Home Secretary launches new Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan
Joint APCC Victims Leads Donna Jones and Sophie Linden respond to the launch of the Home Secretary's Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan.
“We welcome the Government’s Domestic Abuse Action Plan as an important step forward in tackling this abhorrent crime. Domestic abuse causes devastation throughout our communities, destroying lives and causing high levels of harm to victims, their children and wider society. It is time to say enough is enough and to adopt a whole system approach to preventing DA from happening in the first place.
“PCCs already commission a wide range of specialist support services for victims of DA and we welcome the increased investment in this, enabling us to offer more support to more victims. PCCs have also been at the forefront of commissioning behaviour change programmes for perpetrators of DA. So it is encouraging to see the shift in focus taking the onus off victims and instead taking stronger action against perpetrators. The new investment of £75m to fund perpetrator programmes will enable PCCs to build on the positive work that they have taken forward at a local level and scale it up more widely.
“The focus on prevention is critical. It is only by working closely with schools, youth services and health professionals that we will be able to make the step change needed to break the cycle of DA in our society. PCCs are already working closely with local education and health partners to take this forward locally, including supporting healthy relationships programmes in schools.
“It is also vital that this plan aligns with the wider work of partners in this area, including wider work being taken forward to end violence against women and girls. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that victims are put at the heart of the system and later this week we will be publishing our APCC Violence Against Women and Girls Action Plan which focuses on how we can deliver a system wide approach to tackling and preventing VAWG, support PCCs to deliver quality services, hold police and criminal justice services to account and build public confidence in policing.”