Background

The joint Strategy to Address Violence Against Women & Girls (“VAWG”) was launched in June 2022.

The initial 6-month Progress Update report was published in December 2022, with an Annual Progress Review report published in June 2023.

This latest report provides an overview of all actions that have been undertaken and outcomes already achieved since the launch of the Strategy in June 2022 to provide a full update on the progress to date against the six strategic objectives and outline what we plan to do next. This latest report covers a 22-month period (June 2022 to March 2024 inclusively) rather than a full two year period due to the Mayoral Election in May 2024.

Six Strategic Objectives set out in the VAWG Strategy are:

1: Listening to All Women and Girls, including those from under-represented communities, and proactively seek feedback to inform continuous service improvements

2: Prevention and Early Intervention, including awareness campaigns to tackle the root causes of VAWG at a cultural level, promoting a zero-tolerance approach to these behaviours

3: Increasing Public Confidence and Trust in the Police, including holding the police to account on their handling of reports of VAWG

4: Strengthening the Multi-Agency Approach to Address VAWG, including the wider criminal and civil court processes

5: Enhancing Support for Victims, including ensuring all services and agencies that come into contact with victims offer trauma aware, high quality and timely responses

6: Facilitating Behaviour Change by Perpetrators, including expanding the availability and scope of behaviour change interventions / programmes that focus on both enforcement and rehabilitation

The Strategy was informed by local and national strategies and crucially by local women and girls themselves. When developing the Strategy, the Office of the Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (“OPFCC”) consulted with local organisations representing women and girls, and spoke directly with women and girls via focus groups and an online survey – full details can be found here: What did you tell us is important? – Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire.

In order to ensure we continue to adopt a person-centred approach to our delivery activities, a new anonymous online survey was launched on 31^st July 2023 and remains open to provide everyone – every gender, every age and every situation – the opportunity to have their views represented.

VAWG Strategic Governance and Accountability

To monitor overall progress against our strategic objectives, the VAWG Strategic Governance Board has met twice a year to conduct biannual reviews of our local delivery plans. This Board was chaired by Commissioner Zoë and includes representatives from both national and local organisations working with women and girls, including Laura McIntyre who is the Vice Chair of the Board and Head of Children’s and Women’s Services for Changing Lives.

A VAWG Professionals Sub-group was established in December 2022 made up of representatives from local organisations and practitioners working with women and girls across York and North Yorkshire. The Sub-group meets biannually to discuss key themes and shared experiences impacting the sector including increasing demand for specialist support services. A representative of this Sub-group attends the VAWG Strategic Governance Board to feedback these discussion themes and ensure we continue to adopt a person-centred and trauma-informed approach wherever possible within our delivery activities.

The VAWG Strategic Governance Board has published the biannual progress reviews on the Commissioner’s website to provide greater transparency and accountability and increase public confidence in how we are working together to improve the overall safety of women and girls, and by extension, everyone who lives in North Yorkshire and the City of York. This latest report was produced for the Board slightly earlier than the usual annual progress review as the Board’s latest meeting was brought forward to April 2024 due to the Mayoral Election taking place on 2^nd May 2024.

VAWG Strategy Delivery Plan

The VAWG Strategy Delivery Plan outlines what activities we will undertake to achieve the six strategic objectives and corresponding outcomes. The Delivery Plan was co-produced by the Joint VAWG Strategy Delivery Group which is made up of representatives from local statutory partners. The Delivery Plan is underpinned by a detailed activity tracker which sets out which who is responsible for leading different workstreams and activities to support the strategic objectives.

Both the Delivery Plan and supporting activity tracker have been informed by existing relevant local partnership strategies and delivery plans in order to support better understanding of, and where appropriate, joining up work already underway in York and North Yorkshire, and to identify where there are gaps or challenges that could be addressed more effectively by working together under the VAWG Strategy.

The Joint VAWG Strategy Delivery Group has met every two months to identify learning opportunities, share best practice and consider findings from relevant national and local research, surveys, consultations and victim/survivor forums. The Group have examined specific issues in more depth through ‘Spotlight Topic’ presentations from partners and providers on a variety of subjects including stalking, special measures for victims and witnesses in criminal justice proceedings, and Family Court processes.

The Joint VAWG Strategy Delivery Group has also established Task and Finish Groups where required to lead on specific activities: one group is assessing local scope and membership of national ‘Safe Spaces’ schemes such as ‘Ask for Angela’ and ‘Ask for Ani’ to explore how these can be expanded and more effectively joined up with local support service provision; another group is exploring options to coordinate training and support for Workplace Champions to ensure a more trauma-informed response to disclosures by our staff as well as residents we may come into contact with; whilst the VAWG Professionals Sub-group continues to consider how to increase the network of Community-based Champions and volunteers to help raise awareness of VAWG and ensure victims can more easily access help and advice at the earliest opportunity.

Outputs and Outcomes Achieved to Date

Objective 1: Listening to All Women and Girls, including those from rural and under-represented communities, and proactively seeking feedback to inform continuous service improvements

Outcome 1.1: Proactive engagement with under-represented communities and seldom heard women

In March 2022, we received 332 responses to our initial VAWG Survey which were used to inform the development of the six strategic objectives and Delivery Plan. In July 2023, we launched a new VAWG Survey which will be used to inform a refresh of our strategic objectives and Delivery Plan in 2024.

Focus groups and interviews have been held with key groups to ensure the voices of victims and survivors continue to be heard and inform practice development on key issues including:

• In October 2022, a Victims of Rape Focus Group discussed and considered the proposed case outcome letters to be sent from the Crown Prosecution Service (instead of the Witness Care Unit) to consider how we measure the impact of these letters on those who receive them, and also considered how victims would like to be represented at the Rape Scrutiny Panel
• In January 2023, interviews were held by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust with victims of stalking who had been supported by North Yorkshire Police’s specialist Stalking Team; these interviews were used to inform the findings and recommendations of the independent victim-focussed review of North Yorkshire Police’s response to stalking and subsequent Stalking Action Plan
• In January 2024, a focus group was convened with five women who are currently being supported by York Drug and Alcohol Services who identified gaps in current service provision for women who use substances; a new women-only recovery group is planned at York Women’s Centre as a result

The voices of victims and survivors from North Yorkshire and the wider Yorkshire Region were included within Safe Lives’ strategic needs assessment and wider system review of domestic abuse commissioned by North Yorkshire Council and the City of York Council; several of these survivors shared their personal experiences at a partnership event on 7^th June 2023 where the overall findings and recommendations were presented by Safe Lives. These survivors have also been invited to share their lived experiences as part of staff training events to help encourage trauma aware responses – for example a survivor spoke at North Yorkshire Police’s student officer training sessions in June 2023.

Members of the IDAS Survivor Advisory Board attended the North Yorkshire Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board held on 15^th June 2023 which was the first time survivors have been directly part of our domestic abuse strategic governance meetings; representatives from both the North Yorkshire and York Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Boards also now reciprocally attend IDAS Survivor Advisory Board meetings.

Trusted relationships are being developed with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities at four sites across North Yorkshire in Burn, Carlton, Thirsk and Stokesley through a new Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Domestic Abuse Community Support Officer pilot commissioned by North Yorkshire Council; as at September 2023, 16 victims were accessing support, five workshops had been delivered to women and girls on-site, with 20 off-site support sessions delivered and 14 onward referrals made into specialist services.

Outcome 1.2: Ensure parity of services across both urban and rural areas, and other isolated communities

We are now delivering outreach services to women in rural and other isolated communities throughout the Ryedale district via a specially converted campervan known as ‘Liberty Links’. Commissioner Zoë contributed funding through her Community Fund towards the purchase and conversion of the campervan by St. Giles Trust who have delivered 83 Brief Interventions from the campervan and engaged with 14 women since August 2023.

We have expanded the provision and coverage of the York Women’s Centre services to reach more women and girls through three new drop-in centres in Northallerton, Scarborough and York which provide support to ten regular attendees plus a further seven intermittent attendees.

