Freedom of Information requests and the results

In summer 2021, following the publicity after the Sarah Everard case and the publication of Labour’s Green Paper on ending violence against women and girls,  the CLP sent letters to the key public organisations responsible for aspects of safety for women and girls, asking about their arrangements, for the figures on assaults and violence, and asking what resources were being invested in tackling violence against women and girls and in supporting survivors. We had replies from West Mercia police, the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner, from the council and from NHS trusts.

These replies taken together showed us:

• the lack of clear leadership on the issue since there are multiple cross-agency groups working on this
• the problem of knowing what resources are dedicated to Herefordshire within West Mercia
• a mystifying statement that figures in the county for abuse dropped during the lockdowns – unlike other areas and the national figures
• absence of provision to cater for an isolated rural population of women, especially those older, or young or disabled, or from an ethnic minority, for whom finding any support or transport is a challenge.
• a tendency to view the issue of domestic abuse through the lens of children’s social care in assessing seriousness and acting

In the Autumn we put these concerns to Councillors at Herefordshire Council calling for a scrutiny enquiry into this.

We were pleased that councillors leading scrutiny committees at the council agreed with us that a scrutiny approach would be a good thing.

However, in following this up over the winter we have learnt that a meeting was held to discuss this and councillors decided to remit these concerns to the Community Safety Partnership chaired by Councillor Angie Tyler.

We followed up with her and agreed she would join the panel at our Herefordshire Labour public meeting on tackling violence against women and girls on 28th September 7pm at Hereford FC to discuss what is being done. The panel includes West Mercia Women’s Aid, Unite the Union and police and health representatives.

Sign up here for the meeting and to post a question for the panel : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/time-to-tackle-violence-against-women-girls-tickets-386962835257