Violence Against Women and Girls - Independent Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of Services: report

Chapter 6 - Violence Against Women Partnerships

This chapter sets out the role of VAWPs in our proposed new model of funding and provides a good practice example.

The task of addressing VAWG cannot be undertaken by one single body and demands a cross sectoral response. Realising the wider vision and ambitions of Equally Safe requires the implementation of a coherent and effective partnership approach across and within the public and third sector as well as civic society. As the nexus between specialist agencies, the wider policy environment and public sector agencies within a local area, Violence Against Women Partnerships (VAWPs) are the multi-agency mechanism designed to ensure delivery on these strategic priorities.

Guidance on the structure and roles of VAWPs was issued in 2016, and provides the framework within which they operate. All partnerships are required to meet minimum standards, such as developing a strategic plan, and have to report on local progress against the national outcomes using the Equally Safe Quality Standards and Performance Framework. A national VAWP forum, supported by the Improvement Service, works to maximise the impact of local partnerships through coordination, collaboration and providing a collective voice.

We are aware of the concerted effort by VAWPs over many years to bring about meaningful change on VAWG. We also know of many examples of good practice, innovation, and creativity that have made a visible and significant impact on the lives of women, children and young people affected by abuse. The drive, energy, and commitment of those involved in VAWPs are to be celebrated and commended. (See good practice example (Dundee) at the end of the chapter.)

What we have also heard, however, are frustrations about the pace of change and the inadequate level of resource allocated to address a problem of this magnitude, both of which have been amplified by the deepening of gender inequalities and increase in VAWG resulting from the Covid pandemic. In the Call for Evidence responses and the engagement sessions we have undertaken there were repeated references to the difficulty in overcoming siloed working, constraints in inter- and multi-agency collaboration and a concern that pathways of support were not joined up effectively.

Another issue raised with us was the lack of respect some smaller service provision organisations felt they experienced from other partners in their VAWPs. This needs to change.

No one sector or organisation can provide a comprehensive response to VAWCYP and the contribution of all is essential.

The lack of status accorded VAWPs, and by extension the lack of perceived importance of VAWG, was highlighted as a key factor that dilutes the effectiveness of VAWPs and the drive for collaborative leadership locally. The absence of a statutory requirement to deliver and report on work in this area, which exists for Child Protection (CP) and Adult Support & Protection (ASP), was seen as instrumental in creating this disparity. We heard frequently of the need to strengthen the role of VAWPs by putting VAWG on equal footing with other areas of Public Protection. The integration of VAWG into Public Protection processes and aligned reporting through Chief Officers Groups

that has been progressed in some areas has been a welcome development for VAWPs. This is not uniform across the country, however, and the lack of comparable resource allocation with CP and ASP continues to disadvantage work on VAWG. The relative standing of VAWG varies across local authority areas; for example, some VAWPs have had success engaging with key strategic partners particularly in Community Planning and Health & Social Care Partnerships while this is fairly limited in others. In their self-reports on progress around implementation of Equally Safe most VAWPs note that they have some engagement but this is not quantified or elaborated upon. The extent to which they can do so is partly a reflection of how much importance the issue has locally.

Investment in the infrastructure required to support effective partnership working is essential but this too varies across the country; for example, not all partnerships have a full-time coordinator. Additionally, the resource deficit hinders their capacity to undertake a range of work such as local needs assessments, and the collection and analysis of data. The benefits for a VAWP where there has been investment are noticeable; for example, the appointment of an Independent Chair to the Dundee VAWP has strengthened the partnership, creating space for partners to engage productively with each other free from tensions around respective roles.

Local ownership, autonomy and decision making are central to the work of VAWPs who are charged with reflecting the needs of their areas and engaging with their local communities. Unlike other partnerships, VAWPs do not have a strategic commissioning role which limits the development of a response tailored to local needs and circumstances. Given the breadth of work required across a complex policy landscape, the need to develop a more explicitly intersectional approach and the growing demands for more specialised services this is a significant impediment to delivering the outcomes of Equally Safe.

With the centralisation of funding on VAWG, primarily through the DES budget, decisions on the funding of local specialist services are largely divorced from their local area, which has implications for accountability as well as planning and sustainability. As noted in Chapter 3, Funding Problems Identifed by the Review, this centralisation has also shifted perceptions of responsibility for funding, removing it from a primarily local authority duty to a central government one, resulting in a disconnect between local strategic priorities and service provision.

VAWG is not an individual problem but one which demands a public health and human rights approach. A collective effort is required to achieve the goals of Equally Safe and VAWPs should be at the heart of this endeavour. Throughout the consultation we have heard a genuine desire and drive to make these partnerships effective, and thoughtful reflections on how to strengthen the role of VAWPs within communities.