We are working with the Halo Project to ensure the voice of black and minoritised groups are heard and that the MARAC Steering Group considers the hidden harms faced by women and girls from these communities.

Local specialist domestic abuse support services are positively now seeing increasing referrals from Healthcare professionals and referrals for Older People in the Ryedale district following a number of joint awareness raising events and workshops in that area held in November and December 2023 by North Yorkshire Police and Public Health focusing on staying safe and well in older age.

Objective 2: Tackling the root causes of VAWG through Prevention and Early Intervention

Outcome 2.1: Increase awareness and promote zero tolerance of all forms of gender inequality and VAWG

We continue to see increased reporting of hate crime linked to misogyny and misandry since the launch of this Strategy with 45 crimes reported in 2022 compared to 34 crimes reported in 2021, and this has increase again in 2023 with 51 crimes reported. Misogyny was a key focus for the Hate Crime Awareness Week campaign in October 2022 and continued to feature during Hate Crime Awareness Week in October 2023 with a dedicated session on ‘Misogyny, sexism and violence against women and girls’ delivered by IDAS.

North Yorkshire Youth Commission have raised awareness of misogyny amongst young people by delivering 28 ‘Wake Up Call’ sessions in 18 schools during the 2022/23 Academic Year and held various Youth Club sessions on misogyny and a ‘flash mob’ event in Richmond challenging toxic views on women during Hate Crime awareness week in October 2022.

The ‘Just a Kiss’ film series was launched on 12^th October 2023 to raise awareness of how stalking and harassment can manifest, targeting young people aged 16-24 years. One episode was released each day via the OPFCC’s Social Media channels during October 2023; there have been a total of 5,857 YouTube views of the ‘Just a Kiss’ episodes by the end of March 2024.

‘Just a Kiss’ is now being used to raise awareness amongst the next generation of police officers at a local, regional and even international level – the film series was shown to approximately 1,800 policing students at Leeds Trinity University in November 2023 and the University now intends to create a dedicated learning module around the ‘Just a Kiss’ film series; it was also shown as part of a package of support delivered by the University to policing students at the Lviv State University of Internal Affairs in the Ukraine, and the University are developing a similar project to deliver to Romanian Police Officers. Nick Wallen, Lecturer in Policing at Leeds Trinity University said:

“Stalking and Harassment is a serious subject that has to be taught with sensitivity and care, and the ‘Just a Kiss’ film the team have put together is an incredibly helpful resource as a training tool for new Police Officers. There are a number of different risk factors that we might see in a range of Stalking and Harassment scenarios, and this film captures them all. We had a fantastic reaction to the video from the Police Students on our course today, and we really look forward to further incorporating this film into our interactive workshop.”

More locally, ‘Just a Kiss’ was shown to students in January 2024 at Craven College in Skipton and students on the ‘Uniformed Services’ course at Askham Bryan College in York during Student Safety Week in December 2023, and will now be added to their standard induction package college wide.

In November 2022, the OPFCC became a White Ribbon UK Supporter Organisation (as we have less than 250 employees). City of York Council are a White Ribbon UK Organisation and North Yorkshire Police achieved White Ribbon UK Accreditation in July 2023, demonstrating our collective ongoing commitment to raise awareness of harmful attitudes, systems and behaviours around toxic masculinity that perpetuate gender inequality, encourage more people to make the White Ribbon Promise, and help to prevent violence against women and girls before it starts.

Objective 3: Increasing Public Confidence and Trust in the Police

Outcome 3.1: Increase confidence in reporting VAWG offences

There has been increased joint working between North Yorkshire Police and specialist support services to support police officers to adopt a trauma aware response to ensure the right support is offered when victims do report; specifically IDAS have provided specialist training inputs to a number of police training events including:

• Three Sexual Offence Liaison Officers (“SOLOs”) events attended by 48 police officers
• Two Specialist Sexual Abuse Investigators Development Programme (“SSAIDP”) training courses attended by 18 police officers
• SSAIDP Continuous Professional Development event attended by 25 police officers.

North Yorkshire Police’s specialist Stalking Support Officers are able to provide support to victims throughout the process of an investigation, which aims to reduce victim attrition rates as a case progresses through the Criminal Justice System; since the introduction of North Yorkshire Police’s specialist Stalking Team in 2021, the charge rate for stalking offences has increased from 5% to 11%.

Objective 4: Strengthening the Multi-Agency Approach to Address VAWG

Outcome 4.1: Improve joint Safeguarding and Risk Management Approaches

We have developed and expanded multi-agency approaches focussed on identifying and safeguarding victims or those at risk of VAWG including:

• GPs have attended York Women’s Centre on a fortnightly basis since October 2023 to offer support to women at risk of sexual exploitation who may not be engaging with other professionals to ensure their health needs are met, and in just one week five women were seen by the GP, one of whom was a high-risk pregnancy
• Exploitation Risk Assessment Conferences (“ERACs”) have been established to safeguard those involved in sex work, survival sex or at risk of sexual exploitation or County Lines, including ‘cuckooing’ to provide an offer of support. ERACs now identify and discuss on average 22 women per month, which is over three times as many identified on average last year. There are some significant and positive stories now emerging as a result of this multi-agency approach including:
  • ‘A’ was ‘No Fixed Abode’ on a crash pad, being sexually exploited and alcohol dependant, but would not engage with professionals; they are now 40 days sober and on track to get a place in a hostel while she waits for her own property
  • ‘B’ was experiencing sexual and adult criminal exploitation, with substance misuse and declining mental health as contributory factors, and they were also a high-risk victim of domestic abuse from multiple perpetrators; they were supported to complete a managed move, with ongoing safety planning, and are now reducing their substance use
  • ‘C’ had been a victim of Child Sexual Exploitation, with ongoing mental health issues, and was now a victim of Adult Exploitation, with substance misuse and declining mental health. More recently they were evicted from their property and had begun a new relationship with a serial perpetrator of domestic abuse. Working in partnership with the police, Changing Lives were able to facilitate a Domestic Violence Disclosure (also known as a Claire’s Law disclosure) and complete safety planning with her around how she could exit the relationship safely; as a result she is now in temporary accommodation, attending Dialectical Behavioural Therapy skills groups, and has reported improved mental health and that they are no longer using substances.

We have also developed and expanded multi-agency work focussed on identifying and managing risk from perpetrators of domestic abuse which has contributed to a 30% increase in suitable referrals into the +Choices: Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme during 2022/23 in comparison to the previous year.

Outcome 4.2: Improve the experiences of those going through Criminal Justice Processes

More victims of VAWG offences have benefited from special measures at court as a result of North Yorkshire Police’s Special Measures Advisor pilot from February 2023; in the initial 4 months of the pilot, the Special Measures Advisor referred 51 cases involving victims of VAWG offences back to the Officer in the Case (“OIC”) for a Special Measures application to be made, with 10 applications subsequently granted by the courts.

Outcome 4.3: Improve the experiences of those going through Civil and Family Court Proceedings

A dedicated Domestic Abuse Practitioner (also known as an IDVA) provides specialist support to between 25 and 30 victims and survivors of domestic abuse going through Family Court processes at any one time; support tends to be focussed on more practical advice and support for navigating the Family Court systems such as special measures applications and liaison with key professionals such as CAFCASS and the Court Clerks. One client shared:

“This sort of support is remarkable; it is really unbelievable. The impact it has had on me and will have on others is unmeasurable. To think that support is available when you feel so fragile and vulnerable, trying to keep things together for the kids, is just life changing for me. I mean, how do you ask for help when you don’t know why or understand what’s happening and when the system is so overwhelming? Coming to terms with abuse and making sense of that is frightening. For me being alone in a country that was not my place of birth and with no family and no one to turn to has been exhausting. I have had no one, but then IDAS came along and have given me hope again and I feel like I am getting myself back”

Objective 5: Enhancing Support Services for Victims

Outcome 5.1: Ensure high quality services are available to everyone at their time of need

Need and demand continues to grow for specialist support services for victims and survivors of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence in particular, with a 12% increase in referrals into commissioned support services in 2022/23 in comparison to 2021/22. Encouragingly, there was also a 154% increase in those who have accessed these services reporting positive outcomes as a result of the support they received.

