York MP Hugh Bayley celebrates victory in his campaign to have the Government publish figures on flood protection spending as official statistics and for them to be vetted by the UK Statistics Authority.

I have won an important victory. After six months of campaigning, the government has agreed that in future figures on flood protection spending will be vetted by the UK Statistics Authority and published as official statistics.

The Labour Government increased funding for flood protection from £72 million in 2000, at the time of the big flood in York, to £646 million when we left office. The current Government has cut the money for flood defences to £533 million.

But this didn’t stop the Government claiming, falsely, to have increased spending. I have been campaigning for flooding statistics to be prepared according to objective UK Statistics Authority guidelines to stop Ministers fiddling the figures.

This victory came just days before the former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was sacked in the Cabinet reshuffle and shortly after I visited the flood alleviation scheme at Water End in York where vital work to improve flood defences is nearing completion.

This £4.2 million scheme was able to go ahead, despite the Coalition Government cutting funding for flood defences by £113 million a year, because York Council and the Environment Agency pooled their budgets. The work will protect 400 homes and businesses.

I have tabled a House of Commons motion to support the White Ribbon Campaign – a cause championed by our former Lord Mayor, Councillor Julie Gunnell, which involves men in challenging abuse and violence, including domestic violence against women and children.

White Ribbon status is awarded to cities and organisations that demonstrate a commitment to raising awareness of these issues, and York was recognised as a White Ribbon city in May this year. York is one of 30 local authorities to have received the award with a further 25 seeking accreditation.

York and other local authorities believe that everyone needs to take responsibility for tackling abuse and domestic violence. I tabled my Early Day Motion to congratulate councils like York for showing a lead. It has been signed by 46 MPs from across the House.

But while this excellent work is going on locally, the national government is turning its back on victims of domestic violence. The Coalition are massaging crime figures downwards by using “community resolution” for thousands of perpetrators of domestic violence instead of prosecuting them in the courts.

Figures from Freedom of Information requests show there were 509 violent offenders in North Yorkshire and York in 2012 who were let off prosecution by the police, because they agreed to apologise to their victim through the procedure of community resolution.

The number of community resolutions for domestic abuse in England and Wales increased from 1,853 in 2010 to 3,305 in 2013. Despite a rise in the number of recorded cases of domestic violence, figures obtained by the House of Commons Library show that prosecutions in England and Wales fell from 82,187 in 2010/11 to 70,702 in 2012/13.

The Labour government introduced community resolution to deal with anti- social behaviour and minor offences but we never used the procedure to deal with violent offences. It is worrying that so many perpetrators of domestic abuse and violence, which unfortunately remains widespread, are getting away with it. This is a direct result of Government cuts to the police budget.

My parliamentary motion calls on the Government and other institutions to work with the White Ribbon Campaign to show men that they can, and must, be part of the solution to end violence against women and girls.

But when these offences do take place, there must be strong action. Labour want to introduce a Violence Against Women and Girls Bill to stop the police from using community resolutions for domestic and sexual violence. We will ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted and give a clear signal that abuse and violence against women and children will not go unpunished.