Efforts to address the issue have failed to improve outcomes for victims of abuse, the National Audit Office has reported
Attempts by the UK authorities to address the issue of violence against women and girls (VAWG) have been ineffective, according to a recent report by the country’s public spending watchdog.
The Home Office failed to lead “an effective whole-system response” to the “serious and growing problem” of rape and sexual assault recorded by police, the document released by the National Audit Office (NAO) on Friday said.
The report, which reviews the government’s 2021 strategy to address VAWG, concludes that efforts have neither assisted victims nor achieved long-term societal change.
“Over one in four women are estimated to be victims of sexual assault or attempted assault in their lifetime, and one in 12 women are victims of VAWG each year, although the actual number is likely to be much higher,” the watchdog stated.
The review found that UK government departments responsible for addressing violence against women lacked proper control over the allocation of funds and clear oversight of policy effectiveness.
The report noted that the Home Office allocated £57 million ($70.6 million) in 2024-25 to tackle VAWG, including domestic abuse. It stressed that 13 departments and other government agencies are officially committed to dealing with the challenges under the VAWG Strategy and the Domestic Abuse Plan.
The government launched both programs in 2021 and 2022, respectively, in response to multiple high-profile cases of women and girls who tragically died at the hands of abusers.
The NAO report highlighted that a ministerial oversight group responsible for cross-government work for effective adoption of the strategies “only met four times in three years.”
The prevalence of sexual assault against women aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales rose to 4.3% in 2023-24, up from 3.4% in 2009-10, according to the report. It added that police-recorded incidents of rape and sexual assault against women and girls surged from 34,000 to 123,000 in the same period. The NAO acknowledged that the increase could be partly attributed to improved crime recording.
A Home Office spokesperson told Sky News that the NAO report looked at the “previous government’s work” and its “failure to deliver systemic change to deal with these devastating crimes.”
“We are delivering a step-change in the government’s response, as we work to deliver our unprecedented manifesto commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade,” the official said.
