The Together We Can End Violence Against Women And Girls Strategy consultation sets out action Government has taken to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls. It looks at what more can be done to challenge the attitudes that may uphold it in order to help women and girls feel safer.
The South West will host a conference on 23rd April for key stakeholders from the voluntary sector, statutory agencies and partnerships, as well as survivors of violence. On the back of the conference, a Help us to Keep Women Safe roadshow bus will tour the South West from 23-25 April giving people across the region the change to engage with the consultation. It will visit venues in Bristol, Swindon, Devon and Dorset.
David Warren, Criminal Justice Manager at Government Office for the South West, whose team is coordinating the stakeholder event and roadshow in the South West, said:
"Whilst the South West is one of the safest parts of the country for women, it still has a strong network of voluntary and statutory services readily available to support victims and women at risk."
The consultation will include public and stakeholder events in 40 towns and cities across England over the next nine weeks. Today, the Home Secretary outlined plans to consult the public and key stakeholders on a wide range of issues including:
- Tackling persistent perpetrators including a review into what additional powers police and courts may need to control violent perpetrators;
- Helping women feel safer when they travel including a new website, enabling the public to report where they feel safe or unsafe and why; and the expansion of the Park Mark safer car parks scheme;
- A fact-finding review into the increasing sexualisation of teenage girls; and
- We are establishing a new advisory group with a specific focus on how schools can prevent violence against women.
Today's proposals build on a programme of action that Government has delivered to tackle sexual violence through unprecedented investment and policies that transform the way the Criminal Justice System deals with domestic and sexual violence where the key themes being consulted on are:
- How do we prevent violence against women from happening in the first place?;
- How do we build confidence in the criminal justice system to improve reporting?; and
- How do we make sure that men who have attacked or abused already don't continue to do so?
In the South West there is a strong network of services to support victims and women at risk including:
- sexual assault referral centres in Plymouth, Exeter, Swindon, Bristol and Gloucester with new ones opening later in the year in Cornwall and Dorset;
- 18 Special Domestic Violence Courts covering each part of the region. These courts have conviction rates of over 75% compared to 38% pre to their introduction;
- 22 multi agency Risk Assessment Conferences managing serious cases of domestic violence;
- A Domestic Violence Coordinator in every local government area; and
- Many specialist voluntary sector support agencies for victims and survivors, including Women's Aid and Rape Crisis Centres, Twelves Company and Somerset Change.
