New inquiry launched into preventing violence against women and girls

Following its April evidence session, Changing cultures underpinning male violence against women, the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee today launches the next stage of its work on Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls. Drawing on a wealth of existing evidence submitted as part of two recent high-profile consultations, this project will first conduct an exploration of existing legislation and evidence, identifying gaps for further research.

The Committee’s work is to begin with a literature review of existing evidence submitted as part of the Government’s consultation for its July 2021 Tackling violence against women and girls strategy, as well as written and oral evidence gathered by the Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry Violence against women and girls. The Committee is currently recruiting for a specialist adviser to undertake this work.

Following publication of this review, the inquiry will identify specific areas for further scrutiny, such as domestic and international obligations to prevent VAWG, so-called ‘honour-based’ violence and different preventative strategies. The Committee will then gather further evidence, beginning oral evidence sessions in Spring 2022.