By the Domestic Abuse Coordinator, RBWM (Kate Whittaker).

The Chairman introduced Domestic Abuse Coordinator for Bracknell, Windsor and Maidenhead, Kate Whittaker, to the Panel and invited her to give her presentation on Domestic Abuse: Pathway to Resolution.

The Domestic Abuse Coordinator informed the Panel that she was going to talk to them about the shape of Domestic Abuse and the services provided in the Royal Borough.

Members were given a brief presentation on Domestic Abuse which covered the following areas:

·         National context.

·         National data.

·         Local context.

·         Local data.

·         RBWM in context.

·         Domestic Abuse: Pathway to Resolution.

·         What we do well.

·         DA Pathway – future areas for development.

·         Current challenges.

·         Future outlook.

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  It was requested that a Domestic Abuse decision tree / pathway document be added to the minutes.

Ø  Councillor Simon Werner stated his surprise at the demographic spread of male victims of Domestic Abuse.

Ø  The Domestic Abuse Coordinator stated that in response to the question ‘What number one improvement would she make if she had additional funding?’ she would like to find a way to get victims to understand the process in place and also to encourage an increase in reporting Domestic Violence, particularly by male victims.

Ø  That victims of 7+ repeat offences by the same person could be down to having children involved, people being aware of their rights, cultural issues or it simply being a very vulnerable time.

Ø  That repeat offences were discussed in detail at the Domestic Abuse Forum where they were monitored.

Ø  That the Thames Valley police figures relating to Domestic Violence were slightly different to the Councils. 

Ø  Chief Inspector Grahame (Thames Valley Police) stated that she would like to start up a perpetrator programme and recommended everyone present to watch a DVD called “Behind Closed Doors” which involved a case in Windsor and Maidenhead.  It was noted that Chief Inspector Grahame would provide a link to the footage so it could be included in the minutes.

Ø  Chief Inspector Grahame informed the Panel that the subject of forced marriages had been introduced into the plan this year and that they had provision to provide interpreters when needed over the phone. 

Ø  Councillor Hari Sharma stated that he felt the local community element (community mobilisation) was missing and that it needed to be publicised in order to be able to seek support.

The Strategic Director of Operations, Simon Fletcher, stated that he found the presentation really interesting and requested the following information be provided:

v  The numbers of which victims were at what stage now.

v  To quantify squeeze / issues.

v  How success was to be measured.

Councillor John Bowden added that he felt it would also be useful to have the outcomes of crimes as a number of offences rather than as a percentage figure in addition to information about what would qualify as a non-crime offence / incident.

The Chairman thanked the Domestic Abuse Coordinator and the Team Leader - Environmental Protection, Chris Nash for attending meeting and addressing the Panel.