Report of the Strategic Director – Neighbourhoods.

This report summarises recent and current work to address domestic violence and abuse, including implementation of the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and victim voice work. The report also updates on ongoing work to promote the safety of women and girls in the city.

The committee considered a report of the Strategic Director – Neighbourhoods which summarised recent and current work to address domestic violence and abuse, including implementation of the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and victim voice work, and provided an update on ongoing work to promote the safety of women and girls in the city.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• 75% of all offences recorded during 2022-23 were against women;
• Strong correlations between high volumes of domestic abuse incidents and areas of the city with the highest deprivation scores relating to income, employment, education and skills, and health and disability;
• The objectives and achievements of the Council’s Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy;
• Training and development work;
• The work of Early Help Hubs;
• Work undertaken with perpetrators which was commissioned in conjunction with GMCA from Talk Listen Change (TLC);
• Work being undertaken to support children and young people affected by domestic abuse;
• Support and services for victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM);
• Support and services for male victims of domestic abuse;
• Conduct of Domestic Homicide Reviews;
• The Women’s Night-time Safety Charter and Good Night Out Guide; and
• Current issues and challenges, such as demand for the Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) service.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included:

• Noting that not all buildings in the city’s parks were council-owned, ad querying whether these facilities would be expected to take part in the Safe Spaces initiative;
• How domestic violence affected LGBT and asylum seeker/refugee communities;
• The importance of talking to primary school children about healthy relationships;
• How staff were trained to be trauma-informed;
• Requesting that members also receive the quarterly Performance Bulletins;
• The high level of repeat offences;
• Noting that, whilst domestic violence can occur anywhere, it was more prevalent in deprived areas;
• What the Council could do in collaboration with housing providers and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to ensure perpetrators of domestic violence are removed from the home;
• Whether any preliminary findings were available from the workundertaken with the Independent Choices Greater Manchester Domestic Abuse Helpline to better understand the recent change in distribution of volumes of calls across the city;
• What advice the Council would give to victims of spiking;
• Whether housing providers were also implementing a Sanctuary Scheme and whether this was consistent across the city;
• How the Council could provide quick interventions to those at risk of domestic violence;
• Whether there were areas within parks that were specifically tailored to women and girls;
• How the Council held GMP to account on the time taken to deal with domestic violence cases;
• Whether members could refer individual cases to the Gender Based Violence Board;
• Suggesting that a representative of Greater Manchester Police be invited to attend when considering future reports on domestic violence;
• How the Community Safety team works with the Neighbourhood teams to improve feelings of safety for residents when out at night; and
• Whether trends were noticeable within Domestic Homicide Reviews and what lessons are learnt from these.

The Deputy Leader stated that there continued to be high levels of domestic abuse and that the effect of this on survivors, families and children was traumatic and highlighted the work being undertaken in the city. The Strategic Lead Officer for Community Safety highlighted key issues around domestic abuse in Manchester and the service provision. She noted that there had been a decrease in the number of high-risk incidents which she believed was as a result of early intervention work. It was sated that the work on safety of women and girls was broader than that on domestic abuse but was included within the report as it was fundamental to the societal change required to address domestic abuse.

Representatives from the Caribbean African Health Network and NESTAC attended the meeting to provide an overview of their organisations and the services they provide, which the committee welcomed.

In response to members’ queries, the Strategic Lead Officer for Community Safety explained that the Safe Spaces initiative was still in its early stages of development and engagement with the Libraries and Parks teams was underway. Further discussions would need to take place to identify appropriate premises to take part in the initiative and what would be required of staff to deliver this safely. It was confirmed that training would also be provided to the ‘Friends of’ groups.

The Domestic Abuse Reduction Manager advised that two Greater Manchester-based services had been commissioned to address domestic violence within the LGBTQI community. This included the Safe Accommodation project, which provided access to one-bedroom flats and wider outreach support for LGBTQI people, and an LGBT Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) provision. Manchester City Council was the highest referrer to both of these schemes within Greater Manchester.

The Domestic Abuse Reduction Manager acknowledged the need to promote healthy relationships to young girls as well as boys, as some figures around their behaviour was of concern. Work on addressing this issue in primary schools was being led by Healthy Schools and was included in the Council’s Domestic Abuse Strategy action plan. 

The committee was informed that the Council was committed to ensuring that staff and partners have access to trauma-informed training. All IDVA staff, domestic abuse providers and MARAC partners were trauma-informed trained.

