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PO Box 20, Port Talbot, SA13 1AA
Tel: 01639 894864 /
898881 Fax: 01639 882640
Email:
porttalbotwomensaid@btconnect.com Web: www.ptwa.org.uk
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Committee Clerk
Communities, Equality and Local
Government Committee
National Assembly for
Wales
Cardiff Bay, CF99 1NA
CELG.Committee@wales.gov.uk
GBV
67
Communities,
Equality and Local Government Committee
Gender-based
Violence, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Bill : Stage
1
Response
from: Port Talbot and Afan Women’s Aid
Submission to
the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee regarding
the ‘Gender-based Violence, Domestic Abuse and Sexual
Violence (Wales) Bill’
ABOUT
US
Port Talbot and Afan
Women’s Aid has been working in Port Talbot and surrounding
areas, with women and children impacted by domestic abuse, since
1979.
The PTAWA mission is to empower
women and children impacted by Domestic Abuse to move from crisis
to safety and independence. We deliver professional, dynamic
and innovative services, working collaboratively within our
community to break the Domestic Abuse cycle.
PTAWA works to the UN definition, which states that
violence against women is ‘violence that is directed
at a woman because she is a woman or that affects women
disproportionately’.
The
fundamental belief is that Violence against women
is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality and
constitutes a breach of women’s fundamental human
rights.
The organisation recognises that
domestic abuse can take many different forms –whether
physical, psychological, financial, emotional, or a combination of
them all – and therefore tailors the support that it provides
to meet the individual need of each woman and child in its
care. Domestic abuse is not just a physical
crime. It is a mental roller-coaster causing long-term
emotional effects. Listed below are some of our services:
:
- PTAWA provides emergency refuge
accommodation in a lovely communal home within the heart of Port
Talbot. At any one time up to six women and their children
can find a safe house here.
- In January 2010, PTAWA also
opened a new complex of self-contained flats, also in the Port
Talbot area, known as the ‘Move-on’. This
provides lightly supported housing to five women and their families
whilst they continue on the road to completely rebuild their lives
following domestic abuse.
- Practical and emotional support
is provided to families affected by domestic abuse, who choose to
remain at home or in a community setting, through an
‘Outreach and Community’ service.
The aim of the
service is to help those women with special and complex needs,
specific to their domestic abuse situation, to maintain and sustain
their home through making informed choices about their
accommodation needs and ensuring their safety. Therefore, PTAWA
provides a wide range of support and advice on social and health
care, personal financial management, housing, education,
safeguarding and legal issues, and employment. We have many
excellent relationships with local providers of these
services.
- Huge emphasis is placed upon the
re-building of women’s lives. Each woman has a
personalised support plan which identifies her individual needs,
agrees and enables steps to regain lost self-confidence and live
independently. The emphasis is upon empowerment through additional
services such as Counselling and the Freedom Programme.
- The organisation also places
great emphasis upon preventive work in the community, schools and
youth clubs, to challenge and change tolerance and attitudes so
that the incidence of Domestic Abuse is actually reduced. We
also provide awareness training to professionals working in many
areas including education, health and social services.
- PTAWA is proud of our range of
services for children and young people specifically referred to
us. These include tea-time clubs in different local schools,
a community-based mother and toddler group, a music club for
teenagers, a wide range of activities and outings, positive
relationship work with both boys and girls, and 1:1 support
sessions as needed.
- Our innovative and unique Social
Enterprise project ‘Beautiful on a Budget’ provides a
small source of income for PTAWA at the same time as
providing local women, including service users, to develop and
enhance their skills and experience by meeting together to sort,
embellish and brighten up donated clothing for sale on-line and
through special events.
-
PTAWA is proud to
work in partnership with other providers in the area through
‘No 17’, the One Stop Shop for Domestic Abuse Services
in Neath, as well as from our own premises in Port
Talbot.
-
In addition to 6
Trustees, PTAWA has a team of over ten other volunteers who are
willing to give their time and energy to enhance the services
provided. We are extremely grateful to all of them for their
generosity and willingness to share skills and
experience.
Although a member of the
umbrella organisation, Welsh Women’s Aid, PTAWA is an
independent registered charity and company limited by
guarantee. It is responsible for the maintenance of all of
its own income, whether from statutory or charitable bodies, or
from donations. Current funders include Welsh Government,
Neath Port Talbot Council, Big Lottery Fund, Children in
Need, Lloyds TSB Foundation, Community Foundation in Wales,
Coalfields Regeneration Trust, and European Regional Development
Fund administered through Collaborative Communities.