The OPFCC has allocated over £1.8m of additional funding since April 2022 to employ an additional 14.8 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) Independent Domestic/Sexual Violence Advisors (“ID/SVAs”), including a specialist ‘by and for’ ID/SVA to support Black and Minoritised Women and Girls, an IDVA to work with older people subjected to domestic abuse and an IDVA to provide high quality specialist support, advice and advocacy for people who are exiting an abusive relationship going through the family court process.

We also continue to see growing need and demand for more timely mental health support for victims and survivors; pathways have now been established with 34 ‘first contact workers’ who are mental health professionals based in 74 GP surgeries across North Yorkshire offering up to 4 sessions of specialist support. The OPFCC has also allocated over £250,000 additional funding since April 2022 to both commissioned and non-commissioned support services to provide counselling, trauma therapy and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) sessions for an additional 225 victims in the 18-months April 2022 to September 2023.

Objective 6: Facilitating Behaviour Change by Perpetrators

Outcome 6.1: Increase availability of interventions for perpetrators of VAWG offences that focus on both enforcement and rehabilitation

We have piloted a new support offer for low-risk perpetrators who are willing to voluntarily address their stalking behaviours from January 2022 until March 2024. The OPFCC funded a specialist Stalking Project Worker who was co-located with the North Yorkshire Police specialist Stalking Team and identified 16 individuals displaying stalking behaviours, supporting three of which who agreed to engage with the +Choices Behaviour Change Programme, with one perpetrator successfully completing the programme.

The OPFCC committed further funding totalling £138,000 until March 2024 to maintain increased support worker capacity within the +Choices: Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme alongside delivery of Early Intervention and Prevention activities to continue to support agencies to work more effectively together in identifying and managing risk from perpetrators of domestic abuse; the +Choices: Domestic Abuse Perpetrator service received 30% more suitable referrals in 2022/23 in comparison to 2021/22.

Outcome 6.2: Increase availability of interventions for those with Dual Status and those with Multiple Unmet Need

The OPFCC allocated funding for a StopSO registered therapist to offer counselling to adult survivors of rape, sexual assault or child sexual abuse who are also perpetrators of sexual offences.

Crossroads offers a gender specific Diversion Scheme and uses a gender specific needs assessment for women who offend to identify common intersectional needs; the latest cohort report shows that those women who have completed Crossroads in a Planned way saw a 66% reduction in (re)offending and those who exited in an unplanned way saw a 57% reduction in (re)offending.

Delivery Plan – Ongoing Activities & Next Steps

Objective 1: Listening to All Women and Girls, including those from rural and under-represented communities, and proactively seeking feedback to inform continuous service improvements

Under Objective 1 there are two Outcomes which are:

• Proactive engagement with under-represented communities and seldom heard women
• Ensure parity of services across both urban and rural areas, and other isolated communities

To achieve these Outcomes, we Aim to:

• Regularly consult and proactively engage with all women and girls to ensure the voices of victims and survivors are heard and used to inform practice development
• Expand the gender-specific support offer of York Women’s Centre services into different areas throughout North Yorkshire and City of York, including rural and isolated areas

Actions taken to date and/or planned to support these Aims include:

In November 2022, the OPFCC launched a new survey to better understand overall public trust and confidence in North Yorkshire Police, and a new survey to collect perceptions and experiences of VAWG was launched in July 2023; the responses of both these surveys will be analysed and compared with responses to the police’s Domestic Abuse Survey to identify common themes or concerns to be addressed through this Strategy, and in particular inform any additional actions required under Objective 3 below.

We will continue to work with our partners and key stakeholders to promote the new VAWG Survey and encourage responses from under-represented communities and seldom heard women, including:

• work with Youth Justice Services and Children’s Social Care to explore engagement opportunities with girls, including Girls in Care and Care Leavers
• share the Survey with Police Cadets and exploring opportunities to reach out to local Youth groups and cadet organisations
• support the IDAS specialist Military Worker to raise awareness in both rural and military communities and encourage them to respond to the survey
• work in partnership with the ‘All About Respect’ project to explore student consultation opportunities and development of Student Survey
• work the local Disability Forums and Learning Disability Partnership Boards to explore how to reach out to self-advocates
• member organisations of the VAWG Professionals Sub-group will encourage women they are supporting to complete the survey.

The Operation Soteria Bluestone victim experience survey continues to be published nationally and shared by partners locally; this is a national survey led by academics, not police. The data from this survey is currently shared with police forces to inform local action plans to develop approaches to rape investigations and prosecutions, improving support for victims and putting the focus on the suspect.

Representatives from both the North Yorkshire and York Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Boards now reciprocally attend IDAS Survivor Advisory Board meetings and work continues with this survivor forum to explore other opportunities for survivors to be more involved at a strategic level, including exploring options to develop a dedicated ‘Survivor Voice’ resource in 2024.

New Beginnings have been awarded Community Safety Services funding by the OPFCC to expand their domestic abuse peer support project into Craven to ensure the voices of those living in Rural and other isolated communities are heard.

Commissioner Zoë contributed funding through her Community Fund towards the purchase and conversion of a campervan by St. Giles Trust known as ‘Liberty Links’ to deliver outreach services to women in rural and other isolated communities throughout the Ryedale district. This provision has proved to be popular and as a result further additional funding has been secured through the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund to allow St. Giles Trust to purchase another campervan to reach more women in rural and isolated communities and to offer detached youth work to girls at risk of exploitation in more urban areas, initially throughout the Craven district.

Drop-in ‘Spokes’ of the York Women’s Centre have been established in Northallerton, York and Scarborough; these are not women-only spaces so work is ongoing to identify suitable premises and funding to establish a dedicated Women’s Centre ‘Hub’ in Scarborough as a result. Suitable venues for further Drop-in/Spokes are being explored in Malton, Northallerton and Selby. Safer Streets Funding has also been secured to purchase materials to enhance the drop-in sessions which have already been established.

Partners have committed to working together to develop a ‘Whole System Approach for Women’ across North Yorkshire and City of York with the aim of improving the response to women with multiple unmet needs, those who have been victims, or at risk of violence and those who are involved with, or at risk of involvement with the Criminal Justice System. Additional funding has been secured through the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund for a dedicated Coordinator post until March 2025 who will coordinate the development of this Whole System Approach including reviewing the above Hub and Spoke services in line with any changes in local need and demand, supported by specialist Outreach Workers.

A Women’s Whole System Approach event was held in February 2024 with over 30 professionals from across York and North Yorkshire in attendance. The event included lived experience inputs from two women who have experienced trauma and the Criminal Justice System.  Feedback from those who attended the event is being collated on how to continue to develop and enhance the Women’s Whole System Approach and facilitate further joint working locally. The feedback will also be used to inform the service design for the new Women’s Support Service due to commence delivery form April 2025.

Exploitation Risk Assessment Conferences (“ERACs”), formally the Sexual Exploitation Professionals Group, initially piloted in York, now review intelligence on a county-wide basis and agree multi-agency risk management actions to provide an offer of support to women at risk of all forms of sexual or criminal exploitation, including County Lines and ‘cuckooing’.

