Violence Against Women and Girls

Overview

Violence Against Women and Girls is a serious problem in today’s society which we cannot tolerate. The impact can be devastating, long lasting and in some instances, fatal for women and children, impacting entire families and communities. The Chief Constable and the Commissioner have made a commitment to work in partnership to tackle violence against women and girls across the South Wales Police area. This commitment includes increasing victim confidence to report violence against them, to reduce repeat victimisation and to generate greater understanding of the need to take positive action when responding to this crime.

Violence against women includes a wide range of areas including domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, female genital mutilation, trafficking, and so called “honour” based violence. The stark reality is that women are more likely to be victims of domestic abuse than men, which contrasts with all other types of violent crime when men are more likely to be victims. During 2019/20 there were 35,687 reported incidents of domestic abuse in South Wales. Of these, 23,443 incidents had a female victim, and of these incidents, 13,063 were recorded as crimes.

With Partners and the Chief Constable, we have recently developed the Tackling Violence Against Women & Girls: a Joint Strategy 2019-2024

VAWG is highlighted as a priority in the South Wales Police & Crime Commissioner’s Annual Report. We focus on 4 main areas:

• Enhanced Collaboration
• Prevention & Early Intervention
• Safeguarding
• Perpetrators

Annual Report

We have seen success through funding Independent Domestic/Sexual Violence Advocates, that are now in post across South Wales, and the Ministry of Justice announced an additional £12 million to fund these services from April 1^st 2021 to 31^st March 2023. Our funding also works with many organisations to support victims and survivors of Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV).

COVID Update

• A review of Covid-19 impact on Services (South Wales) has been produced this has informed the needs assessment for the Ministry of Justice and identified areas where further work is required should another pandemic occur.  This is a live document and is currently being updated in order to ascertain the latest developments.

DRIVE

Drive works with high-harm perpetrators to reduce abuse and increase victim/survivor safety. It has been developed as part of a partnership between Respect, SafeLives, and Social Finance in collaboration with MOPAC, Police & Crime Commissioners, local authorities, and service providers Drive challenges the central narrative surrounding domestic abuse, asking "why doesn't he stop" instead of "why doesn't she leave"

During 2020-21 the Commissioner agreed to expand delivery across all 7 local authority areas in South Wales, supported by a successful funding application to the Home Office.

DRIVE continues to realise significant benefits, including victims reporting increased feelings of safety, coupled with a reduction in repeat offending by perpetrators, primarily due to the ability of agencies to work together in both supportive and disruption interventions.

Annual figures from each region (April 2022-March 2023)

Our team

Paula Hardy – Strategic Lead

Megan Stevens – Senior Policy Officer

Hannah Evans-Price – Policy Officer

Naomi Evans - Policy Officer

Natasha Hankey - Project and Policy Support Officer

Felicity Rushton - Project and Policy Support Officer

With Partners and the Chief Constable, we have developed the Tackling Violence Against Women & Girls: a Joint Strategy 2019-2024