Port Talbot and the
Afan Valley are recognised on social indices as deprived areas of
South Wales, with a very low average income per family as well as
an unusually high incidence of Domestic Abuse. Here are a few
recent statistics:
-
PTAWA provides
service for an average of 30 women and their children every month,
through refuge, crisis and on-going support in the community.
Ages range from 16 to over 55. Although women come from all
walks of life, many have highly complex needs.
-
Every year, PTAWA
provides crisis and longer term accommodation to around 80 women
and their children.
-
PTAWA specialist
children’s services provide bespoke support for over 45
children every quarter and see at least 5000 children for
preventative work every year. There is often a waiting
list.
PTAWA suggestions
and comments regarding the Bill are provided on the following
pages, and can be summarised as follows:
PTAWA calls on
the Welsh Governement to :
Reconsider
wording of the Bill to return to ‘Violence Against
Women’ instead of ‘Gender-based Violence, Domestic
Abuse and Sexual Violencein line with
the United Nations ‘Handbook for Legislation on Violence
Against Women’. (Although apparently a small change, PTAWA
would also encourage the order of ‘he or she’ or
‘him or her’ used within the Bill when referring to
victims of the various types of violence and abuse, to be reversed
to reflect the fact that women will be the highest proportion
affected.)
Appoint an
Independent Commissioner on Ending VAW, supported by
a Commission to enable the Commissioner to carry out her/his
functions. The Commission should include administrative staff as
well as advisers and researchers with expertise in all forms of
VAW. The functions of the Commissioner should be along the same
lines of the proposed functions of the Adviser, taking into account
our additions and recommendations below, and with the added
functions of holding the Welsh Government to account.
Ensure that a
whole school approach is included in any guidance under section 12
of the Bill, alongside any
additions to the Welsh curriculum and that this guidance is
rigorously implemented and enforced to ensure compliance within
100% of schools across Wales.
Amend the Bill
to include at the minimum a duty on employers in Wales
to
develop a workplace policy specific to domestic abuse and violence
against women.
Back up the
Bill with considerably increased fundingfor resources
to meet increased demand, to ensure that the considerable
expertise of the specialist violence against women sector is
protected and strengthened further
PTAWA reasons,
including information provided by Welsh Women’s Aid,
our umbrella body, are included in the pages which
follow.
1
General
principles and purpose of the Bill: Removal of ‘Violence
Against Women’
1.1
The original title of this legislation proposed within the white
paper consultation and other written documentation leading up to
the introduction of the GBV Bill on July 1st, was the
‘Ending Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual
Violence (Wales) Bill’. Originally PTAWA was concerned by
fact that this title listed ‘Domestic Abuse’ and
‘Sexual Violence’ separately to ‘Violence Against
Women’, as these two phenomena are included within the
internationally accepted framework of the forms of ‘Violence
Against Women’ along with other forms of violence and abuse
which disproportionately affect women such as female genital
mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, crimes committed in the name of
‘honor’, human slavery, stalking and
harassment.
1.2
The current internationally accepted definition of ‘Violence
Against Women’ used by organisations including the United
Nations, World Health Organisation, Crown Prosecution Service, UK
Government and international governments around the world
is:
’Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is
likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering
to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary
deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private
life."
This definition is particularly significant as it firmly places
‘Violence Against Women’ as a violation of
women’s human rights.
1.3
With the loss of the term ‘Violence Against Women’ from
the title and internal wording of the Bill, replaced by the
gender-free umbrella term ‘Gender-based Violence’ (of
which ‘Violence Against Women’ is one type we have
effectively lost this framework of understanding that is attached
to the term as an internationally recognised shorthand for the most
pervasive form of gender-based violence as a particular and
significant phenomena. PTAWA is concerned that by moving to the
term ‘Gender-based Violence’ the less common or well
understood forms of ‘Violence Against Women’ such as
FGM and stalking will lose priority and fail to be considered
within the wider context of abuse in which they sit. This could
also inadvertently impact on public understanding of these types of
abuse and the work undertaken around the Bill by local authorities
and other statutory agencies. This framework of understanding
around Violence Against Women is particularly imperative in regards
to the local service needs assessments which local authorities will
be obliged to undertake which will inform suitable and
proportionate commissioning of services for women and
children.
1.4
The Welsh Government have stated that this change in wording was
taken for unspecified legal reasons in order to ensure the Bill was
not gendered and able to cover all victims, and the fact that women
suffer disproportionately from these types of violence is still
made strongly throughout the Bill’s supporting documentation
within the Explanatory Memorandum and draft guidance. PTAWA remain
concerned by this shift in terminology away from the
internationally accepted standard as recognition of Violence
Against Women will be lost through the change in
terminology.
