‘We are doing extra in battle in opposition to violence on ladies and ladies – victims have waited too lengthy’

Writing for The Mirror, Safeguarding Minister Satvir Kaur says she often thinks about the world her daughter will grow up in as she explains why the government is speeding up its violence against women and girls programme

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Victims have waited too long. We are speeding up the fight against violence against women and girls.

As a mum to a one-year-old daughter, I think often about the world she will grow up in.

Like any parent, I would do anything to keep her safe. But I also want her to be free. Free to walk home at night without checking over her shoulder. Free to say no without fearing what might happen next.

Free to go to work without being harassed. That should not be too much to ask. But for millions of women and girls in the UK, fear still shapes their everyday life.

The scale is terrifying. Around 900,000 people over the age of 16 experienced sexual assault or attempted assault in the year ending March 2025. Around 3.8 million experienced domestic abuse and 1.4 million experienced stalking. These are not just statistics. They represent mothers, daughters, friends and colleagues carrying pain. Living in dread. And feeling let down. We will not stand for it. The enormous scale of the challenge to tackle violence against women and girls, must to be met with the same level of ambition.

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That is why today, the Prime Minister will announce he is bringing forward the deadline for every police force in England and Wales to have a specialist rape and sexual offence team. These teams will now be in place in every community by December 2027. A year and a half earlier than planned.

The teams will be dedicated to investigating some of the worst crimes imaginable. Their officers will have specialist skills and knowledge. They will support victims and survivors with trauma-informed care. And they will build stronger cases to put dangerous offenders behind bars. This is about going further and faster in ensuring no matter where you live the police have the expertise, resources and tools to hunt down rapists and sex offenders and give victims the support they deserve.

We know these specialist teams are only part of the solution, for policing to truly work for victims, it must also go hand in hand with stopping abusers and stalkers from terrorising their victims without consequences.

That is why we are investing £13.3 million in new Violence Against Women and Girls Protection Order Teams, where up to 10 police forces will pioneer tougher ways to enforce court orders placed on perpetrators. The teams will try out new ways to make sure protection orders that protect victims are properly enforced, while helping to monitor perpetrators to prevent them causing further harm.

These orders cover a range of offences including domestic abuse, stalking, forced marriage and sexual offences. They can ban contact with the victim. They can force offenders to wear an electronic tag or attend programmes to change their behaviour. Importantly, if someone under an order breaks the rules, they could face up to five years in prison.

These measures are in addition to this government’s £53 million investment to expand the Drive Project across England and Wales. This scheme targets high-risk, serial domestic abusers to keep victims safe. Ten new areas are now benefiting from this proven approach where dedicated workers challenge their behaviour, with the police, local partners, and other services working together to protect survivors.

All of this is underpinned by a wave of measures, and part of our steadfast £1 billion mission, to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.

Victims and survivors remain at the heart of government action on this. To them directly, I say you deserve to be believed. You deserve to feel supported. And you deserve policing and protection that actually works.

This government and I will not stop until this is achieved.