as they are unable to provide long– term employment security.32 Evidence...
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
100match
#9 - Current value for money criteria for VAWG funding require urgent reassessment
We are concerned that current value for money criteria are skewing funding decisions in favour of larger providers who are better able to meet existing value for money assessments. There needs to be a reassessment of value for money criteria for funding in relation to VAWG. Services to tackle VAWG are not commercial services; this should be reflected...
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
99match
#16 - Financial uncertainty significantly harms smaller 'by-and-for' VAWG services crucial for diverse survivor needs.
This financial uncertainty can have particularly devastating consequences on smaller, specialist organisations, including those run ‘by–and–for’ the people that they serve. Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse told us that funding ‘by–and–for’ services not only ensures adequate support for all survivors, regardless of specific needs, but also saves costs. For example, research referenced by Southall Black Sisters suggests that...
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
99match
#11 - Short-term funding severely limits the impact of crucial VAWG services
Short-term funding can severely limit the impact of VAWG services. We welcome the steps that the Minister has taken so far to improve the decision making process, and the consequent considerable reduction in the underspend, but there is scope to be bolder and go further. (Conclusion, Paragraph 29) 24
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
99match
#10 - Re-assess value for money criteria for VAWG funding, weighting towards qualitative data for impact
We recommend that the Government re-assesses the value for money criteria for VAWG funding awarded to local authorities. They should be weighted towards qualitative data to ensure that the impact on people’s lives is a more significant factor than cost. (Recommendation, Paragraph 26) Allocation of funding
Matched on
terms: funding, vawg
Committee recommendation
99match
#5 - Mandate annual mapping and update of central and local VAWG funding
Mapping of where central and local government are spending money to tackle VAWG should lead to reduced duplication of services as well as fewer gaps in the services funded. Each local authority should annually map, and update, their funding provision in the interests of transparency and accountability, and to deliver more effective spending of public money. Central cross-government...
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
95match
#3 - Mandate Home Office to outline coordinated cross-government VAWG spending and long-term funding stability.
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...
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
95match
#12 - Establish longer-term funding (three to five years) as the norm for all VAWG services
We recommend that longer term funding for VAWG services, for three to five years, should be the norm, unless there are extenuating circumstances. This should be accompanied by an evaluation of the effectiveness of long-term funding. (Recommendation, Paragraph 30)
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
95match
#7 - Government's assessment of VAWG interventions lacks clarity on service effectiveness
We are unclear how the Government is assessing the interventions that are shown to work, as we do not see a link between the data required and the effectiveness of a service. This gives us little confidence that funding is being directed to what works. (Conclusion, Paragraph 22)
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
95match
#6 - Conduct local VAWG funding mapping and publish cross-government mapping with annual updates
We recommend that local authorities, police and crime commissioners and mayors conduct mapping exercises to identify where they allocate funding to tackle VAWG. We recommend that the Government publish alongside the VAWG strategy its cross-government mapping of where funding to tackle VAWG is being targeted, and provide annual updates. (Recommendation, Paragraph 18) Measuring outcomes of services
Matched on
terms: funding, service, vawg
Committee recommendation
87match
#15 - Increase funding for VAWG prevention programmes to meet the halving target
In the long term, funding for prevention is vital if the Government’s target of halving VAWG in a decade has a chance of being met. Currently there is insufficient funding of prevention programmes, in part because of the difficulties in measuring impact. This difficulty should not be a barrier to funding prevention programmes; the Home Office needs to...
Matched on
terms: funding, vawg
Committee recommendation
87match
#14 - Establish a national ringfenced funding pot for 'by and for' services with standardised bidding
We recommend the establishment of a national ringfenced pot of money for ‘by and for’ services. This pot should be designed so ‘by and for’ services apply for funding using a standardised bidding process to minimise the administrative burden. (Recommendation, Paragraph 37)
Matched on
terms: funding, service
Committee recommendation
83match
#17 - Insufficient additional funding for primary prevention will prevent meeting VAWG halving target
If there is not additional funding to invest in primary prevention the Government will not meet its target to halve VAWG in a decade. If the Government is to have a chance of meeting its target, it needs to be creative—for example in tackling online VAWG—in assessing how it can invest in prevention work with the whole population....
