To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors DG Harlow and P Rone.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

None.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2019.

Resolved:       That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Friday 8 March 2019.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

Please see https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/getinvolved for information on how to submit a question.

There were no questions from members of the public.

To receive questions from councillors.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Friday 8 March 2019.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

There were no questions from councillors.

To approve the multi-agency Domestic Abuse Strategy for Herefordshire 2019-2022 and governance arrangements for implementation of the strategy.

The cabinet member children and families introduced the report, highlighting that:

·        A great deal of hard work had gone into the production of the new strategy, including work with many partner organisations;

·        The impact of domestic abuse on victims and families was profound and far reaching, with significant wider impact on society;

·        Domestic abuse was a complex issue that impacted people from all communities and at all stages of life, often experienced for many years without being visible;

·        Due to under-reporting the full picture was not known, it was difficult to extrapolate from the data available and an increase in reported incidents would be a measure of success for the new strategy;

·        Domestic abuse was predominantly but not exclusively perpetrated by men against women, it was one of the toxic trio of common denominators in family breakdown and children coming into care, alongside mental ill health and substance misuse;

·        The strategy focused on four priorities under the shared vision – prevention, provision of service, partnership working and pursuing perpetrators;

·        The strategy had been developed in partnership with many agencies and relied on ongoing commitment from all partners to achieve its objectives;

·        The strategy had a clear statement of focused aim, action and output with emphasis on shared understanding, timely and effective support for anyone who has experienced domestic abuse and a holistic approach to the family including, where appropriate and evidenced, working with the perpetrator to bring about change;

·        The Community Safety Partnership (CSP) would be responsible for strategic delivery and leadership while the multi-agency Domestic Abuse Delivery Group (DADG) would produce annual action plans to implement the strategy;

·        The shared vision was that communities and individuals would reject domestic abuse as increasingly it was recognised, healthy relationships were fostered and sustained and effective help was sought and provided early.

The leader highlighted the powerful shared vision of the strategy that “domestic abuse is unacceptable to people and communities in Herefordshire” and challenged all those taking forward the strategy to make that vision more prevalent in all partner organisations and relevant literature.

In discussion of the report, cabinet members noted that:

·        appendix 2 to the report set out the learning from the previous strategy, some excellent work had been completed such as the provision of a refuge with self-contained units, partially completed actions had been rolled forward;

·        a support service for men experiencing domestic abuse was provided by West Mercia Women’s Aid through their Helpline. There was no local refuge for men but assistance with housing was available though the Housing Solutions Team and specialist refuge accommodation was available in the wider region;

·        men could be reluctant to seek support from a service provided by a women’s aid group but other organisations were encouraged to refer on cases with an explanation of the service offered, the more cases that came forward the better the needs of male victims could be understood;

·        there were various groups and populations with specific vulnerabilities and which were more hidden, an aim of the new  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.