Objective 2: Tackling the root causes of VAWG through Prevention and Early Intervention

Under Objective 2 there are two Outcomes which are:

• Increase awareness and promote zero tolerance of all forms of gender inequality and VAWG
• Increase availability of Early Help and Community-led Interventions

To achieve these Outcomes, we Aim to:

• Develop age-appropriate materials to challenge misogyny from an early age
• Develop campaign materials to raise awareness about misogyny, stalking and street harassment
• Develop interventions for women to raise awareness and highlight the impact of Illegal Cultural Harms with the aim of enabling women to abandon harmful cultural practices and beliefs
• Develop a network of Champions specialising in different VAWG issues to help raise awareness and ensure victims can more easily access help and advice at the earliest opportunity

Actions taken to date and/or planned to support these Aims include:

A number of awareness raising events and activities throughout Hate Crime Awareness Weeks in October 2022 and 2023 including:

• North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership hosted a conference for Designated (School) Safeguarding Leads covering topics such as Radicalisation/Prevent and Hate Crime/Prejudice-based incidents, Illegal Cultural Harms, Exploitation and Contextual Safeguarding
• North Yorkshire Youth held a series of events challenging misogyny including the delivery of ‘Wake Up Call’ exploring toxic views on women in secondary schools and academies, alongside Youth Club sessions on misogyny and a ‘Flash Mob’ event in Richmond
• IDAS and North Yorkshire Youth delivered online sessions on ‘Misogyny, sexism and violence against women and girls’

An easy read leaflet on misogyny has been jointly developed by North Yorkshire Police and the North Yorkshire Learning Disability Partnership as well as a ‘One Minute Guide’ for practitioners to increase accessibility of information on misogyny as a Hate Crime.

North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service are exploring options to expand Local Intervention Fire Education (“LIFE”) courses for young people in 2024 to include misogyny; the LIFE programme uses a blend of practical activities, classroom sessions and positive role-modelling designed to help young people build resilience, self-confidence and effective relationships.

The ‘All About Respect’ project was developed by York St John University, York College, Independent Domestic Abuse Services (“IDAS”) and Survive who support survivors of rape and sexual abuse. The project is student-led, working collaboratively with young adults (aged 16-25yrs) and aims to create a space for open and honest dialogue about healthy relationships in young adults. The project brings together individuals and organisations committed to tackling gender-based violence and hate crime to co-design campaigns and training that are evidence-based and youth-led including:

• All About Respect in Education: campaign to raise awareness of gender-based violence and hate crime in young adults
• All About Respect in Relationships: project to examine young adults understanding and experiences of unhealthy relationships and the development of training and campaign material to raise awareness of unhealthy relationships
• All About Respect in the Nighttime Economy: project to raise awareness of gender-based violence in the night-time economy, alongside the evaluation
• All About Respect Bystander Training: aims to empower young people to become an active bystander and help prevent sexual harassment, sexual harm, and hate crime

City of York Council have commissioned the ‘All About Respect’ project to raise awareness of domestic abuse amongst university and college students in York, including campaign co-development, focus groups and surveys with students, as well as delivery of Bystander Training

‘All About Respect Active Bystander’ online training modules on Sexual Violence/Harassment/Abuse have been developed along with a module on Hate Crime; these modules have supporting resources and can be used independently or as part of a wider educational training package on gender-based violence, including Active Bystander training to be delivered from 2024 using Home Office Safer Streets Funding, initially with universities and colleges in York and Selby with the intention of rolling this out countywide. The funding will also facilitate consultation through a variety of methods dancefloor events, focus groups and surveys to reach a large sample of young people locally to hear their experience and views on feelings of safety.

An ‘All About Respect’ Network event was held on 22^nd June 2023 which aimed to expand the project into the local community and establish a community-wide network including education, police, health and charitable sectors to develop a consistent approach to tackling sexual harm and hate crime within the wider community; the event included inputs from a variety of local agencies including the North Yorkshire Youth Commission, North Yorkshire Police and Survive.

City of York Council have developed new materials that aim to increase awareness of Domestic Abuse amongst young people, providing practical examples of different forms of abuse such as coercive control to be shared via local partnership boards and stakeholders with schools, colleges and universities. City of York Council have also commissioned a healthy schools initiative, which will include work around healthy relationships with 7 schools signed up to the programme currently. City of York Council continue to work with pastoral leads within secondary schools to complete a mapping exercise of what is currently being delivered within York schools in relation to Healthy Relationships, and if there is specific reference to misogyny; this will inform the commissioning of a Healthy Schools Framework aligned to the existing Framework within North Yorkshire schools.

The Serious Violence Duty Fund has allocated funding for the ‘She Was Walking Home’ project which will deliver 10 awareness raising performances and educational workshops in different educational/youth settings based on real-life testimonies. These sessions will also explore language, behaviour, reporting and support available.

The OPFCC secured Home Office Safer Streets Funding to create the ‘Just a Kiss’ short film series to raise awareness of how stalking and harassment can manifest in rural communities as well as more urban environments, aimed at young people aged 16 to 25yrs. A ‘sneak peek’ of the series was introduced by the film’s Director at the VAWG Strategy ‘One Year On’ event held on 31^st July 2023 and ‘Just a Kiss’ was publicly launched on 12^th October 2023 with one episode released each day via the OPFCC’s Social Media channels. We are now working with North Yorkshire Police and both universities in York, as well as the Home Office to explore options to develop packages for university, secondary and primary school student audiences to use the film as an educational tool.

The Halo Project have been commissioned by the OPFCC to deliver specialist Illegal Cultural Harms Support Services including education and awareness raising to reach hidden victims within our Black and Minority Ethnic communities, including a new pilot of the Halo Project’s ‘Talk, Listen, Change’ programme from April 2024. North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service have also begun work to improve advice offered to individuals threatened with arson, in response to the threat of so called ‘honour’ based crimes.

IDAS have been jointly commissioned by North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council to deliver a multi-agency training program to raise awareness amongst a wide range of professionals of the signs and indicators of domestic abuse and/or trauma and mental health needs, particularly amongst older people, children and young people and the LGBTQ+ community.

We have supported the UN ‘16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence’ annual campaign that commences on 25^th November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and White Ribbon Day), through to International Human Rights Day on 10^th December. There have been a series of awareness raising events and activities being carried out over this period in both 2022 and 2023 including a series of short films showcasing the support services available to women and girls locally, with interviews with those who have used and benefited from this support to encourage others to come forward and seek help; these videos can be viewed on the OPFCC’s website: #16Days of Action – Supporting women and girls The OPFCC and North Yorkshire Police also worked with partners, including York St John University during Sexual Violence Awareness Week in February to raise awareness and promote local support services, challenging victim blaming, Spiking awareness, etc.

A Task and Finish Group has been established by Joint VAWG Strategy Delivery Group to map scope and numbers of current Workplace Champions Schemes, including Domestic Abuse Matters Champions within North Yorkshire Police, Stalking Champions and Hate Crime Champions. The group are exploring options to create a network to bring these champions together to support each other and share best practice, including consideration of a virtual forum online.

The Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (“DAHA”) project in North Yorkshire has delivered ‘Domestic Abuse Awareness Course for Managers’ training courses to managers and team leaders in Housing and Customer Services since November 2023, and staff from Housing Services in North Yorkshire have received the level one domestic abuse awareness training since January 2024 to increase awareness and recognition of domestic abuse at an earlier stage. The DAHA project is also offering training Homelessness staff in Housing Law relating to Domestic Abuse and will be creating a Domestic Abuse Champions network for North Yorkshire Council.

North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service have commenced work on their first Domestic Abuse and Sexual Harm policy, operating procedure and associated training; this policy will be delivered during 2024 with associated training/awareness sessions and processes across the organisation. This will be informed by an assessment of the type and level of training fire staff need to understand why VAWG happens, how we can respond more effectively, and how we can work with others to prevent it; this has been incorporated into the Prevention Team training programme. North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service have also begun to assess the consistency, safety, quality and impact of prevention interventions and established a Task and Finish Group to introduce a Safe Person Policy and Operating Procedure, based on national good practice.

The VAWG Professionals Sub-group are considering options to link in with existing Community Champions Schemes and identify suitable experts on specific VAWG themes such as the IDAS Community Champions who are located within more diverse communities, including rural localities. The Sub-group will then work with these subject matter experts to develop training content and supporting materials based on their specialisms across different locations and settings including workplaces, faith-based and educational settings.

