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The Home Office’s efforts to address violence against women and girls have not yet improved outcomes for victims, according to the public spending watchdog.

Described as a “significant and growing problem”, the National Audit Office (NAO) says one in 12 women can expect to experience some form of gender-based violence each year.

Around one in four women will be a victim of sexual or attempted assault in their lifetime.

Louise*, whose identity we have protected, says she suffered sexual and violent abuse at the hands of her former partner for seven years.

“He was a very jealous and controlling man,” she says.

The abuse would come in “different forms”, Louise explained. “Sometimes it was straight beatings. Other times it would be restraining and threatening with knives etc. And of course, there was the mental abuse.”

It’s been a few decades since her traumatising experience, and she says: “It’s incredibly depressing to hear things haven’t changed or moved on. I find that shocking.”

She now has three children who have more awareness about gender-based abuse and “understand things like gaslighting and coercive control”.

But she says now the culture has shifted, action needs to be implemented.

“Stop doing more research or yet another report which never gets acted on… We want action. My advice is you need to talk to victims, you need a victim-led solution,” Louise says.

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Home Office did not lead ‘effective cross-government response’

After multiple high-profile cases of women and girls who died at the hands of abusers, the previous Conservative government introduced the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in 2021 and the Domestic Abuse Plan in 2022, both led by the Home Office.

However, a report by the NAO says the department did not lead an “effective cross-government response”.

Caroline Harper, who led the report, says this is partly due to the fact the Home Office “struggled to get other government departments on board”.

“There hasn’t been sufficient focus on prevention,” she adds.

She says while “supporting victims is really, really important, it would be much better if they didn’t become victims in the first place”.

Ministerial oversight group ‘only met four times in three years’

The report highlights a ministerial oversight group responsible for setting out the strategy “only met four times in three years”.

The prevalence of sexual assault against women aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales was 4.3% in 2023-24, up from 3.4% in 2009-10, the NAO said.

In that same period, incidents of rape and sexual assault against women and girls recorded by police rose from 34,000 to 123,000, although the NAO said this could partly be explained by improved recording of such crimes.

Past focus ‘not on measuring outcomes’

Isabelle Younane, head of external affairs at the Women’s Aid charity, says: “We really do welcome the intention of government and the strategy of ensuring a strong focus is on prevention and cross-government working.”

However, she adds: “We have not yet seen this translate into meaningful outcomes for women and girls on the ground.”

Ms Younane says in the past the focus has been on “measuring activities and whether those activities had been completed, not on measuring outcomes”.

A Home Office spokesperson highlighted that the NAO report looked at the “previous government’s work” and its “failure to deliver systemic change to deal with these devastating crimes”.

“We are delivering a step-change in the government’s response, as we work to deliver our unprecedented manifesto commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade,” they added.

* Not her actual name.

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Jaguar Land Rover to ‘pause’ US shipments over Donald Trump tariffs

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Jaguar Land Rover to 'pause' US shipments over Donald Trump tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will “pause” shipments to the US as the British car firm works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The US president has introduced a 25% levy on all foreign cars imported into the country, which came into force on Thursday.

JLR, one of the country’s biggest carmakers, exported about 38,000 cars to the US in the third quarter of 2024 – almost equal to the amount sold to the UK and the EU combined.

Follow live updates: Trump’s baseline 10% tariff kicks in

In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the company behind the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover brands said: “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.

“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”

The company released a statement last week before Mr Trump announced a “baseline” 10% tariff on goods from around the world, which kicked in on Saturday morning, on what he called “liberation day”.

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JLR reassured customers its business was “resilient” and “accustomed to changing market conditions”.

“Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms,” the firm said.

Trading across the world has been hit by Mr Trump’s tariff announcement at the White House on Wednesday.

All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday – with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.

Read more: A red wall on Wall Street – but Trump seems to believe it will work out

Cars are the top product exported from the UK to the US, with exports worth £8.3bn in the year to the end of September 2024, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

For UK carmakers, the US is the second largest export market behind the European Union.

Industry groups have previously warned the tariffs will force firms to rethink where they trade, while a report by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research said more than 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK could be at risk.

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Two people die after caravan fire at holiday park in Lincolnshire

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Two people die after caravan fire at holiday park in Lincolnshire

Two people have died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness, Lincolnshire Police have said.

In a statement, officers said they were called at 3.53am on Saturday to a report of a blaze at Golden Beach Holiday Park in the village of Ingoldmells.

Fire and rescue crews attended the scene, and two people were found to have died.

They were reported to be a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.

The force said the victims’ next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specially trained officers.

Officers are trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze.

“We are at the very early stages of our investigation and as such we are keeping an open mind,” the force said.

Two fire crews remain at the scene.

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Boy dies after ‘getting into difficulty’ in lake in southeast London

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Boy dies after 'getting into difficulty' in lake in southeast London

A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.

Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.

The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.

“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.

The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.

The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.

In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.

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google street view inside Beckenham Place park, Lewisham where a 16 y/o boy is missing after getting into difficulty in a lake
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Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon

Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.

The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.

It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.

“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”

Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.

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