Stephen's views on ending violence against women

Violence against women is a terrible problem both in the UK and on a global scale, affecting thousands of women every day in the home, in the street or elsewhere. It is also an issue that needs to be urgently addressed by the Government. Accordingly I have added my name to Early Day Motion 1038 which condemns all forms of violence against women and calls for an integrated approach to addressing the problem.

The Liberal Democrats believe that the pledge made when the Government signed the UN Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 should be upheld. This pledge was to take integrated measures, through strategies and action plans to prevent and eliminate violence against women. Ten years later still over half a million women experience domestic violence every year in the UK with 1 in 4 women experiencing violence at some point in their lifetime. These are unacceptable statistics.

The Government is severely under-performing with regards to taking an integrated approach to domestic violence. The Liberal Democrats believe that the Government should not only take a more integrated approach to domestic violence; but they should also make effective use of limited finances and set a long-term vision for the prevention of domestic violence over all levels of governance in the UK.

In 2004 the Government enacted the "Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill". It remains to be seen whether this will make any real difference as there were many missed opportunities during the passing of the Bill. One example was the establishment of an advocacy fund. The evidence shows that such funds save money in the long term and mean prosecutions are more likely, but the Government refused to give the idea a try.