Post legislative inquiry into the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015
Post legislative inquiry into the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015
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.
Business type: Committee Inquiry
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: Complete
First published: 03/08/2016
Documents
- Letter to the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner - 27 September 2016 PDF 124 KB
- Letter to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner North Wales - 27 September 2016 PDF 124 KB
- Letter to the Office of the Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Commissioner - 27 September 2016 PDF 124 KB
- Letter to the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent - 27 September 2016 PDF 124 KB
- Letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children (17 October 2016) PDF 222 KB
- Additional information from Neath Port Talbot Council following the meeting on 13 October 2016 PDF 663 KB
- Letter from Bangor and District Women's Aid in relation to the Welsh Government's draft budget 2018-19 - 20 November 2017
- Correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children - 24 March 2018
- Letter to the Leader of the House and Chief Whip - 11 January 2018 PDF 180 KB
- Letter from the Leader of the House and Chief Whip - 22 February 2018
- Update from the Leader of the House and Chief Whip - 30 October 2018
- Letter to the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip - 18 December 2018 PDF 87 KB
- Letter from the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip - 23 January 2019
- Letter from the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip - 2 April 2019 PDF 452 KB
- Report to the Committee from the National Advisers - June 2019 PDF 427 KB View as HTML (15) 56 KB
- Letter from the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip - 4 July 2019 PDF 198 KB
- Letter from the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip - 10 October 2019 PDF 1 MB
- Letter from the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip – 24 January 2020 PDF 703 KB
- Additional information from the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip in relation to the post legislative inquiry into the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 - 26 February 2020 PDF 1 MB
- Written evidence - January 2020
- Welsh Women's Aid PDF 1 MB
- NSPCC Wales PDF 628 KB View as HTML (22) 49 KB
- Gwent VAWDASV Partnership Board PDF 216 KB View as HTML (23) 26 KB
Consultations