Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) attached

This report provides a response to questions raised at the Scrutiny Committee meeting in September 2019 about the review of domestic violence and abuse funding and commissioning arrangements.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods), which provided a response to questions raised at the Scrutiny Committee meeting in September 2019 about the review of domestic violence and abuse funding and commissioning arrangements.

The main points and themes in the report, included:-

·                The re-tendering and re-commissioning of domestic violence and abuse accommodation services had been progressed satisfactorily, with contracts being awarded to the successful bidders and mobilisation arrangements being implemented, in advance of commencement in April 2020;

·                Negotiations were ongoing with the Director of Population, Health and Wellbeing regarding allocation of contributory funding to enable further continuation of the MiDASS service;

·                Confirmation was awaiting of the CSP grant that provided for a range of other services and initiatives such as behaviour change programmes, counselling for children affected by DV&A and intervention for those affected by child to parent violence;

·                The review team had noted Members’ comments and reflected them in the drafting of the scope and terms of reference of the review of all Domestic Violence and Abuse services, which would be approved at the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy Group;

·                Details were provided of intended spend on DV&A services whilst the funding and commissioning review was completed and its recommendations finalised; and

·                Once the review was completed, the findings and recommendations, and the updated Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy, would be submitted to the Strategy Group for endorsement and to the CSP Board for final ratification and, in the case of the Strategy, approval to launch and publish.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees’ discussions were:-

·                Had the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy Group approved the draft terms of reference and timescale for the review;

·                There was a need to ensure work with other GM local authorities continued to take place and grow to aid in reciprocal arrangements;

·                Assurance was sought that there would be a consistent level of service provided across the organisations that were receiving funding;

·                Was it recognised that there was reduction in the number of domestic violence incidents occurring;

·                It was positive to see the prominence the Council was giving to supporting those who had been subject to domestic abuse;

·                It was reiterated that the review, whilst being cognisant of budgetary pressures, should not be restricted to the current financial envelope; and

·                In terms of funding, where did the CSP grant come, when would confirmation of receipt of this be received and connected to this, if the CSP grant was not received and/or reduced, what would be the Council’s alternative plan for delivering these services.

The Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) confirmed that the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy Group had met on the 23 January 2020 and approved the draft terms of reference and timescale for the review.  It was reported that GM Strategy Group existed whose purpose was to look at what services needed to be commissioned and supported at a GM level and the Council was represented on this Group.

The Committee was advised that as part of the review, service users and those with lived experiences would be consulted to ensure the provision of services recently recommissioned met the needs of victims.  It was also reported that there had been an increase in the reporting of domestic abuse incidents.  This did not necessarily mean that there had been an increase in the number of incidents occurring, but could reflect that more victims were having the confidence to report incidents and it was hoped that as part of the review, an outcome would be the reduction in the number of statutory service interventions and an increase in the number of early interventions to prevent victims coming into crisis accommodation.

The Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) advised that the Council that it was hoping to receive notification of the CSP grant funding by the end of February 2020 and it had a high level of confidence that it would receive the funding required to continue to deliver domestic violence and abuse services.  She acknowledged that if the grant was reduced, then the Council would have to look at mainstream funding to continue to deliver services.

The Chair proposed that the Council wrote to the Mayor of Greater Manchester setting out its concern around the unreasonable wait in receiving notification of CSP funding and also its concern in relation to the impact in the ability to deliver services should there be a reduction in this grant funding.

Decisions

The Committee:-

(1)     Notes the report; and

(2)     Requests that the Chair writes to the Mayor of Greater Manchester setting out our concern around the unreasonable wait in receiving notification of CSP funding, and that the Committee would not want to see any elements of this budget reduced, and also setting out its concern in relation to the impact in the ability to deliver domestic violence and abuse services should there be a reduction in this grant funding;

(3)     Recommends that should the budget provision from the GMCA reduce, that this would be reported to the Committee ;

(4)     Recommends that in event that the budget provision from the GMCA reduces the Council should increase its spend to make up the shortfall; and

(5)     Reiterated the previous recommendation that whilst the Committee is cognisant of the budgetary pressures of the Council, the DV&A review should not be constrained to the current spending envelope.