Speeches by Phillips.

“A threat assessment is done by the NCVPP. I always used to criticise Theresa May’s naming of the HMICFRS—or whatever the millions of letters are—and then I did the same thing and gave something a silly name. It undertakes an annual threat assessment, as you might do with terrorism in this space. We were previously not …”

“I can only apologise if people feel left out. We undertook a huge series of—I think it was 12—roundtables in the build-up to the strategy and there were 100 different organisations.”

“We take on board the criticisms that have been laid out, and other strategies and suggestions made. We also live in an environment of not just Select Committees but also, for example, the Angiolini inquiry and the IICSA review, making sure that we look at what has been suggested. I personally get very sick of people sa…”

“I am not from the Department that deals with legal aid.”

“Agreed.”

“I agree. I find that to be a maddening truth. We digress, but part of the action plan about modern slavery is a really specific focus on the policing and the criminal charging of it, because after all these years it is still woefully low. It seems like the bar must be—there is a lot of work that needs doing on that.”

“My response to that is I hope that their Ministers also get scrutinised for it. It is very easy to become the face of a thing and then the expectation is—and I am sure you will have felt this in your time at the Home Office—“Oh, that is the Home Office’s responsibility.” The whole point is that the violence against wom…”

“Yes. People are often quite keen. Other Government Departments are often keen to come along. I am like, “I’m not sure what you’re going to bring to the party,” but I am trying to come up with a way to make solar energy about violence against women and girls, so if anyone has one I am happy to hear it.”

“You can go for it quickly, yes. Are you all right? People forget that they also have diaries and I am not the centre of the universe.”

“I have attended one where that was the case. VAWG is only one part of the overarching mission of the Home Office’s safer streets mission.”

“Yes, of course, otherwise we would not have set out to do it. You will not halve the incidence of rape unless you work very closely on the prevention of rape. The fundamental is: what makes men rape?”

“Yes, Karren Brady was excellent. As somebody who comes from an area where Birmingham City football club is, I feel I have to say that she was excellent there. The real need for a cultural shift was why I wanted the strategy to be different. A cultural shift in society is important, but it is very hard for us to ask for…”

“That is correct.”

“The progress that is undertaken, from the Home Office’s perspective of what our deliverables are within the violence against women and girls strategy, is monitored entirely through my ministerial post and all of the ordinary systems. I meet with the Home Secretary every single week and discuss it with her.”

“A bit like undertaking a risk assessment, I would say that the risk is dynamic and changing. I would have sat before you—and I almost certainly have—and had a relatively dim view, for example, of the Department of Health and Social Care and its willingness to make a cultural change to understand that violence against w…”

“Ryton?”

“One of the big things campaigned for by those who represent migrant women was the need for a firewall between immigration services and policing. It was the subject of a super-complaint in which one of my own constituents was involved—it is always good to go into a Department that you have taken legal action against. Th…”

“Yes, I agree with the recommendations—and the Government agree with them.”

“It is an independent inquiry. The reason for the Oldham decision was that the Home Office was already a long way down the path of commissioning an independent inquiry into Oldham. To talk about a problem with lack of trust, then to say, “Well, Oldham might not get it,” when we were down the line, felt cruel. It is now …”

“One of Baroness Casey’s recommendations—I think it was recommendation 12—was that the inquiry had to be properly resourced. I have had many conversations with her throughout the process of this. The resourcing was one thing that she was pleased with, not something where she came back to me with concern. The £65 million…”