Research has been completed to identify best practice in relation to ‘Safe Spaces’ schemes, personal safety apps and other safety initiatives used in other areas to help identify which approach is most suitable for use in North Yorkshire; this is now being considered by a Task and Finish Group established by joint VAWG Strategy Delivery Group to map the scope, membership and utilisation of existing schemes locally and explore how these can be expanded and joined up with local support services including ‘Ask for Angela’, ‘Ask for Ani’, and ‘Safe Spaces’ in supermarkets and banks to identify how we can provide support to ensure these schemes are consistently well embedded locally, including any training or awareness raising materials where required for staff. The group will also identify gaps in availability and accessibility and explore alternative venues and facilities to increase local provision, particularly in rural and other isolated communities but also for those who may not regularly access other mainstream services.

IDAS previously delivered Vulnerability Training to 187 workers in Scarborough and York night-time economy settings, and Humankind delivered ‘spiking’ awareness training to workers in Scarborough and York night-time economy settings during 2021/22. The OPFCC have secured Home Office Safer Streets Funding to deliver this spiking and vulnerability training in Harrogate night-time economy settings from 2024/25.

Objective 3: Increasing Public Confidence and Trust in the Police

Under Objective 3 there are two Outcomes which are:

• Increase confidence in reporting VAWG offences
• Identify learning opportunities and ensure continuous service improvements

To achieve these Outcomes, we Aim to:

• Support police officers to adopt a trauma aware response to ensure the right support is offered when victims do report
• Better identify and respond to VAWG ‘gateway offences’, Illegal Cultural Harms, and stalking offences at an earlier point
• Develop the Rape and Domestic Abuse Scrutiny Panels to review cases which have not attained the required evidential level for prosecution or otherwise resulted in a failed prosecution

Actions taken to date and/or planned to support these Aims include:

Trauma-aware approaches are included in training courses completed by North Yorkshire Police for sexual offences, child protection and domestic abuse investigations and victim interview skills. In addition Stalking Clinics hosted by the specialist Stalking Team specifically provide trauma-informed investigative support and advice to officers and supervisors investigating stalking offences, including specialist support services available.

Subject matter experts in child sexual and criminal exploitation, domestic abuse, missing persons, and child protection provide specialist training inputs to new recruits, front line officers and newly promoted sergeants within North Yorkshire Police.

North Yorkshire Police officers work alongside Children’s Social Care in ‘No Wrong Door’ hubs at Harrogate and Scarborough, where the team support early interventions with children and young people in care or on the edge of care who are at increased risk of child sexual and/or criminal exploitation and county lines.

North Yorkshire Police launched the ‘Pathways App’ to increase officer knowledge of support services available and referral pathways into specialist police teams including the Vulnerability Assessment Team (“VAT”) and Domestic Abuse teams who review Public Protection Notices and signpost into specialist services if not completed during the initial reporting.

The Serious Duty Violence Fund has allocated funding for two North Yorkshire Police initiatives designed to provide more preventative and early intervention approaches to VAWG in Night-time Economy settings:

• Operation Night Safe in Selby will include visible patrols alongside provision of ‘safe spaces’ to help anyone who is out in the Night-Time Economy (“NTE”) in Selby, supported Town Safety Officers, engaging with the public and focusing on hot spot areas of concern including VAWG incidents
• Operation Reach is designed to address the current perceived lack of high visibility police presence in the NTE; officers will provide a holistic approach to early intervention and prevention in the NTE to address issues including VAWG

Safer Streets Funding has also been secured for North Yorkshire Police’s Project Vigilant which is a perpetrator-focused approach to actively prevent sexual violence and predatory sexualised behaviour in the NTE. We will now work together to develop a communication strategy and campaign to support both Operation Reach and Project Vigilant to increase feelings of safety in the NTE which will include purchasing geo-fencing technology also funded via Safer Streets Funding.

North Yorkshire Police have adopted the Safe Lives ‘DA Matters Change Programme’ which included a critical friend ‘health check’ of responses to domestic abuse completed by Safe Lives to identify action to be taken to improve and enhance practices; progress to date against these recommendations includes establishing a network of 84 DA Matters Champions within North Yorkshire Police, and First Responders training completed by 1,005 Police Officers plus 20 Police Trainers to provide sustainability longer-term and ensure approaches are firmly embedded.

North Yorkshire Police have introduced ‘Office Manager’ posts in CID offices to identify and assess ‘gateway’ offences and ensure the most appropriate resource is allocated as a result; where offences are allocated to a PIP1* trained officer, PIP2* oversight will be arranged via a Detective Sergeant providing greater oversight of gateway offences which will ensure a full investigation plan is agreed, thus providing a better-quality service to the victim.

*Professionalising Investigation Programme (“PIP”) levels 1 and 2 is a structured development programme to give the police service and other sectors of law enforcement the skills to conduct professional investigations. It provides consistent registration, examination, training, workplace assessment and accreditation to a national standard.

The North Yorkshire Police specialist Stalking Team was established to review reported stalking incidents, offer safeguarding and support to victims, and support officers investigating stalking cases; an additional temporary Detective Sergeant was seconded to the team to provide more robust oversight of investigations, increase applications for Stalking Prevention Orders (where appropriate) and liaise with other forces to identify good practice.

Commissioner Zoë has supported a pledge with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to increase the number of stalking cases reported. To support this, the OPFCC commissioned the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to conduct an independent victim-focussed review of current practices and responses by North Yorkshire Police to reports of stalking, with recommendations where necessary to improve processes. The overall assessment was very positive about the work of North Yorkshire Police’s specialist Stalking Team, with 30 recommendations for areas to be developed; the full report outlining the findings and recommendations of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, alongside a response detailing the next steps we plan to take to address these recommendations was published on the OPFCC website. North Yorkshire Police have already adopted many of the recommendations made including Office Managers now assessing stalking investigations and allocating the most appropriate resource, depending on the nature of the offences disclosed and a permanent Stalking Sergeant post as part of the Safeguarding resource uplift, which will ensure that stalking investigations are fully supported, and officers receive specialist investigative advice; the remaining recommendations will be tracked and progressed as part of a Stalking Action Plan.

In addition to delivering specialist Support Services for Illegal Cultural Harms including a ‘by and for’ ID/SVA support service for victims from black and minoritised communities, the Halo Project have also been commissioned to deliver specialist accredited training to enhance safeguarding and protection of black and minoritised victims and have delivered 75 online webinars and in-person training sessions to around 3,000 frontline workers and officers over the last two years.

More recently, the Halo Project have been awarded Serious Violence Duty funding to write, produce and launch a North Yorkshire specific film featuring black and minoritised victims of illegal cultural harms. The film will be trauma informed and co-produced with local women and girls aged up to 25 years who have experience of cultural violence and abuse and will aim to raise awareness of the hidden serious violence and abuse faced by women and girls in black and minoritised communities.

North Yorkshire Police have adopted Operation Soteria Bluestone to improve responses to victims of Rape And Serious Sexual Offences (“RASSO”). The Operation Soteria Bluestone self-assessment stage was concluded in January 2024 and included a review of current delivery, practice, and performance in respect of RASSO across all six pillars of the national operating model; this will provide several key performance indicators which we will measure improvements against. The planning phase has now commenced for development of local Operational Soteria transformational and implementation plans, commencing the implementation phase from November 2024. This will include three symposium events which will be for both internal and external partners to inform the transformational and implementation plan along with seeking feedback from wider professionals who are engaged with adults and children; these events will also provide the opportunity to share the findings from the self-assessment and deep dive case review findings which was completed in December 2023 and January 2024.

As part of Operation Soteria there is a national programme for all officers who attend as ‘First Responders’ for RASSO cases, focused on adopting a trauma informed approach. We are also exploring options to facilitate delivery of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust’s ‘Trauma Aware Response’ training for Police, Probation and Court staff as part of our Operation Soteria Action Plan.

