To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister for a progress update on the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Delivery Plan 2024-2026.

Mrs Little-Pengelly

Mr Speaker, with your permission, junior Minister Cameron will answer this question.

Mrs Cameron (Junior Minister, The Executive Office)

There has been significant progress on the actions contained in the first ending violence against women and girls delivery plan since it was launched last September. The local and regional EVAWG change funds represent a £3·2 million investment for community and voluntary sector organisations in partnership with councils. We have been delighted to see the impact of the funding at grassroots community level. Councils are embedding action to end violence against women and girls in their service delivery and developing signposting and resources for local communities. In addition, eight community and voluntary sector expert organisations are delivering activity that will strengthen the impact and reach of EVAWG expertise and programmes that support schools, communities and workplaces. The Power to Change campaign, in partnership with the Department of Justice and the PSNI, aims to challenge unacceptable attitudes and reduce harmful behaviours of men and boys. Work is progressing at pace on the development of the second phase of campaign work on EVAWG, and we look forward to sharing more of that with you soon. We are only too aware of the serious and long-lasting impact of online abuse. Many Members in the Chamber have first-hand experience of that form of abuse. Junior Minister Riley and I met Ofcom, which has responsibility for online safety under the Online Safety Act 2023, to outline our concerns. We have also established key sectoral working groups to identify key actions to improve outcomes for women and girls in educational, workplace, social and night-time settings. We intend to provide a progress report to the Executive very soon.

Mrs Cameron

I thank the Member for that very important question. The change fund is an important part of the delivery plan. We are investing £3·2 million up to March 2026 in community-based action to help end violence against women and girls. The Member will know that the change fund provides grant funding directly to local grassroots community groups in order to build capacity and allow them to take local action. The regional change fund provides grants to regional expert organisations in that field to support their awareness-raising, prevention and capacity-building work. The Executive Office has supported all 11 councils to open local change funds totalling £1·4 million, and those schemes have made awards ranging from £1,000 to £25,000 to local groups. Activity funded under the local change funds is well spread across all communities, including youth groups; sports organisations; schools; businesses; the arts sector; and organisations that support minority ethnic people, people with disabilities and, of course, neurodiverse people. In support of the local change funds, all councils utilised the momentum support, which totalled £655,000 over the January to March 2025 period, with a diverse range of initiatives delivered to raise awareness and public engagement on EVAWG. That strategic investment by the Executive Office has mobilised all 11 councils in bringing EVAWG to the fore in each locality, raising awareness and establishing the basis for longer-term coordination. Eight of the EVAWG expert organisations now deliver as part of the £1·2 million funding from the regional change fund, which covers activity from 1 January 2025 to 31 March 2026. That collective body of work will strengthen the impact and reach of EVAWG expertise and programmes that are offered by key regional and community and voluntary sector organisations to support schools, communities and workplaces.

Mr Speaker

Your time for the answer is up.

Mrs Dillon

I thank the Member for her supplementary question, because it is important for us to understand the evaluation process to make sure that we get the best value for money.

Will the Minister please outline how TEO is working collaboratively across the Executive to ensure that we tackle violence against women and girls? What are the expected outcomes from its collaborative work?

Mrs Cameron

I thank the Member for her question. If I had finished my previous answer, I would have said that we will absolutely evaluate all the outworkings. As for the Executive's collaborative work, "Working Better Together" is one of the six outcomes in the EVAWG strategic framework and is embedded in the Programme for Government. Collaboration with a range of Departments, including Education, Health and Justice, is ongoing, and we remain committed to taking that approach with all Departments. It is worth noting that, just last week, junior Minister Reilly and I chaired the second meeting of the EVAWG oversight group, which includes all the Departments at a senior level and, crucially, the community and voluntary sector, which was instrumental in the co-design of the strategy. It is vital that that cooperation continue throughout the EVAWG strategy's delivery, as the sector's organisations are the experts in that field.