1.5
Although PTAWA can appreciate the reasoning behind the Welsh
Government’s decision, we strongly disagree with the legal
advice in this area and would offer evidence in regards to the
international examples of gender specific wording in legislation in
use in India (Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act,
2005), and Spain (Criminalization of Violence Against Women Law
(2007) of Costa Rica).
1.6
The CPS have offered the following justification for their
longstanding ‘Violence Against Women and Girls Crime
Report’ issued annually:
‘In recognising these forms of violence against women and
girls, the CPS does not neglect abuse directed towards men or
perpetrated by women. Male victims will receive the same access to
protection and legal redress and the gender of the perpetrator does
not make any difference to the CPS approach to bringing offenders
to justice.’
1.7
Along with other body’s such as the CPS, PTAWA also believes
that the term ‘Violence Against Women’ does not exclude
men and boys as it refers to a crime type rather than a particular
class of victim. There is an inherent acknowledgment that they can
also be victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence and other crime
types, but that ‘Violence Against Women’ is a specific
crime type separate and encompassing of these individual crimes for
which women’s suffering is disproportionate.
As women and girls are the overwhelming majority of victims of
these types of violence and abuse, and 95% of perpetrators being
men,
the benefit of retaining this term within the Bill far outweighs
any initial confusion that may be caused in regards to
coverage.
2
General
principles and purpose of the Bill: definitions of
‘abuse’ and ‘domestic abuse’
2.1
PTAWA believes that the definitions used in this Bill are extremely
important to ensure a targeted and consistent approach to
addressing its aims. Currently there are a number of definitions of
‘domestic abuse’ in use across Welsh Government
including within the
‘Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act’
(2014),
the
‘Housing (Wales) Act’
(2014),
‘The Right to Be Safe Strategy’,
‘10’000 Safer Lives’,
and within various draft documents such as the
‘Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings) (Amendment) (Wales)
Order’
(2014).
For the Bill to achieve its purpose of improving prevention,
protection and support for victims of these crime types, it must
provide a definitive cross-portfolio definition which adequately
communicates this distinct type of abuse.
2.2
‘Abuse’ - Although ‘psychological’ abuse is
included, the definition used within the Bill does not explicitly
state the sector’s recognised definition of ‘coercive
control’. The use of the term ‘coercive control’
is particularly important as it describes the particular pattern of
controlling behaviour that this covers, including emotional,
financial and other psychological abuse. The term ‘coercive
control’ is currently a feature of the Home Office definition
of ‘domestic abuse’ which is widely used across the
sector. This Home Office definition may also be formalised into UK
legislation with the recent announcement of a consultation on this
issue.
2.3
‘Domestic Abuse’ – This definition is very broad
and does not specifically include ‘coercive control’,
or mention of a specific age range of 16 years or over, which are
both features of the current Home Office definition. Welsh
Government have given assurances to WWA that the omission of an age
range is due to the intention of the definition to include all
regardless of age, which is welcomed so long as this also continued
through into practice when the Bill is implemented. This is
particularly important as there is evidence of significant
perpetration of domestic abuse amongst teenage intimate partner
relationships as evidence has found that many young people view
violence as a normal part of intimate relationships.
However, as the definition is so broad it also includes abuse
between all relatives and family members, which PTAWA is concerned
will conflate traditional definitions of intimate partner
‘domestic abuse’ with other separate and distinct abuse
such as PoVA and child protection.
Coercive control
must be included as its one of the major forms of abuse we see, if
it’s not clearly highlighted our concern is women will go
back to thinking that “it’s not really abuse”.
– Newport
Women’s Aid
1
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
This widening
of the Bill’s remit to all abuse has already been a feature
of some discussions involving the CELG Committee and the Minister.
PTAWA agree that it is indeed imperative that all victims of
domestic abuse and violence against women are helped and supported
appropriately at all times, but it is vital for the focus of this
Bill to remain specifically on addressing the disproportionate
suffering of women from domestic abuse and other forms of Violence
Against Women, rather than looking to include all wider forms of
violence and abuse which are currently catered for in other laws
and initiatives.