North Yorkshire Police have trained 37 response officers as Sexual Offence Liaison Officers (“SOLOs”) to provide an enhanced service to victims of RASSO for both recent and non-recent incidents; this number will continue to increase with two additional courses now planned for July and October 2024, prioritising officers in areas with fewer SOLO officers within that geographical command area. Tracking deployments of these SOLO will be monitored and cross referenced by the North Yorkshire Police’s Operation Soteria lead to ensure a trauma informed approach and measure the effectiveness of these deployments. A message has also been communicated out force wide around the benefits of the ISVA service to increase the numbers of appropriate referrals into this specialist support service. SOLOs also receive Continuous Professional Development (“CPD”) inputs to ensure there is no skill fade, and CPD events will continue for PIP2 officers, staff, and supervisors for those who are working in the investigation environment linked to RASSO and VAWG offences.

The Rape Investigation Improvement Group was established by North Yorkshire Police in May 2022, and the subsequent introduction of the RASSO case file checklist by North Yorkshire Police has already seen an improvements and consistency in case file submissions to the Crown Prosecution Service (“CPS”). Work is ongoing in this area to upskill Sergeants around the key themes and common inconsistencies to be addressed prior to submission, with the overall aim to reduce the cases sent back to the Officer in the Case (“OIC”) for re-work following review by the RASSO Gatekeepers prior to submission to the CPS.

A recommendation within the national Operation Soteria Action Plan is that there should be consultation with the police prior to the CPS decision to take No Further Action (“NFA”); however the CPS locally have raised a lack of capacity (at this time) to deliver against this national recommendation. In the interim it has been agreed that when North Yorkshire Police receive a notification that the case is to be NFA’d by the CPS this will be reviewed by the RASSO Detective Inspector who will make an assessment as to whether they agree with this decision and what is the learning from this (if any); where they disagree, the appropriate challenge process will be followed locally.

IDAS worked with North Yorkshire Police to inform their Domestic Abuse Pledge launched in February 2022 to support officers or staff who are victims of domestic abuse. Five Domestic Abuse Practitioners (also known as IDVAs) within our commissioned support services have received additional training jointly delivered by North Yorkshire Police’s Safeguarding and Professional Standards departments to ensure they are aware of police complaints and disciplinary processes to become ‘Police Perpetrated Domestic Abuse Champions’, with reciprocal training delivered by IDAS back to the Professionals Standards team to ensure they are aware of the support available to victims and facilitate positive working relationships in cases of police perpetrated domestic abuse.

Op Pledge was launched on 6^th June 2023 to further enhance the Domestic Abuse Pledge and better support police officers or staff who are victims of Domestic Abuse; Chief Constable Lisa Winward highlighted the key features of Op Pledge in a short video, providing assurance to officers and staff within North Yorkshire Police that all reports of domestic abuse will be kept confidential, and any breach of confidentiality will be investigated as potential misconduct. Step-by-step guides have been provided for everyone who may be impacted by domestic abuse reported by staff, including supervisors, peers, victims, and perpetrators, as well as a comprehensive toolkit for managers to support their staff, and a specific Op Pledge shortcut ‘button’ has been added to the front page of ‘The Source’ (North Yorkshire Police’s Intranet), which takes staff to the bespoke Op Pledge page to provide more information and advice.

The OPFCC has undertaken reviews of the Domestic Abuse Independent Scrutiny Panel and Rape Scrutiny Panel as part of a wider review of all scrutiny arrangements; this has included speaking to victims and survivors to establish how they would like to be involved and represented in these panels and ensure their experiences are considered. Following review and discussion at the Domestic Abuse Independent Scrutiny Panel in late 2022, a new Progress Tracker was introduced for 2023/24 to improve recording of feedback from the panel and the subsequent actions taken by North Yorkshire Police to address these and to ensure learning is consistently shared at an organisational level to continuously drive improvement in Domestic Abuse investigations; the panel intend to publish high-level findings on the OPFCC’s website to ensure transparency following an annual review of learning points and progress tracker for 2023/24 will be completed in 2024.

Objective 4: Strengthening the Multi-Agency Approach to Address VAWG

Under Objective 4 there are three Outcomes which are:

• Improve joint Safeguarding and Risk Management Approaches
• Improve the experiences of those going through Criminal Justice Processes
• Improve the experiences of those going through Civil and Family Court Proceedings

To achieve these Outcomes, we Aim to:

• Promote the use of special measures in court
• Explore options for establishing Court Observers Panels to observe rape and sexual abuse trials and/or domestic abuse cases with a view to highlighting best practice and providing constructive feedback
• Work with the legal professionals, court staff and judges to prevent further victimisation within the family court process

Actions taken to date and/or planned to support these Aims include:

A Multi-Agency Steering Group has been established for Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (“MARACs”) and Multi-Agency Tasking And Coordination (“MATAC”) processes, which provides quarterly Assurance Reports for the Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Boards and subsequently the Community Safety Partnerships. As a result of recommendations from this Steering Group, MARACs are now held at least weekly and an additional MARAC Coordinator has been employed by North Yorkshire Police to meet the increasing MARAC caseloads.

SafeLives’ strategic needs assessment and wider system review of domestic abuse commissioned North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council included a review to identify positive practice within MARAC and provide opportunities for development and strengthen the approaches in place; the findings were shared with the Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Boards in September 2023 and have also been utilised in the development of the new North Yorkshire and York Joint Domestic Abuse Strategy.

North Yorkshire Council are working with North Yorkshire Police to ensure the Halo Project are also a consultant and partner to the operational MARAC meetings where Illegal Cultural Harms is a factor, ensuring that the voice of Black and Minoritised women and girls are heard; ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ toolkit aids are also being developed for professionals supporting victims or survivors.

The MARAC/MATAC Steering Group continues to review current arrangements, including meeting attendance and engagement by key stakeholders and to ensure learning from meetings is shared at an organisational level to continuously drive improvements: the number of cases heard at MARACs and attendance by agencies varies  and although the number of cases heard at MATAC meetings and attendance by agencies is more consistent, there are still significant differences in some areas so more work is required to identify consistent measures and embed best practice across all areas where possible.

The MARAC/MATAC Steering Group is also developing case studies for victims that have been through the journey of MARAC to understand whether the outcome of the conference has been a positive or negative experience and to shape our delivery through their experience ensuring a victim-centred approach is taken.

Exploitation Risk Assessment Conferences (“ERACs”) were established to safeguard those involved in sex work, survival sex or at risk of sexual exploitation or County Lines, including ‘cuckooing’ to provide an offer of safeguarding, emotional and practical support to more women. We will specifically target the perpetrators of trafficking and sexual exploitation offences through the national anti-trafficking and anti-slavery network.

GPs now attend York Women’s Centre on a fortnightly basis to offer support to women who may not be engaging with other professionals to ensure their health needs are met; the Women’s centre also now offer a needle exchange service and a Smear clinic.  An offer of LGBTQ+ awareness training has been made to professionals across the VAWG Network.

A quarterly professionals women’s group has also been established, led by Humankind to discuss:

• case studies/good news stories
• support needs
• partnership work with other women’s services
• trends or patterns (support, offending behaviour etc)
• challenges and opportunities

North Yorkshire Council have recruited an independent chair for Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (“MACE”) meetings, and work is ongoing to try and correlate as far as possible the processes in York and North Yorkshire so that they are more consistent; City of York Council have also introduced a pilot where health records are flagged for children identified as medium and high risk of exploitation with the intention to roll this approach across North Yorkshire as well.

