Agenda item

Report attached

The Sub-Committee received a report that detailed the work of the Council to support children and families affected by Domestic Abuse in Havering.

The Havering Community Safety Partnership Plan 2018-19 had identified Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) as a priority and a revised VAWG Strategy was due to go to Cabinet in March 2019.

The Havering Community Safety Partnership had adopted the cross government definition which stated that domestic abuse and violence was:

‘Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who were or had been intimated by partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. Domestic Violence could encompass, but was not limited to, the following types of abuse:

• Psychological
• Physical
• Sexual
• Financial
• Emotional’

The Sub-Committee noted that domestic abuse on children and young people had a devastating impact on children and young people that could last into adulthood. Domestic abuse services offered specialist emotional and practical support for those children and young people affected.

The report informed the Sub-Committee that between January 2018 to December 2018, there were 4061 domestic violence incidents reported to the Police and 2515 domestic violence offences recorded by the Police.  When the Police attended a domestic violence incident where a child was present a Merlin safeguarding alert would be passed to the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) to alert Children’s Services that domestic abuse was occurring in the household.  In 2018 the MASH received 1,706 contacts in relation to domestic abuse.

Members noted that all contacts of possible child safeguarding or protection concerns were referred to the Havering MASH).  The information was triaged by a Children Social Care MASH Team Manager to determine what action was required to respond to the concerns that had been referred.

During a brief discussion, it was stated that following referral, the MASH Team Manager had to make a decision on the level of risk of any child within the household.

It was made clear that MASH and MARAC had different roles to play with domestic abuse cases. The role of the MARAC was to facilitate, monitor and evaluate effective information sharing to enable appropriate actions to be taken to increase public safety.

In response to an enquiry, it was indicated that progress was measured when the relevant agencies had ensured that the individual was not becoming a repeat victim.

In terms of violence against men, it was accepted that this was rarely reported. Havering was one of the few boroughs with a men only service. About fifty men used the service, mostly seeking advice on the telephone.

In response to an enquiry, officer informed the Sub-Committee that the service was looking to provide Family Therapy in the case of child against parent violence.

The Sub-Committee was informed that `the department for Works and Pensions was providing resources on an initiative to reduce parental conflict.

Members agreed to scrutinise the topic further in the near future.

The Sub-Committee noted the content of the report.