We want to extend a warm welcome to the new Cabinet. Yvette Cooper MP, as the new Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, as the Lord High Chancellor, and Richard Herner KC, as the Attorney General, have the power to implement fundamental changes to the ways in which the criminal justice system responds to women. Bridget Phillipson MP, in her role as both Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, can implement a prevention-first approach to violence against women and girls (VAWG).
We urge the Government’ to implement our manifesto recommendations, as well as heed the learnings from our recent report “Her Story, Her Justice”.
The appointment of James Timpson OBE as Minister for Prisons, Parole, and Probation is promising. Women in contact with the criminal justice system now have a potential champion within government who understands the multiple disadvantages and barriers that they face. This could mean fundamental positive change, and a renewed investment in community-based alternatives for justice-contact women. We hope to see a commitment to early intervention and diversion services, and a recognition of the impact of domestic abuse and trauma on women’s offending.
We need rapid prioritisation and true cross-government collaboration to end VAWG, with efforts from all departments, including the Department for Health and Social Care and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The first woman Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, can drive this change by releasing and prioritising funds for women’s services.
We urge that the commitments from the Labour party’s manifesto are delivered with adequate funding and with close collaboration of the women’s sector.
Liz Mack, CEO of Advance says:
Dali Kaur, Head of Criminal Justice Services says:
Media enquiries
For more information, please contact Tracie Couper, Press Officer at Advance, at tracie.c@advancecharity.org.uk or on 0743 2700 287.
Notes to the editor
About Advance
- Advance’s vision is a world in which women and children lead safe, equal, violence-free lives so that they can flourish and actively contribute to society. The charity works with women who experience domestic abuse to be safe and take control of their lives, and women who have committed crime or are at risk of offending to break the cycle.
- As well as providing direct support, Advance works with statutory services, government agencies and other women’s charities to ensure a holistic approach to the issues these women face.
- Women must be referred to Advance, via statutory services or the charity’s self-referral scheme. For more information about who Advance is able to support, please visit Get help
- For facts and statistics about domestic abuse and women in the criminal justice system, as well as Advance’s work, please visit Our impact