North Yorkshire Police have employed a Special Measures Advisor within the Witness Care System as part of a pilot which started 1^st February 2023; this Special Measures Advisor is taking a proactive approach to reviewing cases pre-charge, and if it is felt that Special Measures are needed then they will reach out to the Officer In the Case (“OIC”) to advise on an application for the identified Special Measures required, which will in turn raise overall awareness of suitable Special Measures to be applied for in future cases. The Special Measures Advisor is also involved in planning for Operation Crystal (Victim Care) Officer Training which is planned for 2024 and will include a series of online masterclasses covering Special Measures to introduce the bitesize guides as part of this training.

The Special Measures Advisor has developed a new North Yorkshire Police Special Measures Booklet which officers can give to victims and witnesses should they have questions; this is also available for use by external partner agencies such as the Witness Service and the ID/SVA services and has had positive feedback from those who have used it so far with some officers stating it has help them and victims to understand the options available to them and the process involved in applying for Special Measures at court. North Yorkshire Police also now have a new and more detailed MG2 form which provides an explanation of what each type of Special Measure is and highlights crucial differences locally such as how the screens can vary from court to court; this has also had positive feedback with officers confirming that the increased detail has made it more victim focused and is more informative and makes the process easier for victims to understand.

A pilot commenced in April 2023 for IDVAs to be available ‘on call’ to attend plea hearings at York Magistrates Court should somebody need support in-court, whether or not they are an existing IDAS client; this pilot is overseen by the Court IDVA (see below for further information) providing vital support to victims during criminal proceedings, and linking in with both prosecution and probation to assist in impact considerations for the purposes of sentencing and victim safety. The pilot currently being reviewed with the Local Criminal Justice Partnership to consider how it could be continued and potentially rolled out at other courts throughout North Yorkshire. The Court IDVA is a member of the Justice Participation & Engagement Group Panel for Crime, chaired by the HM Courts & Tribunal Service; the aim of this group is to bring the voices of victims to the attention of the panel in order to discuss new ways of working and responses to domestic abuse.

North Yorkshire Police’s Case Quality Review Team have led on developing and promoting the use of evidence-led policing approaches to support Evidence-Led Prosecutions (“ELP”) where appropriate. The team assessed 492 cases for referral to CPS since May 2023; of these 37 were identified as suitable for ELP and further analysis of these is pending. Scrutiny panels also reviewed 6 cases where no further action was taken by North Yorkshire Police; one case was identified as having been suitable for ELP which had not been identified by the reviewing Sergeant but the second panel review subsequently identified three cases that were suitable for ELP that had been identified and recorded correctly by the sergeant. The team work closely with the CPS including sharing videos from CPS around what a good ELP investigation looks like and a review of cases where the CPS took NFA submitted prior to May 2023 is underway; 19 cases have been assessed so far, of which 6 were presented as ELP but none had sufficient evidence to prosecute.

Steps have been taken to prompt ELP consideration including on the Domestic Violence Protection Notice template and case file checklist, and a new Outcome 16 template also requires information around why ELP is not being progressed. ELP drop-in sessions have been held from October 2023 and ELP also features in every Crime Managers Meeting. North Yorkshire Police are also participating in academic research (led by the open university) around the impact of ELP on victims.

IDAS established a dedicated Domestic Abuse & Family Court Working group which continues to disseminate consistent and accurate information about the Family Court process and improve information sharing between Family Courts and the police; the Chair of the Working Group now also attends the Joint VAWG Strategy Delivery Group to provide regular updates.

The OPFCC secured Ministry of Justice funding for IDAS to employ a dedicated Domestic Abuse Practitioner (also known as an IDVA) who provides specialist support to victims of domestic abuse going through Family Court processes until March 2025. The Court IDVA also ensures that learning and best practice is embedded throughout the wider support teams by establishing weekly Practitioner Drop-ins for all IDAS staff to provide specialist advice and guidance to practitioners to enable them to better understand and therefore support their clients through the civil and family court processes, or to take on those more complex cases for full Family Court Support package directly. To support this, the Court IDVA coordinates a team of Family Court Champions, with a designated Domestic Abuse Practitioner from each of the locality and specialist teams taking part in regularly key training and forums to share that knowledge and awareness within their own teams.

The Court IDVA has developed strong working relationships across York, Harrogate and Scarborough Family Courts, working closely with the Legal Team Managers as well as Security staff, Ushers and Court Clerks, and they have a weekly drop-in desk at two of these courts with IDAS materials on how to access support and a Family Courts FAQ distributed by the Courts in all hearing packs provided. They are delivering a training programme on the impact of domestic abuse to all court staff between February to June 2024; Judges have also been invited to attend. Through regular attendance at hearings to support their clients, they have also established an excellent reputation with the local Judiciary; within a recent court transcript it was recorded that Judge Boorman stated that:

“your work is being recognised, don’t always see you myself but I know you are out there in the waiting areas helping those who need you, so thank you”

The Court IDVA attends the Local Family Justice Board meetings, including the Domestic Abuse Sub-Working group to raise awareness and increase knowledge across the range of professionals working with those going through the Family Courts. They are also a member of the Family Law Panel chaired by HM Courts & Tribunal Services, to ensure the voices of victims are heard and to inform the design of a new client facing system that will allow for position statements to be submitted online, to ensure the legal system can be navigated more easily and for updates to be received and documents viewed. This system will also allow for us to support ‘Litigants in Person’ to submit evidence and documents as well as download their Court Orders. The Court IDVA links in with the Family Court Advisory Teams and attends monthly Child And Family Court Advisory Support Service (“CAFCASS”) staff meetings to share practice around cases of domestic abuse and Family Court proceedings.

The Court IDVA has also established good working relationships with local solicitors and barristers to increase the number offering pro-bono support for clients in the York and Scarborough areas in particular. They have established quarterly Family Court ‘Access an IDVA and a Family Law Solicitor’ drop-ins which are well attended and provide an opportunity to link in with local solicitors supporting IDAS clients and discuss key issues and next steps. ‘Family Courts Café’ sessions at York St. John University have recently been established with local solicitors to meet with clients alongside their IDAS support worker in a friendly, supportive and safe environment.

Objective 5: Enhancing Support Services for Victims

Under Objective 5 there is one Outcome which is:

• Ensure high quality services are available to everyone at their time of need

To achieve this Outcome, we Aim to:

• Explore options to jointly commission where possible a range of services to offer trauma-aware support for victims of all forms of VAWG
• Create a new Victims’ Centre including dedicated, modern Sexual Assault Referral Centre (“SARC”) and Child Sexual Assault Assessment Service (“CSAAS”) facilities, and Video Recorded Interview (“VRI”) suites to provide an improved service for all victims of sexual violence or abuse
• Consider the gendered nature of exploitation and implement practice development locally where appropriate

Actions taken to date and/or planned to support these Aims include:

Additional national funding totalling £1,836,643 was allocated by the OPFCC in 2022/23 and 2023/24 to maintain increased capacity and availability of specialist domestic abuse and/or sexual violence support services including Counselling and Talking Therapy services, the Halo Project’s ’By & For’ Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (“ISVA”) service for women and girls from Black and Minoritised communities and the New Beginnings Peer Support Service for Domestic Abuse.

New VAWG Survey responses will be analysed in more detail, particularly those who reported not receiving any support and compared to the police Domestic Abuse Survey responses to identify common themes or barriers to accessing support and agree actions to be taken to address this moving forward.

The OPFCC, North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council have jointly commissioned a new package of support services to deliver a ‘Whole System Approach’ to Domestic Abuse from April 2024; collectively investing over £8m over the next four years to provide a holistic package of enhanced support services for everyone affected by domestic abuse across North Yorkshire and the City of York. The new services include specialist support for children and young people affected by domestic abuse within their family alongside support for those young people displaying abusive behaviours themselves towards family members or other young people as a result of the domestic abuse they have experienced. The new services will enable victims and survivors, and their children, to better cope with the immediate impacts of domestic abuse, empowering them to make informed choices about their safety, and rebuilding resilience to move forward from the harm experienced.

