Violence against women and girls action plan (2022-23)

The APCC delivered a VAWG Action plan across 2022-23. The action plan set out the actions and key deliverables that the APCC took forward, working with and through PCCs and their teams and with wider partners, to tackle violence against women and girls. 

Following 2022-23, the APCC continues to focus on VAWG through the APCC Victims’ Portfolio and wider cross-cutting portfolio work.  

Key highlights

The urgency of tackling VAWG:

• 32% of women have experienced harassment.
• 90% of girls have been sent explicit images.
• VAWG is not adequately tackled by current systems, requiring urgent reforms.

Strategic approach:

• Prevention – Public health approaches, education, and awareness-raising.
• Support – Quality victim services and interventions for perpetrators.
• Accountability – Holding police and justice agencies responsible for tackling VAWG effectively.

Outcomes

The Action Plan seeks to achieve the following outcomes:

• Deliver a system wide approach to tackling VAWG – working effectively with
  partners at a local and national level.
• Prevent VAWG from happening in the first place – by developing a public health approach to tackling VAWG including through education and awareness raising.

• Support PCCs to:
  • Commission quality victims’ services to ensure victims get the support
    they need.
    Commission effective interventions, diversionary and rehabilitative
    programmes for perpetrators to create lasting behavioural change.
• Hold police and criminal justice agencies to account for delivering an effective, supportive and timely criminal justice service for victims and offenders, driving improvements where needed.
• Build public confidence in policing, supporting women and girls to feel able to report VAWG, and putting women, girls and victims at the centre of decision making