Matched on
terms: funding, vawg
Committee recommendation
83match
#13 - Certainty of funding for 'by and for' services is essential for their unique benefits
There needs to be certainty of funding for ‘by and for’ services. These services deliver significant positive benefits for their users, which they would not be able to access elsewhere. (Conclusion, Paragraph 36)
Matched on
terms: funding, service
Committee recommendation
82match
#11 - Funding cuts to gender-specific programming devastate women and girls, denying vital support.
Funding cuts to gender-specific programming will be devastating for women and girls, starving them of vital support and services. The Government has not learned lessons from the previous Government about the severe impacts of funding cuts to programming for women and girls. (Conclusion, Paragraph 77)
Matched on
terms: funding, service
Committee recommendation
73match
#19 - Condition public funding and licensing of music venues on tackling sexual harassment and abuse.
Public funding and licensing of music venues should be made conditional on those premises taking steps to tackle gender bias, sexual harassment and abuse. This should include the training of venue staff by accredited organisations that work in the sector. The Government should review international examples, such as the measures introduced in France, Ireland and Barcelona, and introduce...
Matched on
terms: bias, funding
Committee recommendation
72match
#12 - Eighth Report - Covid-19 in developing countries: secondary impacts
Gender-based violence has increased during the pandemic, with the risk especially acute for groups such as adolescents, migrants, refugees and displaced people. At the same time, access to support services has become more difficult. Therefore, it is disappointing that a specific commitment to the protection of women and girls from gender-based violence is absent from the FCDO’s revised...
Matched on
terms: funding, service
Committee recommendation
72match
#4 - Set out approval process for NI EVAWG strategy during Executive suspension
We are concerned to hear about the gatekeeping of funding and other activity by paramilitary groups which has increasingly excluded women and the community and voluntary sector since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. This has implications for the construction of a post-conflict society in Northern Ireland. We are therefore pleased to note that the Government has...
Matched on
terms: funding, vawg
Committee recommendation
70match
#14 - Reconsider cuts to women and girls-specific programming and consider ringfencing funding.
In the light of these impact assessments, the Government must reconsider the cuts to women and girls-specific programming announced by the Minister and should consider ringfencing funding for this programming. (Recommendation, Paragraph 80)
Matched on
terms: funding
NAO recommendation
68match
Tackling violence against women and girls
The Home Office, as the lead department for the Safer Streets mission and tackling violence against women and girls, should: b strengthen accountability for delivering against the government?s target by: ? coordinating available funding for tackling VAWG, including through considering a joint spending review bid for the strategy.
Matched on
terms: funding, vawg
Committee recommendation
62match
#16 - Partner with universities and third sector to fund research into VAWG prevention effectiveness
We recommend that the Government partners with universities and the third sector to fund and promote research into the effectiveness of different prevention measures, including research into primary prevention. The Government should inform the Committee of its proposals for acting on this recommendation within six months. (Recommendation, Paragraph 42)
Matched on
terms: vawg
Inquiry recommendation
60match
ANG-28 - Improvement of the investigation of sexually motivated crimes
By March 2026, the College of Policing and the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, working with the National Police Chiefs' Council and the Crown Prosecution Service, should create a consistent and clear standard for police investigations in this area, explicitly addressing the detection of predatory perpetrators. The Home Secretary should give consideration...
Matched on
terms: service
Inquiry recommendation
60match
ANG-25 - Whole-system approach to preventing sexually motivated crimes
By June 2026, building on the wider violence against women and girls strategy, the Government should publish a comprehensive, multi-year and whole-system prevention strategy, which specifically targets the perpetrators of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. This strategy should: a. coordinate activity aimed at preventing these crimes and reducing reoffending; b. coordinate and direct work to...
Matched on
terms: funding
Inquiry recommendation
60match
ANG-24 - Implementation of Operation Soteria
By March 2026, the Home Office, working with the National Police Chiefs' Council, and the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, should agree plans for the full, consistent and sustainable implementation of Operation Soteria across all forces in England and Wales. This should include agreement of multi-year funding, covering the period until Operation...
Matched on
terms: funding
Inquiry recommendation
60match
ANG-19 - Targeted and consistent public messaging
By March 2026, the Home Office, as the lead department for the response to violence against women and girls, should agree funding for a multi-year series of public information campaigns centred around the prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. These campaigns should be managed and funded centrally by the UK Government, but rolled out...
