Scottish Government

MULTI-AGENCY PARTNERSHIP CONFERENCE REPORT

THE NATIONAL STRATEGY TO ADDRESS DOMESTIC ABUSE IN SCOTLAND

THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE, VICTORIA QUAY, EDINBURGH

19 APRIL 2004

Introduction

1. This was the fourth year the annual conference has been held, continuing the commitment set out in the National Strategy to bring together representatives of local multi-agency partnerships. The main aim of the conference was to review overall progress, highlight key issues and to encourage networking. Alongside the main objectives, the conference represents a good opportunity to exchange information and good practice both between local areas themselves and between local areas and the Scottish Executive.

2. This year's annual conference was well attended with over 70 delegates from all over Scotland. Almost every local multi-agency partnership was represented, with delegates travelling from as far away as Orkney and Shetland and Dumfries and Galloway. Also attending the conference were several members of the National Group of Scottish Women's Aid.

3. The conference was opened and chaired by Yvonne Strachan, head of the Equality Unit, Development Department, who introduced herself and explained how the Violence Against Women Team had recently moved from the Police and Community Safety Group of the Justice Department to the Equality Unit, Development Department, within the Scottish Executive. She went on to introduce the Deputy Minister for Communities, Mary Mulligan, who gave a keynote speech outlining how the Scottish Executive was fulfilling its commitments, what progress has been made, and what is planned for the coming year.

4. After the keynote speech by the Deputy Minister for Communities, there was an open forum session, inviting comments and questions from the floor, bringing the morning of the conference to a close.

5. The afternoon was devoted to four separate workshop sessions on Prevention, Training, Young People, and Minority Groups. Each workshop was asked to discuss and address the same two questions. Question 1: What has been done locally and Question 2: What needs to happen locally. Feedback to the main conference from these workshops brought the conference to a conclusion. Special thanks go to Janette de Hann, Jon Harris, Heather Coady, Giri Polubothu, Keith Munro, Sharon Sale, Sarah Talbot and Gordon Hunter who assisted in all four workshops.

6. This report contains the text of the Deputy Minister for Communities' speech and summaries of the discussions both in open forum and workshops.

Violence Against Women Team

SEDD - Equality Unit

October 2004

KEYNOTE SPEECH BY MARY MULLIGAN, DEPUTY MINISTER FOR COMMUNITIES

I would like to start today by thanking you all for coming along here today. I'm absolutely delighted to see so many of you from across Scotland . I know some of you have travelled from out with the central belt. Some of you have come from as far a field as Orkney and Shetland and from the other direction, from Dumfries and Galloway . This goes to show the level of commitment there is in tackling this issue.

Today gives an opportunity to share experiences and good practice and to catch up on the developments over the year

I hope that this morning's session, which is focusing on the national picture, will provide a useful context for your discussions this afternoon.

Introduction

There is no excuse for domestic abuse. On that the Scottish Executive is unequivocal. And the reasons are stark

· 1 in 5 women in Scotland experience domestic abuse from a male partner in their lifetime.

· 1 in 10 women in Scotland experience domestic abuse from a male partner in any one year.

· 11 women in Scotland died in 2002 as a result of experiencing domestic abuse from a male partner.

· And 100,000 children and young people experience domestic abuse.

And all of you here deal with the realities of these statistics daily. You know what this means for women experiencing abuse - the fear, the pain, the shame, the isolation, the trauma, the loss of self esteem, loss of confidence and the guilt. You are working to help and provide the support so desperately needed.

We have recognised the need and that is why we have made violence against women a priority. We believe strongly that our approach based on a strategy of prevention, protection and provision is absolutely right. That is why we are determined to implement the national strategy and why we have committed substantial resources to improve the lives of the thousands of women and children affected. Between 2000 and 2006 we will have invested £32M to address this issue.

I will talk later about the range of activities we have undertaken during the year, but first I want to say that I believe we have made remarkable progress. Of course the problem is still acute and there is absolutely no room for complacency. However, it is not that long ago that domestic abuse was seen as 'just a domestic'; when it was difficult to get authorities to engage with the issue and where many blamed the women rather than put the responsibility on the perpetrators.

Now the issue has moved out from behind closed doors into the open. It has been given an unprecedented focus and there is growing acceptance that there is no excuse for domestic abuse

Commitment to implementing the National Strategy

So what progress has the Scottish Executive made in the past year?

The Scottish Executive's remains committed to implementing the National Strategy. This has not wavered. And last year we extended the remit of the National Group to include wider issues of violence against women.

Update on the National Group

You will be aware the National Group was initially set up for 3 years to implement the National Strategy. However after considering the work that still needed to be done, all agreed that the national group should continue. I am so grateful to the members of the group for their time and effort and we have all benefited from their expertise and contribution. I was sorry that Dharmendra Kanani had to resign but he is now based primarily in London . I am delighted, however, that Rowan Steele of Scottish Women's Aid and Sandy Brindley of Rape Crisis Scotland have recently joined the group.

We have agreed to look further at the role and membership of the group and are considering setting up a working group on violence against women. This is a new area of activity for us but one that we are looking forward to exploring in more depth in the coming period.

