Homicide: Women

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government, and we are treating it as the national emergency it is. The recently published ‘Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy’ sets out the steps we are taking to drive system-wide change, so that no life is lost to violence and abuse that could have been prevented. All victims, including Black and other minoritised ethnic groups, are integrated into our response, and every commitment set out in the Strategy will consider Black and other minoritised ethnic groups.

The report illustrates the stark picture of the risk of fatal violence faced by Black and ethnic minority women. The Government is absolutely committed to improving the response to all forms of violence, and femicide as part of that. I wholeheartedly thank the Killed Women network for their work to raise awareness of these appalling crimes and have written to them in response to this report.

The Home Office continues to build the evidence base on all domestic abuse related deaths through funding the Domestic Homicide Project, to capture information on these deaths from all 43 police forces in England and Wales and identify how the response can be improved. We are also exploring the possibility of expanding the project’s scope in future years to encompass all deaths that occur in the context of VAWG. This will enable a more comprehensive understanding of every death resulting from VAWG to improve our response and prevent further loss of life.