UK Government Unveils Plan to Halve Violence Against Women and Girls Over Next Decade
The UK government has announced a new strategy aimed at halving violence against women and girls over the next ten years, with a focus on measures targeting schools and young people in England.
The plan includes specialist training for teachers on consent and the risks associated with sharing intimate images. High-risk pupils may be sent on behavioural courses to address concerning behaviours related to misogyny and violence.
A £20 million funding package will support the scheme over three years, comprising £16 million from taxpayers and £4 million from philanthropists and partners via an innovation fund. A teacher training pilot is scheduled for next year with a goal that all secondary schools teach healthy relationships by the end of the current Parliament.
Additionally, a new helpline will be launched to provide teenagers with support for abuse within relationships.
As part of the comprehensive approach, the Home Office plans to ban 'nudification' tools, which use AI to generate nude images, and intends to work with technology companies to implement nudity-detection filters, though specific details of this initiative are not yet clear.
The strategy builds on existing guidance, updating rules to ensure schools recognise misogyny and its links to violence. School leaders have emphasized the need for new funding to be spent wisely.
Responses to the announcement have been mixed: Dame Nicole Jacobs expressed concerns that the commitments do not go far enough, while Kemi Badenoch criticised the plan as gimmicky. Labour leader Keir Starmer highlighted the importance of addressing root causes, Jess Phillips described violence against women and girls as a national emergency, and Liberal Democrat Marie Goldman called for online content moderation measures to support the training efforts.
