Violence against women and girls

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners (PFCCs), and mayoral authorities play a central role in delivering the national strategy on violence against women and girls (VAWG), as well as in shaping policy and  strong governance structures.

Supporting victims

The APCC supports PCCs and their offices (OPCCs) by providing briefings, guidance documents, toolkits, reports, responses to legislative changes, workshops and a monthly Victims’ Working Group meeting.

We are delivering work across a number of areas including:  

• Funding – working closely with policing partners to develop funding bids
• Policy development – engaging the government on new and developing policy, including the development of the VAWG Strategy
• Domestic abuse and stalking perpetrators – working with partners to examine the evidence base behind interventions and understand the evaluative work undertaken  
• Stalking  – engaging with the key partners and the sector to respond to the super-complaint into the police response to stalking
• Governance – mapping local governance structures and developing tools to support PCCs in holding their chief constables and partners to account
• Online safety – understanding the challenge of emerging threats, developing our understanding of the key priorities and working to identify how PCCs are responding to critical issues around online harms and safety, and how we can support them 
• Domestic homicide reviews – anticipating revised statutory guidance and working collaboratively with partners to ensure sector readiness 

Response to super-complaints 

A super-complaint is a complaint made by a designated body that ‘a feature, or combination of features, of policing in England and Wales by one or more than one police force is, or appears to be, significantly harming the interests of the public.’ (Section 29A, Police Reform Act 2002). 

PCCs are subject to recommendations arising from super-complaints. The APCC has responded to a number of super-complaints on behalf of PCCs.  

Portfolio leads