The new Regional Adult (16yrs+) Sexual Assault Referral Centre (“SARC”) service commenced in April 2023; this service was jointly commissioned with NHS England and Police & Crime Commissioners/Mayors across the Yorkshire and Humber Region to provide additional service resilience through a 24/7 service across four SARC premises, including one located in York.

A workshop was held in March 2023 between Commissioners across the Yorkshire and the Humber region to discuss Child Sexual Assault Assessment Services (“CSAAS”) re-commissioning options; this was supplemented by a further regional CSAAS re-modelling workshop hosted by NHS England in June 2023 to consult with current service providers and commissioners, partners and other key stakeholders across the region to explore options for future service delivery models. Commissioners met at end of August 2023 to initial feedback and findings from the workshops; further analysis of all stakeholder feedback is being completed. A ‘Request For Information’ (early market engagement exercise) was completed in January 2024 which will be used to inform and develop a set of draft delivery models for further consultation with stakeholders; this will also include consultation with Lived Experience Groups and victim/survivor forums.

The OPFCC has commissioned a new (Criminal or Sexual) Exploitation Support Service which will commence on 13^th May 2024 delivered by St. Giles Trust. The new support service will work with those aged 10-25yrs and will offer gender-specific support for women and girls. The new service model will offer support to those who have been victims of exploitation and also have a focus on prevention and early intervention.

Pathways have been established with “first contact workers” based in 74 GP surgeries in North Yorkshire who are mental health professionals offering up to four support sessions.

Commissioner Zoë purchased a property in May 2022 to create a new Victims Centre including new dedicated, modern SARC and CSAAS facilities, alongside two new state-of-the-art Video-Recorded Interview suites to be utilised by North Yorkshire Police to take statements from vulnerable victims and witnesses. The OPFCC and North Yorkshire Police have worked with local stakeholders and national subject matter experts to input into architectural plans to ensure the Victims Centre will meet the needs of all victims and survivors who will use the new facilities which will be available in the new building. Building work commenced in February 2024 and will ensure SARC/CSAAS will achieve national UKAS Accreditation in respect of forensic services, improve availability of fully accessible facilities for those with mobility needs and improve the overall experience of all victims using these facilities by providing a modern, safe and welcoming environment and services to support them to recover, heal and rebuild their lives.

We continue to ensure that victims of sexual offences receive an appropriate and timely offer of support by exploring whether victims of sexual offences can be automatically transferred to the Supporting Victims team who will then make a referral to an appropriate support service i.e. ISVA, Women’s Centre, Exploitation Service, and ensure all victims of RASSO can be referred directly to the ISVA support services in all cases.

The OPFCC has signed up the 7-force ‘Transparency in Supply Chains’ Statement in respect of procurement and commissioning. The Terms of Reference for the Modern Slavery Partnership were refreshed in 2023, including reviewing governance and accountability arrangements, to ensure it supports effective identification and timely offers of support to victims of modern slavery and human trafficking. The Modern Slavery Partnership now produces quarterly reports to feedback to Community Safety Partnerships and has contributed content to Safeguarding Week 2023 and campaign for Anti-Slavery Day 2023.

The ‘National Referral Mechanism’ is the national framework for identifying and referring victims of modern slavery and ensuring they receive the appropriate support. The ‘Single Competent Authority’ administers the National Referral Mechanism, which is part of the Home Office. North Yorkshire Police is fully engaged in National Referral Mechanism for both adults (with consent) who are referred to Single Competent Authority and for children (no consent required) who are discussed via local multi agency panel, acting on behalf of the Single Competent Authority.

Changing Lives have secured funding to employ a ‘net reach’ worker and caseworker to identify women who advertise sexual services online to help understand local and national trends and reach out to offer support to these women. North Yorkshire Police have access to ‘Traffic Jam’ software, which can search for sex workers advertising online, allowing North Yorkshire Police to be more proactive and react more quickly to urgent enquires. We will continue to develop work to offer support to women involved with sex working, survival sex and at risk of, or a victim of sexual exploitation throughout North Yorkshire aligned to the Whole System Approach for Women.

Objective 6: Facilitating Behaviour Change by Perpetrators

Under Objective 6 there are two Outcomes which are:

• Increase availability of interventions for perpetrators of VAWG offences that focus on both enforcement and rehabilitation
• Increase availability of interventions for those with Dual Status and those with Multiple Unmet Need

To achieve these Outcomes, we Aim to:

• Develop a range of services and interventions for perpetrators of stalking
• Develop an appropriate domestic abuse perpetrator service offer for those who are high risk but don’t meet the criteria for a statutory programme
• Pilot interventions for perpetrators of online sexual offending
• Seek to divert women that offend or are at risk of offending from the criminal justice system (where appropriate) where their offending is linked to any VAWG they have been subjected to

Actions taken to date and/or planned to support these Aims include:

North Yorkshire Police’s specialist Stalking Team has now been allocated a permanent Detective Sergeant post from 2024 following the successful work of the Detective Sergeant that was temporarily seconded to the team to provide more robust oversight of investigations, increase applications for Stalking Prevention Orders (where appropriate) and liaise with other forces to identify good practice.

The OPFCC had previously secured Home Office Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Interventions Funding to employ a Stalking Project Worker from January 2022 to be co-located with North Yorkshire Police’s specialist Stalking Team to offer the +Choices Perpetrator Programme to low risk perpetrators who are willing to voluntarily address their stalking behaviours. The OPFCC committed a further £42,240 of match funding to continue this pilot until March 2024; this specialist Stalking Project Worker received 16 referrals in 2022/23 and has supported one perpetrator of stalking to successful complete the programme.

A Stalking Perpetrator Problem Profile has been completed to inform commissioning of a new pilot specialist stalking perpetrator behaviour change programme from 2024/25, including options for this to be delivered as a (mandatory) Positive Requirement attached to Stalking Prevention Orders. We are also working with Commissioners across the wider Yorkshire and Humber Region to conduct early market engagement to identify options for a regional stalking perpetrator behaviour change programme to increase service accessibility and resilience and provide greater value for money.

The OPFCC has completed research into perpetrator programmes and interventions available nationally, including those for High Risk and/or repeat perpetrators of domestic abuse which was used to inform an options appraisal of proposed pilot programmes / interventions to meet identified gaps in current service provision from 2024/25. In the interim, the OPFCC committed further funding totalling £138,000 until March 2024 to maintain increased frontline support worker capacity to meet increasing need and demand for the +Choices: Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme which received 30% more referrals in 2022/23 in comparison to 2021/22.

The recently commissioned new Services for Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse from April 2024 now includes an offer support for perpetrators who pose a high risk of serious harm, and who are willing to engage through a new bespoke behaviour change programme based on the Respect Accredited Drive model.

We are now focussed on exploring commissioning and funding opportunities to deliver a pilot provision of a mandatory intervention for perpetrators of domestic abuse, including an Out of Court Resolution route based on the CARA principles. Out of Court Resolutions allow the police to deal effectively and proportionately with low-level, first-time offending without a prosecution at court. They provide the victim with reparative options and address the offender’s behaviour through conditions that can be both punitive and rehabilitative such completion of a domestic abuse perpetrator programme.

The OPFCC allocated funding for a StopSO registered therapist to offer counselling to adult survivors of rape, sexual assault or child sexual abuse who are also perpetrators of sexual offences, including those who have made or downloaded or shared indecent images of children as well as contact offences. We continue to explore available interventions and funding options for perpetrators of sexual offences, particularly online sexual offending.

A steering group has been established as part of the Whole System Approach to Women to lead on the development of a trauma-informed, end-to-end dedicated pathway for women who offend. We will continue to monitor individual outcomes for women supported through the Crossroads (gender specific) Diversion Scheme to identify common intersectional needs and improve the local evidence base of underlying and contributory factors to women offending, including any VAWG they may have been subjected to.

The Serious Violence Duty Fund has recently awarded funding to St. Giles Trust to deliver a Grassroots Community Engagement project in Scarborough’s highest crime area to support women and girls at risk of involvement in anti-social behaviour and crime.