Specialist teams will deal with offences such as rape and stalking as part of VAWG strategy, home secretary says

All police forces in England and Wales will have dedicated rape and sexual offences teams by 2029, the government has said.

The plans are being unveiled as the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, prepares to outline a delayed strategy on violence against women and girls (VAWG) next week.

Health secretary wrote to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, urging her to ‘take heat and ideology’ out of debate

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has called on the Conservatives to maintain the cross-party consensus on gender identity services built before the last election in a letter to Kemi Badenoch.

Streeting wrote to opposition leader on Friday urging her to “take the heat and the ideology” out of debate amid controversy over a puberty blocker trial for children.

Peer named as chair of national inquiry, which is expected to cover England and Wales, after long-delayed search

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The former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield will chair the national grooming gangs inquiry in what will be a “moment of reckoning” for the nation, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has announced.

Lady Longfield, who will resign the Labour whip in the House of Lords, was recommended by Louise Casey after a long-delayed search during which some victims quit the inquiry’s advisory panel amid disagreements over the chair appointment.