Agenda item

To enable a thematic discussion around domestic abuse in order to ensure effective scrutiny is undertaken.

Ms Amanda Hatton, Deputy Director Early Help and Social Care, summarised the key issues to the Committee relating to domestic abuse. She advised that Blackpool experienced a high volume of domestic abuse incidents, with a large number of high risk cases being dealt with through the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC). She reported that domestic abuse in Blackpool was significantly high when compared to the rates in Lancashire and England as a whole. It was also noted that national research highlighted that domestic abuse was a significantly under reported crime. It was therefore considered likely that the underlying issue was higher than reported statistics.

The Committee was informed that for high-risk abuse cases, referrals were made to a Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference, which determined a risk management plan for all parties, i.e. the victim, perpetrator and associated children. Members were advised that the rate of cases being discussed at a Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference and therefore reflecting a higher risk of abuse, was significantly higher in Blackpool than it was nationally. Ms Hatton advised that of the cases reported to a Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference, 26% were repeat victims. Members also noted the high numbers of children experiencing domestic abuse incidents, as well as a higher percentage of male victims in Blackpool than the national average.

Members noted the map in the report that illustrated the distribution of children in families subject to the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference process. It was noted that the highest incident rates of domestic abuse were in the central wards of Claremont, Talbot and Bloomfield.  Members noted that there were also significantly high rates in the wards of Waterloo, Clifton, Brunswick and Hawes Side. Members challenged plans to ensure that incidents of domestic abuse in other areas of the town were not overlooked due to efforts being focused in wards with higher incident rates. Ms Foster, Senior Service Manager, advised that most services were not ward-specific and would therefore be available to all residents in Blackpool. She explained to Members the work that was undertaken in Early Help and in schools, where if cases of domestic abuse were uncovered or suspected, they would be escalated appropriately.

Ms Hatton advised Members of the work that was being undertaken in an attempt to reduce domestic abuse and to lessen its impact. She reported that work was currently being conducted to comprehensively review domestic abuse services. She informed Members that the piece of work involved all partnerships and commissioning representatives looking at an integrated commissioning approach for services and that it would also further include workforce development for front line staff. It was noted that the review would be chaired by the Deputy Director Early Help and Social Care and undertaken with senior officers from various partner agencies. Ms Hatton reported that it was expected that £100,000 funding would be received from the Home Office for undertaking the review and making appropriate evidence-based recommendations. It was considered that the work posed a significant challenge, but there was a requirement to be more robust in the services provided.

The Committee was provided with details of the Inner Strength Programme, which targeted perpetrators of domestic abuse. She reported that the programme had been developed to impact upon offending behaviour, support victims who decided to remain with their offending partner, and reduce the risk of repeat offending patterns. Ms Hatton advised that the programme was starting to have a clear impact and was providing valuable learning into the reasons for domestic abuse occurring. It was noted that traditionally, most social work with families had focused on women and children and had excluded men. The programme reversed that trend and was helping men manage their anger and to consider the impact of their actions on their family and had received positive feedback so far.

Ms Hatton also provided details of the Step Up project that involved work with families who had experienced a domestic violence incident and had at least one child aged 15 or under, or a pregnancy. It was reported that the initiative was a research pilot aimed at assessing how early support could be provided through targeting families of standard risk domestic abuse in an attempt to reduce the risk of escalation. 

Members noted the assumption that nationally domestic abuse crimes were underreported and questioned whether officers had any indication of how prevalent the issue was in reality. Ms Hatton advised that it was very difficult to estimate and noted that it was common that instances of domestic abuse were only reported at a later stage of contact with services and was not often the preliminary reason for contact. Ms Hatton also noted that recent reported figures indicated a reduction in domestic abuses cases being reported, which reflected a national trend. However, she advised that a potential key explanation for the reduction in cases being reported, could be that people did not feel they were getting an appropriate response. It was hoped that the review into domestic abuse services would help to uncover whether there was an evidence base to that potential reason.

