Progress in our mission to protect women and girls
THIS week I was delighted to attend 10 Downing Street with Tara Rowe, Joint Operations Director of the Cheltenham Guardians Safeguarding Team.
The Security Minister was hosting a reception to honour local community safety champions and I nominated Tara to attend as a token of our town’s gratitude for the work her and her colleagues do to help ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of women and girls in Cheltenham’s night-time economy.
Having joined the Cheltenham Guardians on shift in the past, I have seen with my own eyes how they go above and beyond to serve others. Tara and her colleagues are a credit to our town.
Every Saturday evening until 4am, volunteers provide a specialist female safeguarding service, including uniformed patrols, proactive engagement with women, safe transport home or to the Nightcare Hub and threat monitoring.
To support the work of the Guardians and the Cheltenham Street Pastors, I was pleased to work with our local Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson to help secure over £2m in Government funding to specifically target violence against women and girls in Gloucestershire.
The funding has been used to install more CCTV, better streetlights, the launch of an anonymous reporting app and a Street Drink Worker.
This marks significant progress in our shared mission of tackling violence against women and girls here in Cheltenham.
Indeed, the safety of women and girls is something I have particularly focused on during my time in Parliament.
I have been proud to campaign for tougher sentences for stalkers, to take the Domestic Abuse Bill through Parliament, to double the funding for rape support centres like GRASAC and overseeing significant progress in the Government’s plan to bring more rapists to justice.
I was also pleased to introduce The Victims Bill to Parliament recently to ensure that victims are listened to, supported and treated with dignity.
There is always more to do of course, but we are making solid progress in our mission to protect women and girls and to make Cheltenham an ever safer place for women and girls to live, work and visit.
I have seen with my own eyes how they go above and beyond to serve others. Tara and her colleagues are a credit to our town