Agenda item

Report of the Acting Director of Public Health and the Head of Environmental Services

Inspector Katherine Sibley, West Midlands Police and Councillors A Khan and P Akhtar, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

The Committee considered a briefing note of Liz Gaulton, Acting Director of Public Health and Craig Hickin, Head of Environmental Services which sought approval for the draft Coventry Domestic Abuse Strategy for 2018-2023, a copy of which was set out at an appendix to the report. The draft action plan in support of the strategy was tabled at the meeting. Inspector Katherine Sibley, West Midlands Police attended the meeting in respect of this item along with Councillor P Akhtar, Deputy Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, Councillor Duggins, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership, Councillor John Mutton, Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources and Councillor P Seaman.

The briefing note highlighted that domestic abuse had been identified as a priority for Coventry, with the annual cost of domestic abuse in the city estimated to be £34.8m. Details of the number of reported domestic abuse crimes was included.

The strategy had been drafted by a multi-agency working group and it was anticipated that the strategy and a wider needs analysis would inform recommissioning of the domestic abuse services. The action plan would support implementation of the strategy.

The strategy covered domestic abuse including honour based violence and forced marriage which were both defined as forms of domestic violence and abuse. The strategy acknowledged that while anyone could experience domestic abuse, there were certain characteristics that could increase a person’s risk, its effects, and/or create barriers to accessing help and support. The strategy acknowledged that whilst in general women predominantly experienced abuse, there were other characteristics which could create barriers to accessing help and support. The following groups were identified as falling within these categories: children; older people; adults with care and support needs, including disabled people; men; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender; black, Asian minority ethnic and refugees; and people with mental illness and /or substance misuse problems.

The Committee noted that the strategy had been informed by engagement with a wide number of stakeholders. A co-design event had been held with professional stakeholders to discuss priorities, identify any gaps and suggest how the strategy could address them. The key issues raised were detailed. Service users and statutory and voluntary sector stakeholders were invited to complete surveys to identify their most important priorities. Targeted engagement with young people aged 15-18 had taken place through the Positive Youth Foundation by convening a focus group, while the adults with care and support needs were surveyed through Grapevine.

The following priorities areas were to be taken forward through the strategy and had been developed using the Government’s Contest model:

·  Prepare – the development of a strong governance and service commission structure to provide high quality, equitable services that were shaped around the needs of victims, ensuring that their voices were heard and responded to

·  Prevent – a long term approach to improve awareness, understanding and early identification of abuse at all levels of society. Victims would be empowered to report and staff would be given the skills and confidence to support them. Interventions tailored to victims at all levels of risk with a range of needs would help to break the intergenerational cycle of abuse and minimise repeat victimisation 

·  Protect – there would be effective information sharing and referral pathways between key agencies, breaking down organisational barriers to ensure victims of abuse were identified and protected. The safety of victims, and that of their children (where relevant) would be paramount. Victims would be supported to access safe and appropriate accommodation and safeguarding procedures would be robustly implemented to ensure that children and vulnerable adults were protected, and that the voice of the child was always heard

·  Pursue – an approach centred on achieving justice and positive outcomes for victims, including reductions in offending. There would be better understanding of perpetrator risk to support the use of court and out of court disposals so that they were held accountable for their actions and appropriately supported to understand and change their offending behaviour.

The report set out the outcomes for each of the four priority areas including how the outcomes would be achieved.

The Committee noted the membership of the Domestic Abuse Working Group. It was proposed that the Working Group would become a Steering Group to support the recommissioning of the Domestic Abuse Service in 2018 and to implement the Strategy’s action plan. The Committee also noted the other local Boards where the strategy was to be or had been submitted for approval. A launch event was to take place on 13^th June, 2018.

Members raised a number of issues in response to the briefing note and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  When considering the holistic approach to the strategy, why had FGM not been included along with references to substance abuse

·  In light of the importance of front line early intervention, was it the intention to have a domestic violence worker in each of the family hubs

·  Was there any involvement/ links to the Border Agency

·  Concerns about the use of old data

·  The ability of the Committee to be able to influence the strategy and action plan

·  Further information about the index of multiple deprivation map of Coventry

·  Who would have responsibility/ ownership to ensure progress with the action plan 

·  How would the findings of the current Government consultation on Domestic Abuse feed into the Strategy

·  The suggestion that more emphasis be placed on economic abuse

·  The involvement of Domestic Abuse Agencies such as CRASAC in the development of the strategy

·  The suggestion that the strategy should include that children be heard and ‘valued’

·  In relation to the communication strategy, consideration should be given to the use of the different languages spoken in the city and to make use of local radio stations for promoting the strategy

·  The suggestion that Faith Groups be involved with the outreach work concerning the strategy

·  A concern about the financial implications associated with the strategy and whether consideration had been given to bringing services in-house to save on costs

·  The involvement of perpetrators and their victims in the development of the strategy and the importance of taking their views into account

·  Concerns that there wouldn’t be sufficient finance available to support all the actions arising from the strategy

·  If consideration had been given to looking at different initiatives used in Europe for addressing domestic abuse

·  A request for a Member’s Seminar in 12 months to provide an update on progress with the implementation of the Strategy. 

RESOLVED that:

(1) Subject to the recommendations set out in (3) below, the Coventry Domestic Abuse Strategy 2018-2023 be endorsed.

(2) The draft Coventry Abuse Strategy Action Plan 2018-2023 be noted.

(3) The following recommendations raised by members be reported back to the Coventry Community Safety Partnership Board:

a) That the importance of early intervention and the issues of substance abuse and economic abuse be included in the strategy

b) Officers be requested to engage with the Border Agency regarding the Domestic Abuse Strategy, in particular in relation to forced marriage and FGM

c) Consideration be given to the inclusion of more up to date data within the strategy

d) Consideration be given as to how the findings of the current Government consultation on domestic abuse will feed into the strategy

e) The strategy be updated to include that children should be heard and ‘valued’

f) Consideration to be given to data benchmarking to ensure that progress with the strategy can be monitored

g) The involvement of Faith Groups be built into the Strategy Action Plan

h) As the strategy evolves more account be taken of the views of perpetrators and the victims and survivors of domestic abuse

i) Officers be requested to investigate additional initiatives for addressing domestic abuse used in Europe

j) Consideration be given to the communication strategy, in particular to the use of different languages spoken in the city and to make better use of local radio stations for promoting the strategy

k) The Strategy to list the 30 organisations who attended the networking event to help in the development of the strategy.

(4) A briefing note be sent to Councillor J Mutton, Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources and the Chair, Councillor Brown, detailing the financial implications associated with the implementation of the strategy including consideration of the option of bringing services in-house to save on costs.

(5) A briefing note be sent to Members providing additional information on the index of multiple deprivation map of Coventry.

(6) Members to be invited to the launch event for the strategy to be held on 13^th June, 2017.

(7) Arrangements to be put in place for a Member’s Seminar to be held in 12 months on the Coventry Domestic Abuse Strategy.