Agenda item

To consider the following Community Safety related reports scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 26 May 2021:

•   Preventing Domestic Abuse Strategy and Delivery Plan 2020-2023

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise the reports and make recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.

Cabinet member invited to attend for this item: Councillor May Haines, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety

The Cabinet report for this item is included with the agenda for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Preventing Domestic Abuse Strategy and Delivery Plan 2020-2023 – The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The Portfolio Holder outlined the key issues within the report and responded to points raised by the Board including:

·       Board Members thanked the Portfolio Holder and Officers for the improvements seen in the report since the Board previously considered this issue in December 2020.

·       It was confirmed that the Domestic Abuse Bill had received royal ascent the previous week. This would be amended in the strategy document.

·       That gay and bisexual women should be mentioned with equal rights in the report, in the same way that gay and bisexual men were referenced.

·       With reference to point 45 through to point 48 , it was good to see them and it was important to be able to revisit this as a living document

·       There was no reference to dementia within strategy would like to see The Alzheimer’s Society and dementia advisers to be made aware of the services available to those living with dementia and to be referred to within the report. This crossed over into the work with health partners, work was underway with colleagues in Clinical Commissioning Group. Issues concerning dementia had been picked up on and the impact of this was being looked into.

·       Concern was raised that there was little mention of the actions and steps that would be taken to address some of the issues outlined in the report, in particular to target people with particular characteristics such as mental health issues, or people with English as a second language.

·       It was positive to see the impact of Covid-19 and the lockdown had been mentioned in the report.

·       The report did not outline the impact that the actions and funding were expected to achieve and how many people it would reach. A Board member also questioned how the effectiveness of the strategy would be measured and how the performance of the service would be monitored. The Portfolio Holder advised that in terms of data – historical and current data was available, but it was difficult to predict with any real certainty what the number of cases would be going forwards. There were pieces of work on going but this was the beginning of a journey using the data available to help inform decisions. It was suggested that a review could be brought back in approximately 12 months time. It was agreed to add an item to the Forward Plan to review.

·       In response to a question it was confirmed that refuges could offer support to victims and their families. This provision was supported through the housing department, who would liaise directly with providers to see where accommodation may be found. In some instances, alternative temporary accommodation would be sought.

·       In response to a query on the table outlined in paragraph 34 of the report it was noted that this was the additional funding provided by the government due to Covid and the additional funded workstreams for what was appropriate to support delivery through the new responsibilities of the Domestic Abuse Act. It was noted that the base budget was included in the report in addition to this funding. It was noted that as this was a partnership programme it was difficult to define the whole programme in financial terms. The Chairman requested that if any further information could be provided to Councillor Howell this would be welcomed.

·       The Board requested that when a paper returns to the Board it includes some key performance indicators to outline what is considered a measure of success.

·       It was confirmed that target hardening was very much business as normal which allowed victims to remain in their own homes through provision of specific facilities, ability to target harden their homes – something we don’t do anymore.

·       In terms of refuge spaces there would be an accommodation needs based assessment which would look into this.

·       The 8-week toolkit programme for children who had witnessed domestic abuse in their household. Clear commitment that those are the children who witness domestic abuse were vulnerable to following this cycle and the pressures on the budget concerning this. 

·       Whether training for staff could this be expanded out to partners like schools, it was noted that this was provided online and could be expanded but schools had a slightly different arrangement for how they undertook training and spot children who may be witnessing domestic violence. It was noted that the training could be utilised for elected members in future.

Following the debate, it was proposed and seconded and following a vote resolved that the Board:

RECOMMEND:  To Cabinet that additions be made to the draft domestic abuse strategy to include detailed actions for improving the services ability to engage with residents who have struggled to engage previously, including male victims of domestic abuse and those in same sex relationships, victims who are BAME and/or don’t speak English as a first language and those who have multiple needs such as mental health and/or substance misuse.

Voting: Unanimous

The Chairman thanked the Portfolio Holder and Officers for presenting the report and all the hard work which had gone into the report and detailed plan.

Cllr M Cox and Cllr L Dedman – left the meeting at 7.00pm