In response to a request from the committee, it weas confirmed that the quarterly Performance Bulletins and Needs Assessments would be shared with members.

The Strategic Lead Officer for Community Safety shared members’ concerns over the high level of repeat offences of domestic violence and emphasised the importance of understanding the impact of early intervention work and this would continue to be monitored.

With regards to the powers available to the Council, housing providers and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to ensure perpetrators of domestic violence are removed from the family home, the Domestic Abuse Reduction Manager explained that there were measures in place to allow the police to remove a perpetrator from a property and Manchester had the highest number of these Orders secured within Greater Manchester. She further explained that the Domestic Abuse Act brought into force Domestic Abuse Protection Orders which GMP would be piloting from June 2024 and would provide more stringent measures to remove a perpetrator for longer and allow the imposition of monitor tags and curfews. The importance of early intervention work was reiterated to help victims remain in their home, community, and support network. Work was ongoing with the Homelessness team to increase access to the Sanctuary Scheme and other security measures.

There had been a significant increase in the number of people accessing the Sanctuary Scheme since 2021 and work was ongoing with housing providers to ensure a consistent approach with their offer. Further information on the approach of housing providers had been requested by officers.

It was confirmed that there were no preliminary findings available from the workundertaken with the Independent Choices Greater Manchester Domestic Abuse Helpline to better understand the recent change in distribution of volumes of calls across the city, but these would be shared once available.

The Strategic Lead Officer for Community Safety advised that work had been undertaken with partners to ensure an appropriate response to incidents of spiking and this would continue to be discussed.

In response to a query regarding possible quick interventions where there is a risk of domestic violence, the Strategic Lead Officer for Community Safety explained that this would be dependent on the individual circumstances.

The safety of women and girls in the city’s parks was a major focus for the Parks team and were represented on the Safety of Women and Girls Board,which drove forward work on domestic abuse, sexual harassment, and other forms of Violence against women and girls,to ensure that suitable activities were available in parks. The Strategic Lead Officer for Community Safety advised that there were specific sports and leisure activities commissioned for women and girls.

In response to a question around how GMP were held to account, the committee was advised that there were a number of systems in place such as the Domestic Abuse Partnership Board and a forum for partners to discuss performance and delivery on the Domestic Abuse Strategy action plan. The GM Gender Based Violence Board was also highlighted as an example of a forum to raise issues with the GM Deputy Mayor. The Domestic Abuse Reduction Manager provided assurances that the Council worked closely with GMP on an operational and strategic level.

Members were advised that the Gender Based Violence Board did not review individual cases but that they could email the Community Safety team if they had any specific concerns about cases.

The Community Safety Policy and Performance Manager endeavoured to inquire whether Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) received data on the time taken to deal with domestic violence cases.

Street safety was acknowledged as a focus area within the report and there was significant work being undertaken to improve this, although it was noted that there was limited resource within the Community Safety team, and this needed to be a cross-council piece of work. The Council also worked closely with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to ensure safety of residents using public transport and a number of different projects had been funded with officers looking at rolling out similar schemes to those in Oldham and Rochdale. A further report could be provided on this with a focus on women and girls.

In response to queries around Domestic Homicide Reviews, the Community Safety Policy and Performance Manager explained that each Review generated an action plan to be dealt with either by a single agency or the Partnership. These action plans were tracked to identify themes, such as unconscious bias and services making every effort to maintain engagement with people they were working with. These themes are then assessed strategically by a range of partners and agencies.

In closing the discussion, the Chair asked guests what they would like the Council to do to improve domestic violence service provisions across Manchester. Sandy Koujou, of the Caribbean African Health Network, expressed that she would like to see further help for the programmes already in operation and for the Council to promote the support available for victims and survivors. Saria Khalifa, of NESTAC, explained that she would like the Council to continue to encourage GMP to investigate incidents of domestic violence quickly and efficiently.

The Chair thanked guests for their attendance and their work in the community and thanked officers for their strategic work in championing victims and making Manchester safer.

Decision:

That the committee

1. notes the report;
2. requests that quarterly Performance Bulletins be shared with members;
3. looks forward to receiving a future report on the safety of women and girls, including the work and projects being undertaken to promote this across the city and how these are funded;
4. requests further information on the specific sports and leisure activities commissioned for women and girls and the suitable activities available for women and girls in individual parks;and
5. requests that enquiries are made with GMCA regarding data on the time taken for domestic violence incidents to be dealt with by GMP.