2.5
PTAWA calls on
the Welsh Government to ensure the definitions for domestic abuse
used within the Bill are specific enough to enable targeted action
on the specific issues and concerns regarding Domestic Abuse and
Violence Against Women. PTAWA would recommend amending the
definition of ‘abuse’ on the face of the Bill (section
21.1) to include specific mention of ‘coercive control’
to align with other UK policy and sector practice. PTAWA also calls
on the Welsh Government to amend the definition of ‘domestic
abuse’ within the Bill to ensure the remit of the Bill is not
widened into other forms of abuse.
3
General
principles and purpose of the Bill: role of the
Advisor
3.1
PTAWA would
strongly suggest that the proposed Advisor role needs to be
independent of government and sufficiently resourced in order to
hold parties to account and provide strong leadership on Violence
Against Women. Partnership with the expert Violence Against Women
third sector is vital for this to be effective. Wales has been
noted at European and UK conferences as leading the way in the
field of VAW; this has been due to close partnership working
between the Welsh Government and specialists groups such as those
represented by the Wales Violence against Women Action Group.
The bold step of proposing gender-specific legislation to
tackle the forms of violence that women face because they are women
was teken. This approach must continue for Wales to fully to
achieve its aspirations in this area.
3.2
Similar Welsh
models include the proposed Future Generations Commissioner for
Wales, the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales and the
Children’s Commissioner for Wales – particularly if the
Welsh Government wants VAW to be seen as a comparable priority to
child protection, as originally proposed.
3.3
There are also
a significant number of international comparisons that provide
useful models for how this could work in practice
including:
·
The
State Observatory on Violence Against Women in Spain;
·
The
Special Inter-Institutional Commission for Monitoring the
Implementation of the Law against Domestic Violence in
Honduras;The
Inter-Agency Council on Violence against Women and their Children
in the Philippines;
and
·
The
National Observatory on Violence Against Women in Denmark.
7
General
principles and purpose of the Bill: omission of education and
prevention
7.1
WWA has consulted with member groups across Wales, including PTAWA,
colleagues working across the specialist violence against women
sector in Wales and the UK, and relevant research literature to
develop a number of recommendations around approaching healthy
relationship education and domestic abuse in schools, which is seen
by the sector and experts as vital to ensuring real change in
social attitudes in order to prevent Violence Against
Women.
7.2
Our
primary recommendation for the Bill is as follows: ‘Prevent
violence against women through education and support pupils
affected’. We recommend this taking place through a wide
range of compulsory initiatives in schools and other educational
settings to prevent VAW before it starts, and for supporting pupils
affected by such violence. Alongside including education on
Violence Against Women and healthy relationships within the
compulsory Welsh Curriculum taught from a perspective of gender
equality and human rights, PTAWA recommends:
·
One fully-trained ‘go-to’ staff member in each school
with expertise in VAWG and the knowledge and confidence to assist
pupils in seeking assistance and information;
·
Ensuring schools regularly collect data on all forms of VAWG,
including sexual harassment and bullying;
·
Ensuring education on VAWG and healthy relationships is available
to children and young people not engaged in formal education system
or ‘NEETS’;
·
Appointing a VAWG champion amongst school governors and the student
council;
·
Ensuring that Estyn inspects on school responses to
VAWG;
·
Ensuring provision of comprehensive VAWG and healthy relationships
training for all related professionals.
7.3
PTAWA were disappointed to learn that this education and prevention
aspect of the Bill had been omitted when introduced due to efforts
to include lessons within the curriculum instead. Although
reassurances have now been received by the Welsh Government that
guidance on this area will now be included under section 12 of the
Bill, PTAWA would like to reiterate the importance of this being a
comprehensive whole school approach to preventing and addressing
Violence Against Women, as outlined in point 7.2 above.
7.4
As an organisation,
PTAWA has considerable experience in the delivery of preventative
work in schools and other educational and community settings,
through Big Lottery Funded projects, and we would be very happy
to share this experience to assist in the development of
suitable curriculum content.
8
General
principles and purpose of the Bill: omission of universal employer
workplace policies
8.1
PTAWA
strongly supports a universal rollout of workplace policies on
domestic abuse and Violence Against Women across all employers in
Wales as outlined in the original consultation on this legislation,
and was disappointed by the eventual omission of this from the
Bill.
8.2
Whilst in the UK the key projects to have been undertaken around
VAW in the workplace have been limited to domestic abuse policies,
there are international examples that point towards the importance
of developing a ‘whole-workplace approach’ to tackling
VAW, including through preventative measures and encouraging men
within workplaces to challenge violence-supportive attitudes and
behaviours. A good example comes from Australia, where
Women’s Health Victoria’s ‘Working Together
Against Violence’ project used workplaces as a setting for
the primary prevention of violence against women.