Matched on
terms: funding
Committee recommendation
60match
#20 - Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backlog in criminal courts
Several organisations wrote to us to describe the trauma and impact on victims having to wait longer for their cases to be heard.37 In the evidence session, the Department set out some of the actions it is taking to better support victims. It is increasing what it spends on victim support services from £92 million in 2019–20 to...
Matched on
terms: funding, service
Committee recommendation
56match
#26 - Task CIISA to educate the music industry and provide training on sexual harassment and gender bias.
The establishment of CIISA is an opportunity to educate the music industry on the rights of self-employed workers and the responsibilities of those hiring them. It can become a hub of expertise. Earlier in this report we set out how training should be part of the licensing conditions for live music venues. We described how France’s National Centre...
Matched on
terms: bias
Committee recommendation
56match
#8 - Establish a cross-government audit to identify necessary data for evaluation and consistent reporting metrics
We recommend that the Home Office establishes, as soon as practicable, a cross-government audit to identify which data it is necessary to collect for evaluation purposes. The findings of this audit should be used to establish more consistent reporting metrics across government, to both reduce the burden to funding applicants and ensure that these metrics are better linked...
Matched on
terms: funding, service
Inquiry recommendation
52match
ANG-27 - Perpetrator focus and interventions
Immediately, the Home Office, in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Transport, and national and local policing organisations, should prioritise prevention activity targeting the perpetrators of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. This should include: a. commissioning research on perpetrators; b. by November 2026, the College of Policing developing training and guidance on...
Matched on
terms: vawg
Inquiry recommendation
52match
ANG-26 - Improved mechanism for converting initiatives from local to national
By March 2026, the College of Policing, working with the National Police Chiefs' Council, the Home Office, HMICFRS, and the National Centre for VAWG, should ensure that there are improved mechanisms in place to identify, test and roll out promising initiatives designed to prevent sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. This should include: a. continuing to...
Matched on
terms: vawg
Inquiry recommendation
52match
ANG-20 - Empowering and engaging citizens to take action
The public has a pivotal role to play in the prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. In recognition of that: a. By April 2026, the Home Office should agree funding for a multi-year series of active bystander public information campaigns. Campaigns should be launched by no later than December 2026. b. By July 2026,...
Matched on
terms: funding
IMB recommendation
52match
Eastwood Park (2021)
In response to a question in our last annual report about the establishment of a women’s centre in Wales, the Minister responded by advising that seed funding had been made available. When is the centre likely to open?
Matched on
terms: funding
Committee recommendation
51match
#20 - Tenth Report - The humanitarian situation in Tigray
We are appalled by the distressing reports of human rights abuses, gender-based violence and sexual violence in Tigray. The horrors that have been inflicted on people and their suffering during this conflict are unimaginable, and we are particularly saddened that, once again, women and girls are being targeted. It is essential that the fighting ends as soon as...
Matched on
terms: service
IMB recommendation
51match
Eastwood Park (2022)
The opening of the ONE women’s centre at Eastwood Park provides a unique service to continuously support women before and after their release from prison. What long-term funding is being made available to ensure that this invaluable service continues beyond May 2023?
Matched on
terms: funding, service
IMB recommendation
50match
Askham Grange (2025)
Responding to concerns raised in our last annual report regarding sexual and domestic violence support services, it was suggested that additional funding was being sought to enhance access to local providers of this service. The IMB are unaware of any change to this situation so would HMPPS be able to say if there has there been any progress...
Matched on
terms: funding, service
Inquiry recommendation
48match
ANG-29 - Government prioritisation of prevention
Immediately, the Government should take action to make it clearer that preventing sexually motivated offences against women in public is an essential part of tackling violence against women and girls. This should include: a. ensuring this Report and the prevention strategy inform future Strategic Policing Requirements; b. committing to a positive ambition that these crimes are preventable, not...
Matched on
classifier match
Inquiry recommendation
48match
ANG-23 - Police prioritisation of prevention
Immediately, Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners should ensure that the prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces is an essential part of: (i) their violence against women and girls plans; and (ii) the Police and Crime Plans. This should include: a. circulating consistent and sustained leadership communications across the force; b. senior officers...
