Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy consultation

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Consultation has concluded

Overview

We are currently consulting on our new Domestic Abuse (DA) and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2021-2024.

We have developed the draft strategy and action plan with Barnet residents, who have told us about their own personal experiences of domestic abuse and VAWG, and with partners from across the borough who support victims and survivors.

  • Domestic Abuse (DA) is defined by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 as behaviour that includes: physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour economic abuse, and psychological, emotional or other abuse.
  • Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) is

Overview

We are currently consulting on our new Domestic Abuse (DA) and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2021-2024.

We have developed the draft strategy and action plan with Barnet residents, who have told us about their own personal experiences of domestic abuse and VAWG, and with partners from across the borough who support victims and survivors.

  • Domestic Abuse (DA) is defined by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 as behaviour that includes: physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour economic abuse, and psychological, emotional or other abuse.
  • Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) is the umbrella term used to describe a range of violent and/or abusive acts and behaviours against women, including: domestic abuse (including coercive control); rape and sexual violence; female genital mutilation; forced marriage; crimes in the name of 'honour'; sexual harassment; stalking; trafficking; and prostitution/sexual exploitation.

The draft Strategy sets out our partnership commitment to increase awareness and reduce the prevalence of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls; address the barriers to seeking help; improve the support and response for victims and survivors in Barnet; and to hold perpetrators to account. Our approach to the strategy is to ensure everyone benefits, including men, boys, transgender, and non-binary people.

To achieve the aims of the strategy, we need to make tackling domestic abuse and violence against women and girls everybody’s business, from practitioners at statutory, community and voluntary levels, to law enforcement, communities and friends and family, we all need to play our part. That’s why we want to hear your views.

The consultation is open to all our residents, as well as people who visit or work in the borough. You do not have to have personally experienced violence or abuse to take part in the consultation. We also welcome feedback from organisations, community groups and local businesses to help us make Domestic Abuse and VAWG everyone’s business.

To find out more about our strategy and our ambitions for the borough please read our summary consultation document, action plan, and the full strategy here.


How to have your say

Please take the time to read the consultation document and action plan then complete our online questionnaire.

If you have any queries or would like to request a paper version of the questionnaire or another format of the consultation, or if you would like someone to help you to complete the questionnaire, please email: DAVAWGConsultations@Barnet.gov.uk or call 07548 719384.

We want to ensure that our strategy is focused on the needs of the borough and we look forward to hearing everyone’s feedback to help shape the final strategy and action plan. The findings from the consultation will contribute to the final recommendations.


How to get support if you are experiencing domestic abuse

For more information and how to access support, please visit Barnet Council's website. If you need support or are worried about someone, please call 999 in an emergency.



Consultation has concluded

  • We asked, you said, we did

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    We asked

    We asked for your views on our draft Domestic Abuse (DA) and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2022-2025, which sets out the vision, objectives and ambitions for the borough.


    You said

    We received 28 responses to the online questionnaire. You told us:

    • three quarters of respondents (76%) agreed with the overarching vision for the borough
    • we must ensure the VAWG focus is maintained in the title to highlight Women and Girl’s experiences, whilst acknowledging that anyone can experience DA/VAWG throughout the strategy
    • just over four fifths of respondents (82%) agreed with the partnership objectives
    • 27 of the 28 respondents answered the question about personal experiences of DA and/or VAWG. Only 9 respondents hadn’t experienced any DA or VAWG personally
    • 80% of the respondents who had personal experience, said they didn’t access help and cited the following reasons: I didn’t know where to get help; I didn’t feel ready to get help; I didn’t know I was experiencing DA or VAWG.
    • respondents made suggestions of what would help them feel safer from VAWG in Barnet during the night. The most common responses were physical actions such as better lighting, CCTV and cutting back shrubs (six comments) and more visible police (five comments).

    You can read the full consultation findings in the consultation report.

    We did

    In response to the feedback, we set out recommendations for amendments to the strategy and action plan.

    The recommendations included amending the vision to “Our vision is for all residents of Barnet, especially women and girls, to live free of domestic abuse and all forms of VAWG. Working with our partners, we will raise awareness and work to prevent violence in the home, places of learning and employment, and in the community. The Partnership has zero tolerance for abuse and violence, perpetrators will be held to account and victims and survivors will be able to access the support and help they need.”

    The recommendations were approved by the Safer Communities Partnership Board on 21 January 2022.

    The DA and VAWG Strategy 2022-25 was finalised and launched on 8 March 2022 at StoneX Stadium with all the VAWG partners, survivors and SCPB members in the presence of the Mayor of Barnet.

    The strategy can be found here