Debate contribution: Ending Violence against Women and Girls

Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on 14 April 2026.

MLA

Mrs Naomi Long

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

14 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Oral Answers to Questions

Heading

Ending Violence against Women and Girls

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5482316

Read the official Assembly record

Text

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 3 and 8 together. I ask you to indulge me with extra time, as it is quite an involved answer. The Department of Justice is responsible for a number of actions in the cross-departmental strategic framework to end violence against women and girls (EVAWG) delivery plan. Ongoing engagement between my officials and the Executive Office, formally under the auspices of the EVAWG programme board and the domestic and sexual abuse strategic oversight board, helps to provide continued alignment and cohesion to promote a comprehensive, cost-effective and joined-up response. Under the EVAWG delivery plan, my Department is working with the PSNI and the Executive Office to deliver the Power to Change public awareness campaign to tackle the underpinning misogynistic behaviours and attitudes that can fuel sexual offending and gender-based violence. The second phase of the campaign, which will launch in May, aims to address rising online misogyny and harmful gender narratives. Much of the wider work of my Department is aimed at addressing sexual offending and domestic abuse and at supporting victims in these cases. Whilst not all domestic and sexual abuse victims are women and girls, and not all violence against women and girls happens in domestic relationships, there is a significant overlap. Implementation of the domestic abuse offence, which captures patterns of controlling, coercive and threatening behaviour, as well as associated aggravators, is continuing. A pilot for domestic abuse protection notices and orders is under development. Work has been prioritised to establish revised and improved domestic abuse risk response arrangements. I aim to address a legislative gap by introducing new offences to address the creation of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfake images of adults online, which, again, disproportionately affects women and girls. I recently secured legislative consent to extend several provisions of the UK Government's Crime and Policing Bill to build on sexual offences that were introduced in 2022. Together, those measures contribute to a legal framework that allows the criminal justice system to deal effectively with sexual offending, of which most victims are women and girls. In the past two financial years, my Department has allocated £1·9 million specifically to ending violence against women and girls. Total spend by my Department and non-departmental public bodies was £0·8 million in the 2024-25 financial year and £1·1 million in 2025-26. We have also committed £8·4 million over a seven-year period, commencing in 2025-26, to ASSIST NI to deliver advocacy services to high-risk and high-impact victims of domestic and sexual abuse. Alongside the Department of Health and the Department for Communities, my Department jointly funds the 24-hour domestic abuse helpline delivered by Nexus NI, which will cost £3·2 million over the next seven years. Similarly, whilst our investment of over £0·5 million on remote evidence centres over the past two years is beneficial to all vulnerable or intimidated witnesses, it has disproportionately benefited women and girls.

483 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification