Government drafts in new violence against women and girls adviser amid fears it will miss its target

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Exclusive: Labour MP Jess Asato has been drafted in to lead a major overhaul of the NHS’s response to violence against women and girls – just days after Refuge branded the chancellor’s Budget a ‘profound disappointment’ to survivors

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The government has appointed a new adviser to overhaul the NHS response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), amid growing fears it will fail to meet its flagship target of halving it.

The Independent understands Labour MP Jess Asato has been drafted in as a VAWG adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care, just days after Refuge branded the chancellor’s Budget a “profound disappointment” to survivors.

Ms Asato has been put in charge of steering a major overhaul of the NHS response to VAWG, having been tasked with reforming the culture of the health service and ensuring women experiencing violence are identified and supported at the earliest opportunity.

The role will see her advise on how alcohol is linked to VAWG, embedding support for victims and survivors in neighbourhood health services, and improving local commissioning of VAWG services.

Ms Asato will also lead on work to integrate services into new neighbourhood health centres, which would bring together GPs, nurses, pharmacists and other services under one roof.

It comes amid growing concern over the government’s ability to meet its target of halving violence against women and girls within a decade.

In the wake of last week’s Budget, Refuge head of policy and public affairs Ellie Butt said it was a “profound disappointment – not only to Refuge, but to the thousands of survivors who have been counting on the government to finally take tangible action to tackle the epidemic of violence against women and girls through investment in specialist support services”.

While the government’s decision to lift the two-child benefit cap was welcomed, Refuge warned that the VAWG sector is still “in a worse position than ever”, saying that some services “have been pushed beyond breaking point and are now being forced to close” as a result of the sector bearing the brunt of spending cuts.

Ms Butt added: “The autumn Budget was a critical moment for the government to demonstrate its commitment to women and girls. Instead, it marks yet another missed opportunity to show survivors that it is serious about its pledge, with the chancellor once again failing to prioritise VAWG in the Budget.

“While we appreciate the strain on public finances, domestic abuse costs our economy £84bn every year – a figure that could be significantly reduced with investment into specialist support services.

“An estimated shortfall of £307m currently exists in spending on specialist domestic abuse services.”

It comes after the government’s domestic abuse tsar Dame Nicole Jacobs in September warned that “tens of thousands of child victims are currently not getting the level of help and support they need to recover from abuse”, adding that she remains “largely unclear on what the government intends to do about it”.

“Halving violence against women and girls within a decade is an ambitious target and one I applaud.

“But with the VAWG strategy still delayed and no major funding announced for specialist domestic abuse services, I fail to see where the momentum within government is coming from to ensure this commitment succeeds,” she warned.

There is also growing public pressure on the government to do more to tackle VAWG, with a new YouGov poll commissioned by Refuge showing that only around one in six UK adults (16 per cent) believe current government spending is sufficient to meet the target to halve VAWG within the next decade.

Nearly half (49 per cent) say the government is not investing enough, while 35 per cent are unsure.

Ms Asato – who worked as head of policy and public affairs at children’s charity Barnardo’s and also worked for domestic abuse charity SafeLives before being elected as an MP – said VAWG is not “just a criminal justice issue, it's a public health emergency”.

“When we strengthen healthcare systems to identify abuse early, support survivors, challenge perpetrators and address the trauma that fuels cycles of harm, we make communities safer. Ensuring health is not an add-on to prevention; it is a core part of the solution,” she added.

Meanwhile, Jess Phillips said the role would help to promote a “whole-society approach” to tackling VAWG.

“The appointment of Jess Asato as an adviser is an important step towards ensuring the NHS can spot abuse sooner and connect victims to the support they need,” she said.

It comes ahead of a major speech by the foreign secretary on Tuesday, where she will warn that abuse of women and girls is “crossing borders at unprecedented scale and speed”.

Speaking at the launch of a global coalition aimed at tackling violence against women and girls, Yvette Cooper will announce new British efforts to deal with online abuse, including a £4.85m package from the UK’s integrated security fund to support the expansion of an online platform that helps websites block the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

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