The project aimed to strengthen the organisational capacity of a
male dominated workplace to promote gender equality and non-violent
norms. The project comprised two phases spanning four years, from
2007 to 2011.
8.3
The Equality and Human Rights Commission recently updated their
guidance on workplace policies to include all forms Violence
Against Women
and they have also worked in partnership with the CIPD to develop
guidance for the private sector.
9
Unintended
consequences and financial implications: increased pressure on
services
9.1
Recent Wales figures on the cost of just domestic abuse on the
Welsh economy was a total of £826.4 million, which included
£303.5m (health care, criminal justice costs, social service,
housing, legal and economic) and £522.9m (human and emotional
costs).
9.2
The Violence Against Women sector has suffered from cuts along with
other public services in recent years. This has occurred alongside
a significant year-on-year increase in demand for Domestic Abuse
services.
The sector as a whole is very dependent on secure long-term funding
from Welsh Government to protect services for women and children
fleeing domestic abuse and violence. In a CutsWatch survey of Welsh
Women’s Aid member groups between April and December
2013 the following information about cuts to funding for services
was gathered which is representative of other feedback we have
received:
9.3
Three services had sustained to Supporting People funding of
between 8% and 20%, adding up to over £100,000. A further
three had cuts to Supporting People funding of between 4% and 17%,
totalling just over £28,000. One service also referred to an
imminent cut to Tenancy Support funding;
PTAWA itself suffered cuts of 11%, and these followed year on year
cuts of around 2% pa during the preceding 3 years. Our SPPG income
now in 2014 is at least 15% lower than it was in 2011 – and
more cuts are expected next year. These figures do not
include the fact that prices and costs have of course continued to
rise due to inflation during this time.
9.4
For children and young people’s services in the sector, all
WWA services were clear about funding difficulties.
PTAWA stated that in terms of funding for CYP services
‘we do not yet know if we have continued funding for this
beyond March 2014’ and we also highlighted the issue
that grant funders think CYP services are statutory therefore there
are difficulties finding funding.
Other respondents said ‘funding at lowest level for many
years’ and ‘funding for services to support children
and young people is inadequate if non-existent’ as well as
stating that funding for CYP preventative work from Welsh
Government is ‘very limited’.
PTAWA has just heard that funding for CYP services has been
withdrawn by NPTCBC, and is longer included in the long-awaited
commissioning process for ‘Early Intervention and
Prevention’ services. There is a risk that 3 people
will be made redundant on 31 March 2014 and that specialist
services for CYP impacted by Domestic Abuse will no longer be
available.
9.5
Therefore increasing reporting as a result of such planned aspects
of the Bill as ‘Ask and Act’ and public sector training
will lead to increased pressure on these services without doing
anything to address the geographical gaps in provision of services.
Provision should be made within the Bill to address any increase in
reporting to ensure victims and specialist services are protected
and supported to allow a holistic approach to
implementation.
9.6
If, as hoped, victim reporting of violence against women is raised
by the progression of the Bill as it progresses through the
National Assembly, then pressure on services is set to become ever
more acute in the coming years. Currently it is our understanding
that no funds dedicated to the Bill will go towards frontline
services such as women’s refuge or community ‘floating
support’ ie outreach services within the
community.
9.7
WWA member groups have stated that they are already under
significant pressure and are concerned by an increase in demand
without more investment to secure sufficient service levels across
Wales.
PTAWA 6 bed-room communal refuge is almost always full and
vacancies do not remain for long. In addition, PTAWA has
second-stage ‘Move-on’ accommodation, but due to high
demand this is often offered to women and families who require a
high level of support, as if in refuge.
9.8
With current funding levels and further SPPG cuts threatened we do
not know how we will find the resources to meet the likely
increasing demands caused by Ask and Act, either in refuge or in
our Community services.
10
Comments on
subordinate legislation
10.1
PTAWA remains concerned that so many recommendations that were made
during the White Paper consultation by the Wales Violence against
Women Action Group are not explicitly included in the Bill, and
therefore run the risk of not being covered appropriately in
subordinate legislation.
10.2
With regard to what is present, such as the national and local
strategies, we are concerned that the balance between primary and
secondary legislation is not appropriate, as it simply leads to too
much variation of service provision as well as lack of scrutiny,
and therefore may lead to minimal change.
Tel: 01639
894864
Website: www.ptwa.org.uk
porttalbotwomensaid@btconnect.com
Port
Talbot and Afan Women’s Aid
Breaking the Cycle
of Domestic Abuse!