Members noted the rates of domestic abuse incidents that involved a male victim and questioned what had been done to reduce the issue. Ms Hatton provided the Committee with details of the ‘Be a lover, not a fighter’ regional campaign against domestic abuse. Ms Foster advised that the review into domestic abuse services would also consider how to better target reducing the rate of male victims.

The Committee raised questions regarding whether more could be done to raise awareness of domestic abuse and cited the recent training offer for taxi drivers on the issue of child sexual exploitation. Ms Hatton advised that awareness of the issue had been raised through the ‘Be a lover, not a fighter’ campaign and that there had been recent national campaigns to raise awareness of the types of behaviour that constituted domestic abuse. However, Ms Hatton agreed that further consideration was required as to how to raise awareness of the issue in the future.

Responding to queries from Members relating to what work was undertaken with schools on the issue, Mrs Mills, Public Health Specialist, advised that there were 44 Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) lesson plans for pupils between Year 7 and Year 9, which provided learning for pupils on what constituted a healthy relationship. Mrs Mills also advised that staff in schools were trained to notice behaviours that demonstrated children were at risk of being in a family with occurrences of domestic abuse. Members noted that Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) lessons were not statutory and raised questions relating to the state of the relationship with academies in order to ensure the lessons were provided. Mrs Mills advised that all secondary schools currently participated in the lessons and Ofsted had commented favourably on the lesson provision, which would help to ensure the academies were more likely to continue providing the lessons in future.

Members raised questions relating to the training offer that was provided for frontline staff around the issue of domestic abuse. Ms Foster advised that although the Council no longer had a position of Designated Domestic Violence Co-ordinator to arrange training for frontline staff, multi-agency training was now provided by the Blackpool Safeguarding Adults Board.

The Committee raised questions relating to the Inner Strength programme and Ms Foster advised that the cohorts would have up to a maximum of 12 people, so that they would be small enough to fulfil their therapeutic purpose. Questions were also raised regarding women that suffered repeat abuse from different partners. Ms Hatton provided the Committee with details of the Pause project that worked with women who had children removed from their care from birth and which covered issues relating to the suitability of their choice of partner. Members were also informed of a piece of work that had been undertaken by Blackburn with Darwen Council on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), which was therapeutic work that focused on women’s early childhood experiences and aimed to raise their aspirations and improve their self-esteem. It was reported that results in Blackburn had been positive.

Members raised questions regarding the services that were provided to children who had witnessed domestic abuse and Ms Hatton advised that there was a commitment to ensuring children witnessing domestic abuse were provided with specialist support through the Families in Need Team.

The Committee discussed how the issue of domestic abuse was perceived by the wider public and women’s refuges.  Ms Foster advised that an ‘Orange House’ approach had been developed in the Netherlands that provided a new style of women's shelter for combating domestic abuse, where care was provided in a safe, open and familiar setting, rather than in hidden refuges. Members were advised that the approach had helped to ensure the issue was not considered a taboo and was managed better by the community. It was noted that there were cultural differences between the Netherlands and Britain, but that the approach had been considered successful and was an example of the type of approach that should be considered when developing new models of service provision.

The Committee raised questions relating to how the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference process was monitored and considered to be working effectively.  Ms Hatton advised that the process was led by Lancashire Constabulary and that there were challenges relating to how some agencies reported into the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference process.

Members questioned whether there was adequate resilience to maintain current service levels and withstand current budgetary pressures. Councillor Collet, Cabinet Member for School Improvement and Children’s Safeguarding advised that maintaining current service levels would remain a priority.  Ms Foster also advised that resolving domestic abuse was not solely the responsibility of the local authority and that all public services needed to improve how they worked together given current budgetary pressures. She noted that the review into domestic abuse services and subsequent development of a domestic abuse strategy would help to achieve an improved partnership approach to tackling the issue. Ms Hatton advised that it was expected that the domestic abuse strategy would be drafted by the Autumn 2016 and that it would be useful to have an input from the Committee into the strategy.

The Committee agreed to request that the draft domestic abuse strategy be considered at a future meeting of the Resilient Communities Scrutiny Committee, once it was available.

Background papers: None.