Inquiry5

 

The Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee undertook a post legislative inquiry into the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 (the Act).

 

The Committee’s predecessor in the Fourth Assembly, the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee, was responsible for scrutinising the Gender-based Violence, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Bill before it was renamed and became an Act. The Committee reported on the Bill in November 2014.

 

Terms of reference

The Committee looked at the progress made in the implementation of the Act’s provisions and its impact to date. In particular, the Committee considered:

 

• To what extent the approach to tackling violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence is improving as a result of the obligations in the Act?

 

• What are the most effective methods of capturing the views and experiences of survivors? Are arrangements in place to capture these experiences, and to what extent is this information being used to help inform the implementation of the Act’s provisions?

 

• Whether survivors of abuse are beginning to experience better responses from public authorities as a result of the Act, particularly those needing specialist services?

 

• Whether the National Adviser has sufficient power and independence from the Welsh Government to ensure implementation of the Act?

 

• To what extent the good practice guide to healthy relationships is successfully influencing the development of a whole school approach to challenging violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence?

 

 

Evidence gathering

As part of its evidence gathering, the Committee received 36 written submissions, held six oral evidence sessions and visited 4 projects to meet with service providers and survivors.

 

 

Report

The Committee published its report: Is the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 working? (PDF, 2.98MB) in December 2016.

 

On publication of the report, John Griffiths AM, Chair of the Committee said:

 

“We found that, while the Act will achieve improvements in the way public authorities support survivors and prevent abuse, there are some practical improvements that need to be made to ensure the Act achieves its aim of substantially improving the public sector response to violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence.”

 

A ‘quick read’ version of the report has also been published, read it here.

 

The Welsh Government laid its response (PDF, 171KB) to the report in February 2017, ahead of a debate in Plenary which was held on 15 February 2017.

 

Follow-up work

 

Following the publication of a Wales Audit Office report (PDF, 6.8MB) on the Act, the Committee held a follow up evidence session on 6 February 2020.

 

The Committee held an additional scrutiny session with the Minister on 12 February 2020.

 

Update

 

The Welsh Government’s periodical updates on the pace of the implementation of the Act can be viewed below.

 

Should the Committee decide to hold further evidence sessions in the future it will communicate this on its homepage and through its Twitter account.

 

 

4.1.a The Committee noted the correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children in relation to violence against women.