![](https://emergencyservicestimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ESS-Button-resized.png")
A new report looks at the effectiveness of current approaches to preventing sexually motivated crimes against women and finds that, while there is some good work taking place, much is inconsistent, lacks solid funding and without good data and evaluation it is not clear that it is working. The second report from the Angiolini Inquiry says there is no silver bullet but the focus must remain on the perpetrators.
The focus of Lady Elish Angiolini’s latest report is on the prevention work mostly taking place in police forces but also with partners and other organisations. The inquiry team looked at case files from eight different forces, focusing on the response to reports of rape, sexual assault and indecent exposure committed against women in public spaces. As well as this, the inquiry team carried out surveys, interviews and focus groups.
It comes after her first report commissioned by the former Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel into why Wayne Couzens was able to serve as a police officer for so long and the red flags that were missed before the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in 2021.
Sarah’s family said in a statement that they were “enormously grateful” to the inquiry team and “for keeping Sarah in their thoughts in this aspect of the inquiry.”
The current government put halving violence against women and girls within a decade as part of its safer streets mission. Speaking in the House of Commons, Jess Phillips told MPs: “Somehow, we have simply come to accept that many women do not feel safe walking in their streets.” She urged them to read the report in full but said there was no ‘quick fix’ and that there should be “a more consistent approach across the whole of society to address and prevent this violence.” It is, she said, a national emergency.
The scale of the problem is set out starkly in this report where the first finding states that the prevalence of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces is not known. While 20% of all crime relates to violence against women and girls, the report says that ‘at least’ one in 12 women will be victims of gender-based violence and that publicly available statistics may show ‘significant’ under-reporting.
The report finds that there are some ‘excellent examples’ of prevention work taking place in police forces and with partners but that the overall approach is inconsistent, sometimes duplicates work taking place elsewhere and projects are unable to move from pilot phases to full-blown funded adoption.
“The inquiry considers that efforts to try to achieve long-term change are met with a series of uncoordinated, short-term measures, powered by good will as opposed to proper funding. This will not work. Women will continue to be harmed.”
The original terms of reference for this part of the inquiry were extended to include the quality of data available about sexual crimes against women and this is the basis of the first of 13 recommendations by the inquiry. The report concludes that this data is difficult to obtain, patchy and incomplete and as a result it needs ‘urgent attention.’ A lack of evaluation of what works is hampering progress, says the report adding that what is available is inconsistent. This is linked to the lack of funding which the report describes as a Catch 22 situation:
“Without data on sexually motivated crimes in public, on the offenders and the victims or on reoffending rates, it is impossible to evaluate the success of any initiative. However, without data-driven proof of success, it is hard to attract funding to pilot an initiative. The situation is exacerbated by starting off with inconsistent quality of data in the first place.”
The 238-page report maintains that perpetrators should be the main focus. Findings from focus groups indicate that women are changing their behaviour in public spaces. “Women and girls have repeatedly been told that their safety is up to them, and that they must change their behaviour.” Witnesses to the inquiry described this as ‘responsibilising’ the person to whom the behaviour has happened – “assigning responsibility to them rather than the person actually carrying out the behaviour.”
“The inquiry considers that there is not one silver bullet in tackling sexually motivated offences against women in public. Instead, there needs to be long-term commitment, cross-party agreement and a steady course in preventing these crimes – through education, thorough investigations and swift arrests – always with an unswerving focus on the perpetrators of crimes against women.”
Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Helen Millichap is the Director of the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection. This was set up recently with £13m funding from the government as part of its safer streets mission. She welcomed the publication of this report and acknowledged the families, victims and survivors who have been affected and who took the time to provide valuable insights.
She agreed that collaboration with partners was the way forward, to create what Lady Angiolini called a whole system approach to prevent sexually motivated crimes. Urging greater reporting of sexually motivated crime in public spaces, she said: “To anybody who is experiencing these types of crime, we urge you to report to us. We are changing, and we welcome the focus this report brings to help us change more.”
Read the report in full – The Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 first report: prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public. Lady Elish Angiolini’s statement is available on YouTube below.