I am often asked about why the approach in Scotland is so successful. And there is one principal answer - our partnership approach. This is an essential part of our strategy and the way in which we have developed our work over the years. We could not make progress without the collaboration of those working in the field and those with the specialist understanding of the needs of the women and children affected by domestic abuse.

I know that returning progress reports on local activity can be a burden but we do appreciate the time you give to this and I hope that our new pro-forma is helping in the process. This information is important to us so we hope that you will continue to be supportive to our requests.

I would now like to turn to what else the Scottish Executive has achieved over the last year.

Prevention Working Group

Publication of the National Prevention Strategy

In September last year we published the National Prevention Strategy. This innovative document, is the first document of its kind in the UK and has been widely distributed.

Awareness Raising

Advertising campaign.

One of the main aspects of our prevention work is awareness raising. The Scottish Executive's publicity campaigns, which have been running since 1998, have changed the nature of the debate around domestic abuse. Not only has the public's opinion changed, but the seriousness with which the issue is taken has increased considerably.

The 'Dolls House' advert which focussed on the effect that domestic abuse has on children ran again from Boxing Day through until the end of January. This advert has an extremely high impact with 74% recall rate.

But it's not only in Scotland that our advertising campaign is effective, it is also having an influence beyond our borders. The Northern Ireland Office has expressed an interest in our approach and I am aware that our adverts have attracted international attention.

You may also have seen our contribution to SMG's "Talking Scotland" slots and Scottish Radio Holding's radio slots "Life Matters". These, newly developed forms of awareness raising, enabled us to extend the reach of the campaign. And in case you missed the Talking Scotland slots these can be viewed at www.talkingscotland.co.uk.

Extension of the helpline to 24 hours for a further 3 months

We recognise that when you raise awareness you need to ensure that women have somewhere to go for advice. The helpline plays an important part in the process.

Over the course of the most recent TV advert, we piloted an extension of the Helpline to 24 hours. Over the 40 days and nights that the advert was on our screens, over 900 calls were received between the hours of midnight and 10 am . Many women seek advice and support during the darkest hours of the night and the extension of the helpline provided someone to talk to when they most needed it.

From the 1 ^st of March we extended the pilot of see what the volume of calls would be when the advert was not running. This extension of the pilot will run until the end of May, after which we will consider if a permanent extension is required.

Parliamentary Debate

Violence against Women is an issue which has been given priority in the Parliament. On 28 November last year we held a debate on violence against women. This debate has become an annual event which we time to coincide with the UN recognised 16 days of action.

Refuge Provision Working Group

Publication of the Refuge Provision Research Report

In October, we published the research report on Refuges for Women, Children and Young People. This document provides not only the views and preferences of women, children and young people who have experienced abuse, but assesses the level and standard of refuge provision currently provided.

In addition, the report has developed an audit tool to allow us to assess future needs. This will become vitally important when we reassess the situation at the completion of the Refuge Development Programme.

Last year I personally, had the opportunity to visit 2 refuges in Dingwall and Glasgow that have been built as a result of the refuge development programme. And I have to say, I was extremely encouraged by the standard of accommodation, and the commitment of the staff. These refuges really have raised the standard and will hopefully become what women fleeing abuse can expect from refuge provision in Scotland .

Training Working Group

Publication of the National Training Strategy.

More recently, in fact just last month, Margaret Curran launched the National Training Strategy. I hope you will all have received your copies. However, if not just speak to one of the members of the violence against women team and they will arrange for a copy to be sent to you.

This document, again a first for the UK , is very ambitious.

It looks at the need for training across a number of sectors, including social work, education, health, police and the voluntary and private sectors. And it recognises the need for multi-agency training for all.

It aims to ensure:

• that all agencies can make the required changes enabling them to ensure that the best possible service is provided;

• that all workers who come into contact with people who have experienced domestic abuse, have the knowledge, skills and understanding they need; and

• that all relevant staff have the knowledge, skills and understanding to work across the professional boundaries.

The implementation of the strategy will take effort from us all. But the work is essential.

Funding

I would now like to talk about an issue close to all of your hearts - funding. Over the last few years, we have made a significant shift in the level of resources to tackle domestic abuse. And we are now beginning to address wider issues such as rape and sexual assault.

DASDF

Last year, after publishing the report evaluating the initial 2 years of the domestic abuse service development fund, Minister for Communities Margaret Curran announced that the fund would continue for a further 2 years. Priority would be given to existing projects.

As with previous rounds, the Fund was heavily oversubscribed. This is always difficult and some tough decision had to be made. However, on International Women's Day we were delighted to announce that 57 projects will be funded.

VAWSDF.

In addition to the domestic abuse fund, we have established a new Violence against Women Service Development Fund.

This funding will enable groups to improve and extend their services. It will enable core work to take place, increase the accessibility of services and gives us the opportunity to explore new areas such as the issue of trafficking.

These services have, for too long, struggled to survive with inadequate funding limiting the support which women could access.

