Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the Board and the list of apologies was noted.

To note that Mrs. D. Taylor CC remains the Cabinet Lead Member for Community Safety at Leicestershire County Council and therefore according to the Terms of Reference she is appointed Chair of the Leicestershire Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board for the 2023/24 year.

RESOLVED:

That it be noted that Mrs. D. Taylor CC remains the Cabinet Lead Member for Community Safety at Leicestershire County Council and therefore according to the Terms of Reference she is appointed Chair of the Leicestershire Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board for the 2023/24 year.

Nominations are sought for Deputy Chairman for the 2023/24 year.

RESOLVED:

That Mr. N. Bannister CC (Combined Fire Authority) be appointed Vice Chairman until the first meeting of the Board in the 2024/25 municipal year.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2022 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

The Board considered a report of the Domestic Abuse Act Co-ordinator which provided an update on key contracts relating to Leicestershire County Council’s duties under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 5’, is filed in these minutes.

In response to a question from the Chair as to whether any contractors had been struggling to recruit staff it was explained that generally this had not been a problem. However, the Extended Domestic Abuse Team had been required to undertake two rounds of recruitment and Women’s Aid had been struggling for staff which had some impact on delivery though they had still been able to provide their core service.

It was noted that soft market testing would be taking place in July 2023 with regards to the Safe Accommodation that was required to be provided under the Domestic Abuse Act and a tender exercise for the Accommodation was currently being worked on. Board members requested to receive regular updates regarding progress with the provision of Safe Accommodation in Leicestershire.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the contents of the report be noted:

(b)        That officers be requested to provide further updates to future meetings of the Board regarding the results of the Safe Accommodation Tender Exercise.

Presentations will be given from the following organisations:

·                  Leicestershire GATE;

·                  Extended DA Team (Internal Team within LCC).

The Board received presentations from Leicestershire GATE and the Extended Domestic Abuse Team (Internal Team within Leicestershire County Council) regarding the work they carried out in connection with Domestic Abuse. A copy of the Extended Domestic Abuse Team presentation slides is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the presentations the following points were noted:

Leicestershire GATE

(i)           Leicestershire GATE was the only not-for-profit organisation in Leicestershire that worked with the gypsy and traveller communities and helped victims of domestic abuse from those communities. Most of the people they worked with were female but there were some males as well. Nationally 8 in 10 women from the gypsy and traveller communities had experienced Domestic Abuse and the figures were similar for Leicestershire. By their very nature the gypsy and traveller communities were hard to reach and required a different approach. With regards to safeguarding it was hard to encourage victims of domestic abuse to leave the culture that they were used to and it was even more difficult if they had children. Leicestershire GATE used a Family Support Worker who visited the gypsy and traveller communities and helped victims of violent relationships.  Leicestershire GATE helped victims find alternative accommodation and they put safety plans in place. One of the problems with working with the gypsy and traveller community was that many of them could not read or write so different methods of communication had to be used.

(ii)         Freeva offered to work with Leicestershire GATE to support people from the gypsy and traveller communities who were victims of domestic abuse. Freeva ran an early awareness programme for perpetrators of domestic abuse and it was suggested that this could be used for gypsy and travellers. Further discussions around this would take place after the meeting.

Extended Domestic Abuse Team

(iii)        The Extended Domestic Abuse Team had been set up as part of the Children and Family Wellbeing Service at Leicestershire County Council. The Team comprised of 5 support and intervention workers. The team was designed to fill gaps not covered by other teams and agencies. Generally the people the team worked with had been involved in an incident for the first time or previous incidents they were involved in were of low severity. The team worked with perpetrators as well as victims. The Team received referrals from the Police and the referrals were then triaged. Some were passed to the Children’s Social Care team. Some were signposted to other agencies.

(iv)       In response to a question from a member it was clarified that the team put together Safety Plans for the victims they engaged with.  This would include whether special methods were required for the victim to raise the alarm because the victim might not be able to speak without the perpetrator hearing them. It was also noted that the 999 telephone service enabled victims to raise an alert without speaking.

(v)         An additional part of the team was Domestic Abuse Liaison Officers who provided training to schools on how to deal with pupils that had been involved in domestic abuse.

(vi)       The Board requested that the presentation slides be circulated to all Board members after the meeting.

(vii)      There would be a domestic abuse exhibition at Highcross Shopping Centre, Leicester, from 25 November to 10 December 2023 showing artwork. The exhibition was being organised by Living Without Abuse and Leicestershire County Council.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the presentations be welcomed.

Future meetings are proposed to take place on the following dates all at 9.00am:

Friday 29 September 2023;

Friday 15 December 2023;

Friday 22 March 2024;

Friday 28 June 2024;

Friday 27 September 2024;

Friday 13 December 2024.

RESOLVED:

That future meetings of the Board take place on the following dates at 9.00am:

Friday 29 September 2023;

Friday 15 December 2023;

Friday 22 March 2024;

Friday 28 June 2024;

Friday 27 September 2024;

Friday 13 December 2024.