Refuge respond to King’s Speech
Abigail Ampofo, Interim CEO at Refuge, responds to the King’s Speech outlining the government’s legislative agenda for the year ahead:
“We are pleased to see the Government’s pledge to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) reiterated in the King’s Speech and look forward to working with this new Government to make that a reality.
The Government have committed to ‘delivering higher policing standards’ in the Crime and Policing Bill, this is essential if more women are to come forward and report the crimes committed against them and have trust in the criminal justice process.
The government committed to automatically suspending police officers investigated for domestic abuse and sexual offences, after Refuge’s campaign to suspend police officers was backed by almost 50,000 of our supporters. In the King’s Speech they again pledged to bring about the needed ‘root and branch’ reform of policing, which we have long called for. We need to see higher vetting standards and improved mandatory training on domestic abuse, so police are equipped to respond effectively to the high levels of VAWG. We look forward to working with the Government to achieve this with haste in the Crime and Policing Bill.
As well as the immediate response within policing, we have long worked to show the many failings that survivors experience after reporting crime. Lengthy delays within the courts, low conviction rates for VAWG offences, victim blaming and lack of expert knowledge on the dynamics of domestic abuse with those working within the criminal justice system, all compound the retraumatisation of victim-survivors and can often cause survivors to drop out of the justice process.
The Government have pledged to reduce these delays within the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill and Refuge will be holding them to account on this and calling for more reform within the wider courts system, including the family courts to address the concerns survivors have outlined to us, including so-called ‘parental alienation’ and other prejudices faced within the justice system.
At Refuge we are increasingly concerned with the way in which technology is used by abusers to facilitate their abuse, the Government announced the intention to legislate to place requirements on developers of artificial intelligence models and regulate technological products which pose risks to society, we will work with the Government to ensure that the additional dangers specific to survivors of domestic abuse are at the forefront of this conversation, building on the work achieved with the previous Government in the Online Safety Act.
Lastly, whilst the King’s Speech outlined the legislative vehicles that will be available to make change over the coming year, immediate priority must be given to providing additional funding to specialist domestic abuse services to make a real and immediate impact. Years of austerity and gaps in funding for specialist support exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis mean that life-saving domestic abuse service provision is inconsistent across the country. Coupled with increasing numbers of local authorities declaring bankruptcy, survivors face a postcode lottery in accessing support. Without urgent funding uplifts, many domestic abuse services are at breaking point. To ensure survivors can access the specialist support they need, adequate funding for domestic abuse services is desperately needed. If there is any hope of tackling and reducing the rates of VAWG in the years to come the Government must desperately invest in the frontline services already doing this work.”
ENDS.
Notes to Editors:
Refuge’s blog published 16.07.24 outlining what we need to see in the Kings Speech to tackle VAWG is here: https://refuge.org.uk/news/what-do-we-need-to-see-in-the-kings-speech/