Matched on
classifier match
Inquiry recommendation
48match
ANG-21 - National roll-out of Project Vigilant
By April 2026, the Home Office, the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, and the National Police Chiefs' Council should roll out Project Vigilant nationally and consistently across all forces in England and Wales. This should be introduced primarily across nighttime economy spaces but should then be expanded to other suitable environments in...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
48match
#20 - Ninth Report - Child Maintenance
We asked the Department how it ensured that its approach to monitoring child maintenance cases was properly identifying and addressing cases of domestic abuse and coercive control, rather than waiting to be alerted through non-payment or through the receiving parent raising concerns, especially when they might not be in a position to do so. We were particularly concerned...
Matched on
terms: service
Committee recommendation
45match
#18 - Ringfence government money for primary prevention in future Spending Reviews
We recommend that the Government ringfences money to invest in primary prevention in future Spending Reviews, based on the evidence produced by commissioned research. (Recommendation, Paragraph 47) 25
Matched on
classifier match
Inquiry recommendation
44match
ANG-17 - Collection and sharing of data at national and local levels
Immediately, the Home Office should lead work, coordinated by the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, to significantly increase both the collection and use of data on sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces, in order to establish an informed understanding of these crimes and assist in building effective preventative measures. This...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
44match
#19 - Ninth Report - Child Maintenance
Parents can use the child maintenance system to continue to abuse their former partners, for example by withholding payments or access to children. Written evidence from Gingerbread and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner set out that, for survivors of domestic abuse, the CMS may be the safest and only way to secure maintenance from their ex-partner.34 However, although vulnerable...
Matched on
terms: service
Committee recommendation
43match
#3 - Third Report - Exempt Accommodation
It is egregious that organisations with no expertise are able to target survivors of domestic abuse and their children and provide neither specialist support nor an appropriate or safe environment. Where a prospective resident of exempt accommodation is a survivor of domestic abuse, there must be a requirement that housing benefit is only paid to providers that have...
Matched on
terms: service
Committee recommendation
43match
#24 - Support the creation of CIISA and ensure robust safeguarding and legal advice for reporters.
We support the creation of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA). It will help to shine a light on unacceptable behaviour in the music industry and in doing so, may reduce the risk of further harm. Crucially, it will be a single, recognisable body anyone in the industry can turn to for support and advice. CIISA must...
Matched on
terms: service
Committee recommendation
43match
#2 - Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backlog in criminal courts
Victims of rape and serious sexual offences are facing unacceptable delays to justice that compound and extend their suffering and lead to too many cases collapsing. The number of such cases waiting longer than a year has increased by more than 400% since the onset of the pandemic. As victims are made to wait longer for their cases...
Matched on
terms: service
Inquiry recommendation
40match
ANG-22 - Information and early intervention for men and boys
By September 2026, the Home Office, working closely with the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice, and the Department of Health and Social Care, should increase and improve the information, support and programmes available to men and boys that create a culture of positive masculinity, to help prevent them from committing sexually motivated crimes against women in...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
40match
#22 - Widespread sexual harassment and abuse persists in the music industry with high non-reporting.
Sexual harassment and abuse in the music industry remains widespread. Aggressors act with impunity while victims who report actions against them very often face further harm by doing so. It is disappointing but not surprising, that non-reporting is high. Organisations should not assume a low incidence of reported cases means they do not have perpetrators of harassment and...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
40match
#16 - Government weakening of Worker Protection Act leaves vulnerable women exposed to sexual harassment.
The Government’s weakening of the Worker Protection Act 2023 has let down women already vulnerable to sexual abuse and harassment in insecure work settings. While we welcome the duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to protect their employees from sexual harassment, without third-party harassment liabilities, it will be harder for employees to bring a case against employers...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
40match
#34 - 2nd Report - Misogyny in music
The Government must develop and introduce a new strategy in schools, aimed specifically at boys on issues of misogyny, sexual harassment and gender-based violence. (Recommendation, Paragraph 145) 65
Matched on
classifier match
Inquiry recommendation
39match
IBI-10a(ii) - Charity Funding for Patient Advocacy
That the following charities receive funding specifically for patient advocacy: the UK Haemophilia Society; the Hepatitis C Trust; Haemophilia Scotland; the Scottish Infected Blood Forum; Haemophilia Wales; Haemophilia Northern Ireland; and the UK Thalassaemia Society.
Matched on
terms: funding