New £13m fund to tackle violence against women

An extra £1m will be spent on services which aim to support and protect women and girls from violence, as the Scottish Government launches a new £13m fund.

A new 13m fund will tackle violence against women and girls.

The new Delivering Equally Safe Fund aims to support frontline organisations dealing with violence prevention and support for women and girls who are victims of violence.

The DES Fund collates the current Equally Safe, Rape Crisis Specific and Violence Against Women and Girls intermediary funding streams, with the process for applications streamlined.

She added: “Across greater legal protections, improving forensic medical services for victims of sexual assault and enhancing protections for those at risk of Female Genital Mutilation, we want to keep vulnerable women and girls safe from harm."

She said that the government was investing a "record £30m" in equalities overall, to create a Scotland "where everyone is protected and violence, discrimination and gender-based inequality are consigned to history.”

The investment was welcomed by Caroline Burrell, centre director at Edinburgh Rape Crisis, who said: “No survivor should ever have to wait to access lifesaving Rape Crisis support, yet too often this is the reality in Edinburgh and beyond.

"We welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to funding Rape Crisis Centres and recognition of the importance of specialist support.

The new fund is designed to drive forward the government's Equally Safe Strategy and organisations will "need to be clear how their proposed work contributes to its priorities and objectives" when applying for funding.