Government news and campaigns 

Funding for Places of Wordship 

Places of worship will receive £28 million in funding to help keep them and their attendees safe, the Security Minister announced today on 21 June 2023. 

The funding is part of the government’s commitment to ensure that faith communities in England and Wales are protected from the threat of hate crime and terror attacks and can practise their faith freely and without fear. 

The money is for physical protective security, such as CCTV, intruder alarms and secure fencing to help protect mosques, churches, temples, gurdwaras and other places of worship. Mosques will also be able to access a new security guarding scheme later in the year. 

Read more on this here. The funding is available this year through two schemes, with applications now open. 

Extension of the Disregards and Pardons Scheme 

The Scheme was established in 2012 to address the historical wrongs suffered by men who had been criminalised for having sex with other men, by enabling them to apply to the Home Secretary to have their convictions disregarded, provided that certain conditions were met.  

This extension to the scheme aims to enable more people, including women and those serving in the UK Armed Forces, who were convicted for same-sex sexual activity in the past to apply for those convictions to be disregarded.

For more information read here. Please also see this link to the caseworker guidance. 

Domestic Homicide Consultation  

We are considering changes to ensure domestic homicide review (DHR) legislation reflects the legal definition of domestic abuse and amend the name to better reflect the range of deaths which fall in their scope, the Minister for Safeguarding announced today. 

A domestic homicide review is a multi-agency review which seeks to identify and implement lessons learned from deaths which have, or appear to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect. Their aim is to better protect victims in future and prevent further tragedies. 

The Government has launched an 8-week consultation to consider changes to domestic homicide reviews, bringing them in line with the statutory definition of domestic abuse enacted in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. 

For more information read here  

Lord Ferrers Awards 
 
We need your nominations!  

Do you know of any exceptional policing volunteers that you think needs to be recognised nationally for their outstanding work? Do you think said volunteer has gone and above their call of duty to better the lives of their communities?  

If so – submit your nominations for the Lord Ferrers Awards now. There are 12 categories that you can nominate the volunteer for – and if selected, they will be presented their accolade at the prestigious Lancaster House.  

Here is the nomination form, and here is the accompanying guidance.  

Don’t forget – the nominations are only open until 12 July. Please contact: [email protected] if you have any questions. 
 
Police given clarity to act quickly on ‘serious disruptions’ 

A clearer definition of ‘serious disruption’ will stop slow marching protesters causing hours of delay and distress to the public from the 15^th of June. This will further clarify existing public order laws to help the police respond to new highly disruptive protest tactics like slow marching. 
 
Read more on this here. 

In case you missed it…  
 
Child sexual abuse redress scheme to be established 
 

The government has committed to a redress scheme for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. Read more on this here and here. 

Anti-Social Behaviour 
 
The Home Office has recently been raising awareness of what constitutes ASB as well as the different routes to report it via our Home Office social channels and we would appreciate your support in raising awareness of ASB and retweeting these posts: 
What is ASB and Reporting ASB 

Burglary  

All police forces in England and Wales are now attending every home burglary after a pledge to roll out the policy nationally. Read more on the announcement here. 
  

Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Intervention Fund 

Police forces across England and Wales will weed out domestic abuse and stalking behaviour with a raft of new intervention measures supported by government. Backed by up to £39 million, 50 projects will be rolled out over the next 2 years, supporting initiatives to stop abusers from repeatedly targeting victims and terrorising vulnerable people. 

Read more on this story here. 

Nitrous Oxide consultation 

The Prime Minister announced in the government’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on March 27^th, to ban nitrous oxide. Following this ban, we have launched a nitrous oxide consultation. This consultation seeks to understand the full range of legitimate uses of nitrous oxide and is aimed at any organisation or person who uses, or wishes to use in the future, nitrous oxide for legitimate purposes. 
 
Contact details and how to respond: You can complete the online survey here or email: [email protected] 
 
 

Stakeholder news and campaigns  

Resolve 
 
Resolve’s Anti-Social Behaviour Awareness Week has been confirmed for 3rd – 9th July 2023!   

We are working with Resolve to support communications activity in the lead up to and during ASB Awareness Week (3-9^th July). We will provide more details on how you can support the week of action through this newsletter over the coming weeks.  
 
Any questions, please get in touch at [email protected]  

The Internet Watch Foundation 

The IWF have just launched a hub on End-to-End Encryption. It includes information about the differences between regular encryption and E2EE with an animation and sets out what the IWF would like to see happen to prevent the exploitation of children and distribution of child sexual abuse imagery within E2EE environments. 

To visit the hub, click on the following link: End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) and Online Child Sexual Abuse Imagery (iwf.org.uk) 

Karma Nirvana 

Karma Nirvana will be hosting their 9^th Day of Memory conference on 14^th July. This is a unique opportunity bringing together experts and dedicated individuals to address the current issues of Honour Based Abuse. 

During the conference, attendees will take a moment to remember Shafilea Ahmed, whose life was tragically taken from us 20 years ago. Her story serves as a poignant reminder of the urgent need to combat Honour Based Abuse. 

Click here for more information on how to attend. 
 
Upcoming campaigns 

If your organisation has any upcoming surveys or campaigns that you would like us to highlight in our newsletter, please get in touch with the External Affairs team at [email protected]  

 
 
Campaign Materials  

The government is running several campaigns for vulnerable audiences. We would be grateful if you could share campaign materials and messaging on your channels, and with your networks.   

• ENOUGH. aims to challenge perpetrators and raise awareness of what we can all do to safely call out abuse. Please find attached a partner pack which includes more information on the campaign, and materials which you can share on your channels.  
• Stop Abuse Together aims to empower parents and carers to take steps to help keep the children in their life safe. All children have a right to be safe from sexual abuse, and we all have a role to play in keeping them safe. Let’s #StopAbuseTogether  
• Parentwise is designed to build parents and carers’ understanding of the range of harms their child could be exposed to. It includes a partner pack to help them spot the signs that something could be wrong and empower them to act if they are worried.