Labour calls for “cross-departmental action” on violence against women

Labour shadow cabinet members with briefs most relevant to the aim of tackling violence against women and girls have written to ministers making a plea for “cross-departmental action”.

The Labour letter describes how sexual violence and harassment is connected to the health service, the workplace, housing and education to make the case for departments to “work together”.

Writing on International Women’s Day, the shadow cabinet members have argued that their opposite number should recognise that violence against women and girls as an issue “can no longer be siloed”.

The opposition party announced today that in government it would introduce tougher sentences for the crime of spiking, amid alarm over falling conviction rates and reduced average sentences.

“This government’s abysmal record on tackling violence against women and girls through the criminal justice system shows that it is letting violent criminals off and letting victims down. It has effectively decriminalised rape,” Ellie Reeves said.

Just 1.3% of reported rape cases resulted in a charge in the year ending September 2021. 63,136 were reported in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Below is the full text of the Labour letter to ministers.

Priti Patel MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department
Stephen Barclay MP
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Rishi Sunak MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Liz Truss MP
Minister for Women and Equalities
Michael Gove MP
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Nadhim Zahawi MP
Secretary of State for Education
Sajid Javid MP
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Dominic Raab MP
Secretary of State for Justice
Grant Shapps MP
Secretary of State for Transport
Thérèse Coffey MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Kwasi Kwarteng MP
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Nadine Dorries MP
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
via email

8 March 2022

Dear Secretaries of State,

We are writing to you on International Women’s Day to issue a clarion call for consistent, collaborative and cross-departmental action from government to tackle the epidemic of violence against women and girls.

Violence against women and girls is endemic at every level of society. The police and wider criminal justice system play an important role in supporting victims and bringing perpetrators to justice, but the fight to end violence against women and girls does not begin and end there.

A rape victim may not come forward to the police but may confide in their GP. Someone trapped living with an abuser may not make a report but may disclose information to a housing support caseworker. A young victim of spiking may not want to officially report what happened but may let their student union or lecturers know. A woman harassed at work needs support from her boss, a woman targeted on a bus needs the driver to feel equipped to respond, and a child experiencing abuse needs a teacher with the training to pick up on the warning signs.

Departments need to ensure public services are supported to work together to protect women and girls, prevent violence and support victims. Crucially, they need action from government to work cross-sector and cross-department to put ending violence against women and girls at the heart of everything we do.

We welcome the government’s inclusion of violence against women and girls in the Serious Violence Prevention Duty requiring public bodies to work together to tackle this harm. This is a crucial first step in recognising that the action needed goes far beyond one department alone, but we must go further.

Labour’s green paper on ending violence against women and girls includes proposals for criminal justice, health, education, social services and housing, as well as plans for a specific ministerial position for rape and sexual violence survivors to work across departments to advocate for victims.

We are writing to you as Shadow Secretaries of State to ask you, our opposite numbers, to recognise that this is an issue that cuts across departments and can no longer be siloed. It must and can only be addressed by government as a whole.

The scale of our action must meet the scale of this crisis. We believe we all have a responsibility to ensure that ours is the last generation plagued by violence against women, and we know that there is widespread support, both from the public and from organisations across the sector, to make this commitment a reality.

Only by working together can we build a world in which women and girls are free from violence.

Yours sincerely,

Yvette Cooper MP
Shadow Home Secretary
Angela Rayner MP
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Rachel Reeves MP
Shadow Chancellor of Exchequer
Anneliese Dodds MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities
Lisa Nandy MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Bridget Phillipson MP
Shadow Education Secretary
Wes Streeting MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Steve Reed MP
Shadow Justice Secretary
Emily Thornberry MP
Shadow Attorney General
Louise Haigh MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Jonathan Ashworth MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Jonathan Reynolds MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Lucy Powell MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport