Issue - meetings

Following approval to the content of the above Strategy by the Corporate Strategy Group and in the light of a consultation with the Community Safety Partnership the Board received a report and presentation from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner.  The Strategy has been developed through a number of stakeholder workshops, survivor engagement and testimony and supported by the Council’s Delivery Unit who undertook a priority review specific to domestic abuse.

The Borough is regarded as the “worst” in London for domestic violence, a message regularly borne out in statistics, but a headline narrative that also raises concerns for victims and may dissuade them from reporting abuse. The strategy highlights four priorities namely:

·  Support Survivors

·  Educate and Communicate

·  Challenge Abusive Behaviours

·  Include Lived Experience

The strategy promotes a gender informed approach to improve outcomes for all people including those who identify outside of the gender binary, underpinned by trauma informed ways of working.

If this strategy is to succeed it is vital to address what is seen as fragmentation in dealing with domestic violence amongst the various agencies, namely the Council, the Police and Health including GP’s. Furthermore, one of the major factors compounding the issue concerns isolation and therefore how this is tackled in the community will be important. In this respect it was suggested that the Board reach out to the faith sector to help deal with the complexities of the associated cultural issues. 

The Commissioning Director, Adults’ Care and Support, indicated in his introduction that the work had run in parallel with the development of the Health & Wellbeing Strategy, and its focus on resilience, and that this  highlighted the extent to which domestic violence, and violence against women and girls were fundamental to the challenges faced by many people in the Borough. Therefore, the strategy was not presented for adoption in the conventional way by all partner agencies, but instead what was sought was an indicative approval, a commitment to implementing it, and then to receive a further draft with a strong commissioning plan which could have the greater impact that was sought.    

The Chair confirmed that she will be making a public statement at the forthcoming White Ribbon event calling for a programme of positive action to end domestic violence. 

Accordingly, the Board resolved to recommend:

(i)  that implementation of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2018 – 2022, as set out at Appendix A to the report begins, and pending the refinements that will follow from the agreement of the more ambitious Health & Wellbeing Strategy; and

(ii)  that partner organisations also take the steps necessary to ensure that they are implementing the strategy and supporting the development of the Commissioning Plan through their individual organisational arrangements.