Agenda item

Lucy Westley from the Sunflower Centre gave the Panel responding to the key questions.

The main points of the discussion were as follows:-

The Centre is run for the victims of domestic abuse so she was answering the questions from the violent crime viewpoint only.

She considered that the whole issue of domestic violence was so vast that it could be considered as a separate Scrutiny Review.

Last year there were more than 12,000 reported incidents of domestic abuse in Northamptonshire, 4,997 of which were from the Northampton Borough area. In the first quarter of this year 49% of all of the centre referrals are from the Northampton Borough area. Whilst there are no statistics available locally yet on the impact of the service on repeat victimisation, national statistics provided by CAADA show that in 57% of cases there is no further abuse or violence after intervention.

The Sunflower Centre is an independent domestic violence advisory service. It is a very victim focussed service providing safety advice and support including signposting to housing, criminal and civil matters and support through court. We are strongly linked to the Multi agency risk assessment conferences providing the victim’s voice and wishes.

 Referrals come largely from the Police (approximately 60%). The service is hosted by Northamptonshire Police therefore all information regarding risk is all directly available to the Police on their systems.

The Centre does a large amount of multi-agency liaison work including with prisoner release, awareness training with other agencies, and education through schools, encouraging reporting and community involvement.

Housing is also an issue for the Centre; it does not have any accommodation itself, but has found in the last year that it is harder to get accommodation both through refuge and housing because of cuts to service. Lucy questioned why the emphasis was on moving the victim out of the family home when they should be looking to move the offender and where possible making the victim safer in their own home as this can be more cost effective. Lucy advised as refuge was cut the pressure on target hardening and civil orders will be greater and these are also facing pressure.

There are often cases involving complex needs such as mental health/ substance misuse where there are multi agency problems and it is difficult to agree who will take the lead. These can be the most difficult cases.

Being in employment may also be a barrier to getting assistance and the victim may not be able to obtain legal aid or to pay for refuge.

There has been an on-going pilot of a Specialist Domestic Abuse Court over the last 5 months regarding getting domestic violence cases into the court system. However, because of the amount of time that it takes to get a case to trial many victims withdraw because of pressures from the offender. Initial hearings progress quickly but follow up trials are a much longer timeframe.

There are a few people who are serial offenders and they move from victim to victim.

The Centre also does work on support for women whose partners are undertaking IDAP with the probation service providing information and reporting breaches.

Suggestions on how NBC can improve their services to victims of domestic abuse and support our service/victims are:-

·         A review of housing responses and consideration of perpetrator clauses, ongoing use of target hardening and civil orders.

·         Improved communication with our service and other Domestic abuse services

·         Consider funding for prevention as well as reaction.

·         Support the continuation of the Specialist Domestic Violence Court.

·         There is a need to be honest with clients about what can be done. Only realistic options need to be presented and these will differ for each person.

·         There is a need to be an understanding and patience that it may take a client some time before they are ready to take certain steps, such as leaving the offender.

There are certain factors that do contribute to the likelihood of violence being committed and in many cases alcohol places a contributory factor. This is not just a case of people drinking in pubs but increasingly frequently drinking at home or drinking at home before going into town.

The work of Operation Challenge scheme had a positive impact on domestic incidents- in particular, the pilot undertaken in the town centre in Northampton.

Countywide approximately 25-40% of cases are repeat, in that they involve the same perpetrator and victim.

In certain parts of the County, such as Corby and Kettering, there are prevention programmes being carried outfor perpetrators of domestic abuse .These are undertaking more in depth behaviour analysis, and the results are being examined with a view to rolling that programme out to other parts of the County.

The Community Safety Partnership will also be piloting working with Women’s Aid on lower level intervention. This is due to start in the next month.

Funding for the Centre comes from a number of different sources and it was emphasised that should there be cuts in funding then there would be a reduction in the amount of work the centre could carry out.

In response to a question regarding staff training in general it was felt that the Council staff were generally very good and supportive, but that there was always room for more awareness. It was confirmed that there will soon be some training undertaken for all Community Safety Partnership members who work on the frontline.

It was also suggested that there should be some awareness training made available for Councillors. This has already been offered and undertaken in Corby and Kettering.

There have been changes that have been beneficial, for example expanding the definition of domestic abused to include Coercive control. The age range is also being widened to include 16-18 year olds. Also in some cases restraining orders are attached to certain offences which mean that these apply when an offender is released and a victim does not then have to go through an application process.

The Panel thanked Lucy Westley for her very informative presentation.