Debate contribution: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Update
Debate contribution by Ms Joanne Bunting on .
- MLA
- Ms Joanne Bunting
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 6 October 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Update
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5156637
Read the official Assembly record
Text
By way of context, the framework is based on four themes with six outcomes, eight guiding principles and 19 priority areas. It sits alongside an initial two-year delivery plan comprising 14 actions, all of which are progressing well. We are determined to do everything that we can to stop the harm and abuse faced by women and girls, who, we know, are disproportionately affected by violence, abuse and harm. The Member will know that we are two years into a seven-year framework, and a crucial area of work at this stage is prevention. A key area of focus is challenging the harmful attitudes, cultures and behaviours that can escalate and lead to actual violence. We allocated £3·2 million to the ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) change fund. We were delighted to secure an additional £2·2 million that will further advance work in that area because some council work was oversubscribed. Councils are embedding action to end violence against women and girls in their service delivery and are developing signposting and resourcing for local communities. Each is running numerous projects for women and girls, but men and boys are included. In addition, eight community and voluntary sector expert organisations are delivering activity that will strengthen the impact and reach of ending violence against women and girls expertise and programmes to support schools, tertiary education, communities and workplaces. By way of further information, the Power to Change campaign, jointly launched by TEO, the Department of Justice and the PSNI in January, targets harmful attitudes and behaviours of men and boys and uses the active bystander approach, whereby people are taught how to intervene safely if they see inappropriate or unwanted behaviours. I presume that my time is up.
288 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.63).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.97).
- Subject area: Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-qualifying threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.05 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.63 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-qualifying threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.97 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.03 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.51 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.49 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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