Please can you outline recent trends in domestic abuse in London and what actions your office has taken to tackle this issue?

Tackling all forms of domestic abuse is an absolute priority for me. Rates of domestic abuse, which were already too high, have already been made worse by the pandemic. Since the initial lockdown in March 2020, London has seen a 5% increase in reported domestic abuse offences, meaning that for those feeling unsafe or who are experiencing violence, home is not a safe place. Chair, I have got an answer, but time is short. I would rather allow the Assembly Member a chance to ask supplementary questions and I can send my answer in writing.

Thank you very much. Mr Mayor, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) domestic abuse offences are up by 30.6% over your period in office. That is just the offences that we know about. In an answer to a written question in 2019, you pointed out, quite rightly, that gay men in particular are less likely to report or even to recognise domestic abuse when it happens. My question is what have you done since then on this issue and what are your plans going forward?

This is a really important issue. One of the things we have done is support the London Victim and Witness Service. Obviously, the vast Majority of our victim survivors are women, but more work is being done to support those men who are also the victims of domestic violence and domestic abuse. We are working with something called The Outside Project to address the various issues that you raise, which provides emergency accommodation and wraparound support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) individuals because we recognise there are specific needs these survivors and victims have which are different to other victims and survivors.

If there are other ideas or initiatives the Member has which he thinks we have not thought about, I am more than happy to look into those. I am also more than happy to arrange for him to meet with the team to explain some of the work we are doing because there are some people who - forgive me for this language - fall through the cracks, and we have got to make sure there is support for them so they do not fall through the cracks.

Thank you. I would appreciate that meeting.