Violence Against Women and Girls: Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of Services Minutes: March 2023

Attendees and apologies

Chair

• Lesley Irving

AG Attendees

• Dr Claire Houghton 
• Malcolm Chisholm
• Mukami McCrum
• Professor Philomena De Lima 
• Professor Angela O’Hagan 
• Katie Kelly 
• Katie Cosgrove 

Secretariat Attendees

• Jane McAteer
• Rhona Gowans

Items and actions

Welcome

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, followed by a review of the minutes from the previous meeting. The advisory group (AG) accepted these as an accurate record of Meeting 9.

Actions:

• Secretariat to upload minutes to the review’s webpage

Chair update: participation and engagement

The Chair discussed the Review’s recent engagements with the AG. The Review met with a variety of organisations and stakeholders so the Chair gave a brief overview of the engagement programme and shared some highlights. Meetings were convened with Scottish Government officials from several different teams to discuss work related to the Review which is ongoing in their respective portfolios e.g. Human Rights, Budgeting, Child Poverty and Mentors in Violence Prevention in Schools

In addition, the Chair met with Scottish Women’s Aid to discuss their work with children and young people and the Secretariat informed the AG that they attended the Supporting Homeless Sexually Abused Young Women (SAY) Women's Homelessness: what needs to change Conference in Glasgow. At the event representatives from several organisations related to housing, homelessness, and issues expereinced by women delivered presentations discussing the nature of women’s homelessness in Scotland today, and what needs to change to improve responses and solutions. The Secretariat undertook to share notes from the event.

The Chair shared the details of the Review’s final set of planned engagements. This includes some lived experience engagements with disabled and learning disabled women and girls and with young people involved in the Mentors in Violence Prevention programme. COSLA will also meet with the Chair in the coming weeks to deliver a presentation on their draft Landscape report.

Actions:

• Secretariat to share notes from the SAY Women Conference with the AG

Development of recommendations

The Chair reviewed the preferred language for key groups and terms which was discussed at the previous meeting and sought consensus from the group around which are most appropriate and will be used in the final report. The language for these key terms and groups was agreed and will be employed by the group throughout the drafting of the report and recommendations.

The Chair spotlighted areas for further exploration which were flagged at the previous AG meeting and invited the group to share thoughts and suggestions on these. A broad and in-depth discussion followed regarding the foundations for the funding model, and key considerations for the recommendations. 

The group expressed their commitment to the drafting schedule and highlighted the importance of  ensuring consistency of messaging and language throughout the report. The Chair also agreed to provide the group with an updated set of chapter titles which reflected the developments discussed.

Actions:

• Secretariat to provide group with updated chapter titles

Agenda for next meeting

The group confirmed the timings of the next AG meeting in April as 12:00-15:00. Venues for the April, May and June meetings will be confirmed at a later date.

Any other business

An AG member updated the group on the progress of the Domestic Abuse Court Experiences report, evidence about which was given to the Scottish parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee on 8 March 2023.