Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Public Health that gave an overview of the work carried out by County Durham and Darlington’s Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Executive Group (DASVEG) during 2022-2023.  The report focused on the domestic abuse (DA) element of DASVEG (for copy see file of Minutes).

Jane Sunter, Public Health Strategic Manager gave a verbal update on domestic abuse and sexual violence that was a top priority in Durham.  She stated that one in four women and one in six men suffered from some form of abuse.  There was a statutory responsibility on the local authority to provide support and ensure women who left their abusers with their children had access to services and were made to feel safe.  There had been an increase in people accessing services which was positive that people knew where to seek help.  She explained that domestic abuse was well hidden especially in older people and people with disabilities. It was now evident that children and young people could suffer domestic abuse in their own right.  She noted that 991 children and young people had accessed support services.  There was also a perpetrator service where perpetrators could seek help voluntarily to try to break the intergeneration cycle of abuse.

Councillor J Charlton queried if people who used the service were asked how they found out about the services to help see if the target marketing worked.

The Public Health Strategic Manager responded that Harbour did ask people who used the service how they found out about it.  This was reviewed in contact meetings as Police and colleagues looked to refer people.  There were campaigns that promoted the service at sporting events as alcohol triggered violence. 

Councillor J Charlton questioned whether social media, adverts in pubs or common hand signals for help had worked and how well marketing was working as people hid these things behind closed doors.

The Public Health Strategic Manager confirmed that people did see messages that were out there and they did get logged in people’s brains.  She explained that when victims came into the service more often than not they did not know where they got the information they just knew there was help out there.   She noted that there was a high percentage of self-referrals.  She was unclear if marketing was working well as it was not a perfect science.

Councillor R Crute referred to the figures in the report and was surprised that the numbers had not increased during Covid as families were locked up together.  He queried if there were other triggers to violence like the rise in the cost of living as the crime levels had increased.

The Public Health Strategic Manager replied that there were no changes in the reporting systems.  She confirmed that all factors within families could be triggers to violence.  The level of domestic abuse was rising as it was not just physical abuse but cohesive control as well.  She stressed that more discussion was required around this and media/PR focus maintained to keep up the ante.  Although there was a rise in domestic abuse, on the positive side there had been an increase in victims seeking support. 

Councillor J Charlton felt that there was a stigma with domestic abuse especially in the older generation where victims did not want anyone to know they were being abused. She queried if there was an increase in the number of perpetrators seeking help.

The Public Health Strategic Manager stated that perpetrators seeking help was voluntary and not mandatory.  She had observed that there had been an increase in perpetrators seeking support but it was an ongoing challenge and there was an urgent need to break the cycle of abuse.  Things had changed slightly as perpetrators could now be removed from the family home instead of women and children having to leave to go into safe accommodation.

The Public Health Strategic Manager responded to Councillor J Charlton that questionnaires were completed by victims as a way of evaluating the service.  She added that victims remained on Harbour’s books to monitor the family and to show them that the services were still available to them as and when they needed them.

Councillor R Charlton-Lainé asked if there was any correlation between the time of year with dark nights and people being at home more and the number of reports of abuse being made.

The Public Health Strategic Manager explained that the service did not do season uplifts but she would ask Harbour to look into this.  She mentioned that there was a rise in reports around major sporting events when potentially alcohol was consumed.  Domestic Abuse was verbalised in schools as children and young people were now victims in their own right.  The family support programme sessions that worked with victims and children had evaluated really well.

S Jones mentioned that referrals were made through the prosecution scheme.  She queried if there could be a check point scheme significantly channelled towards intervention so if a perpetrator had not complied to carry out training within four months, the next option would be to go to court to face prosecution.

The Public Health Strategic Manager was open to take new initiatives forward.  She thought that a check point scheme should come in at the right level for the perpetrator to receive specialist support.

Councillor P Heaviside had family members that worked with organisations to support victims in dispersed accommodation so they could flee their abuser.  He questioned if there were repeat referrals for the same people.

The Public Health Strategic Manager responded that it was frustrating when victims sought support then went back to their abuser.  She confirmed that the service did continue to work with them to look at the relationship dynamics but it was their choice until they were ready to make the break. It was challenging but on a positive note there had been 1000 domestic abuse champions trained through the white ribbon scheme that engaged with men and boys to help end violence against women and girls.  There were 300 people in the wider community that could be engaged with in order to make domestic violence everyone’s business.

Councillor P Heaviside agreed that this would be reported back to Committee with further updates in six months time.  

Resolved:

That the report including the Draft Domestic Abuse Plan 2023-2025 be noted