The ability of VAWPs to translate the ambitions of Equally Safe into effective action will require investment to strengthen their reach and impact, and to build capacity across their local areas. The principle of subsidiarity i.e. that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level, is an important aspect of this. Decisions about funding being made closer to where services will be delivered will enable local needs to be better met.

Dundee VAWP – A Good Practice Example

Overview

Dundee has a history of very high rates of domestic abuse and sexual crimes, alongside many complexities such as substance misuse and deprivation. There had been an issue with demand for specialist services versus their capacity, an over reliance on third sector specialist agencies, and a lack of capacity to upskill non-specialist services.

Now, however, training for non-specialist services is well underway and a co-ordinated, collaborative approach to funding has helped specialist services to meet demand.

The current structure, (see below) which locates the VAWP within the protecting people structure in Dundee, is a key factor in their progress. The Dundee VAWP reports directly to the Chief Officers' Group (COG), and has equal footing and direct links with the Child Protection and Adult Protection Committees, the Alcohol & Drugs Partnership (ADP), and the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). The strategic support team for these partnerships and committees is located together as one team. This has huge benefits for communication, a cross cutting approach, and sharing of developments and ideas. There has been strong commitment and support for this over a number of years.

Foundations for success

• The VAWP has an independent Chair, who as a member of the COG, is therefore linked in to the key decision making groups
• Work was undertaken to make the risks and harms that VAWG was causing in Dundee visible to senior leaders and operational managers, and the impact of risk management in relation to this was demonstrated to organisations. The development of an integrated protecting people risk register has enabled the understanding of the shared risks across the protecting people committees and allowed for collective work on responses to these risks
• They also focussed on proving the value of moving to a mainstream approach. By building in evaluation from the very start of new projects, from both service user and organisational perspectives, the value of mainstreaming was demonstrated and a move to this approach was made possible
• A gendered services group was established which reports directly to the VAWP and the ADP and aims to support services to become more gendered in their design, delivery, and ethos, engaging women with lived experience to ensure services are getting it right and ensure they are able to influence design and delivery

The persistence and goodwill of many people, in particular from the operational staff who were working to support new projects, was also a key component of laying the foundations for success.

A partnership approach was also taken to DES and other bids in recent applications and focused on capacity building as well as service provision.

The VAWP has established a training consortium and a VAWG Overview training day was rolled out online during 2020-2022. A coordinated multi-level

VAWG training programme is a priority for the future.

A GBV advisor post, a partnership with Dundee & Angus Women's Rape & Sexual Assault Centre (WRASAC), and Dundee City Council (DCC), ensures a co-ordinated approach to GBV learning, training and development across DCC and their partners, and the multi-agency workforce in Dundee. By improving the understanding of GBV and practical application of trauma-informed, survivor focused, gendered approaches, the hope is that survivors in Dundee will have consistently positive interactions with all services.

What has worked well?

Some key highlights illustrating the success of Dundee's collaborative/collective leadership to VAWG include:

• Dundee VAWP members feel they have created a safe space within the VAWP where egos are not at play and this enables them to have transparency in their approach (particularly to funding), enables collaboration and creativity, and allows them to hold each other accountable
• Collaborative approach to development of the Women's Hub, co-locating Women's Aid, Rape Crisis, support for women selling and exchanging sex , and support for women offenders
• Ownership and leadership around VAWG from education, housing, community learning and development, health and social care partnership and many others
• In light of challenges around funding, the VAWP took a paper to the COG in late 2020, clearly linking to the risk register, which resulted in chief officers making a number of commitments to reallocating capacity within mainstream services and a commitment to upskilling mainstream services to effectively tackle VAWG
• A COG VAWG funding group was established. The focus this brought, alongside the risk register, enabled Covid recovery funding from DCC to be secured for Dundee WA and WRASAC. Both services used the additional funds to address waiting times
• The collective leadership flowing from the VAWP and the ADP expanded the ability to tackle the issues faced by the most vulnerable women in Dundee and opened up huge possibilities for collaborative working at a strategic and operational level
• A Scrutiny Group contributes to the delivery of continuous improvement of key processes and practice. One direct action has been addressing the lack of young women accessing services for support with domestic abuse within their own relationships. This was clear from few referrals being for women under 26. The VAWP now operates a Young People and VAWG Intel Group to gather information on issues facing young people and how to appropriately address and support such concerns

Quotes From Partners

"We've been really open on what we receive, where there are gaps and what the gaps are. It's no longer a service issue, it's a community in Dundee issue. We have supported each other to go for funding and made it a coordinated approach."

"Getting rid of those egos and fear about things, it's no longer my service, my service, its Dundee services."

"It's about not being as competitive with each other, it's a true partnership."