This fund has also helped to establish four new groups in areas of Scotland with no provision at present. The first of which will be in the Western Isles. I'm sure you can imagine this will make a tremendous difference to women in that community.

With the £1.5M allocated, 21 projects are being supported.

Funding for local rape crisis centres

I am particularly pleased that we have been able to provide a funding package of £1.86M for rape crisis centres.

Ten rape crisis groups across Scotland will now receive £50,000 per year. This is a major investment in an area which has traditionally been poorly resourced and in groups which have faced a constant struggle to maintain their service. However, Aberdeen which has been particularly under-resourced, will receive a total of £95,000 to bring it into line with the other groups.

This is the first time government in the UK has supported this work in such a way. It will radically transform services to women experiencing violence.

In addition to funding the core services of the 10 rape crisis centres £200,000 has been set aside to carry a feasibility study, into the establishment of a rape and sexual abuse helpline.

Additional funding for SWA and Rape Crisis Scotland

Over recent years we have developed close links with Scottish Women's Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland , and I very much hope that this partnership continues to flourish.

In order to assist this partnership, it was announced that funding of £200k to Scottish Women's Aid and £100k to Rape Crisis Scotland .

This additional £300k will be used to provide both these organisations with the means to ensure consistency of service across Scotland and to provide central support for this work.

I'm sure you will agree that this is a significant investment and one which we know will make a real difference on the ground.

Protection work

So I've updated you on Prevention and Provision, but what about Protection?

Domestic abuse courts.

The main development in this area is in relation to the pilot domestic abuse court.

The Scottish Executive has been working with Sheriff Principal Ted Bowen, the Procurator Fiscals Service, Courts Service, police, social services and voluntary organisations to develop this pilot

We have made significant progress in this area but I'm sure you will appreciate that this is a complex matter. We have worked out most of the more practical details. In particular, we have established how the cases will be progressed. But we also have to ensure that appropriate support services are in place. This is vital to the success of the pilot.

I can confirm that the pilot will initially be confined to summary cases from one Division of Strathclyde Police. These cases will be fast tracked by the police to a designated Procurator Fiscal Depute. Cases will then be dealt with by 2 designated sheriffs.

And I know this has been said before but we strongly believe that bringing perpetrators to court quickly is a must. These cases must be dealt with by people who have the specific experience, training, and are in possession of all the relevant information. In such a way we can be assured that disposals are appropriate and consistent, ensuring that due consideration is given to the consequences for the people experiencing abuse.

Review of children's services.

The final piece of work that has really taken off in the last year is the Strategy Review of Children's Services.

As I mentioned early it is estimated that there are 100,000 children and young people in Scotland living with domestic abuse and that in 90% of incidents they are in the same or next room.

The needs of children have been and will continue to be a focus of our work.

Last year, we announced that all Women's Aid groups, that did not have a children's worker, would receive funding for a part time worker. And it was recently announced that this funding will be continued until March 2005.

In addition to that funding and in order to address this issue at a strategic level, a working group was set up to look at the provision of services.

This working group has been asked to develop a co-ordinated, planned approach to the provision of support services for children and young people in families experiencing domestic abuse.

It has already considered a mapping exercise that looked at existing services. You will find a copy of the executive summary in your delegate packs.

The working group is now looking at how to ensure a consistent approach for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse across Scotland .

It has identified and produced summary recommendations detailing an appropriate national minimum standard for this work. This paper is currently being considered and I'm looking forward to receiving the final paper in June.

The views of young people are important in determining our approach. I was lucky enough to witness first hand some courageous young people, who have experienced this kind of abuse, at the launch of the 'Listen Louder' campaign in 2003.

That launch was one of the most moving events I've had the privileged of attending as a Minister and I'm looking forward to hearing how young people, such as these, think we can improve their services.

What's next?

There isn't time to do justice to all that has been done over the year but I hope I have given you the highlights.

I now want to mention a few of the things we are planning in the coming year.

• We will continue to implement the National Strategy, the Prevention Strategy, the Training Strategy and Refuge Research report.

• We will evaluate the 24 hour helpline pilot and consider the merits of extending the opening times on a more permanent basis.

• And we will continue delivering the funding package that I have set out here today.

But as well as continuing the development of the areas of work that I have mentioned there are a number of new developments that we will want to progress.

Funding

We will begin the process of strategically reviewing both the domestic abuse service development and the violence against women service development fund. We will want to discuss with the national group how best to conduct that review.

Parliamentary Debate

We will again debate the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse and the wider forms of violence against women in the Scottish Parliament.

Work with Amnesty on their campaign

We will be working with Amnesty International who recently launched a 2 year campaign looking at stopping violence against women. This campaign will look at this issue at a global level.

Start of the DA court.

We will see the start of the pilot domestic abuse court in Glasgow , the first of its kind in Scotland .

Inter-Governmental Conference

We will host a 'Raising the Standards' conference in June 2004. This conference will bring together people from Scotland , England , Wales , Northern Ireland , Eire and Guernsey at the highest level. Government Ministers, senior civil servants, the judiciary and the police will all be invited to discuss how we can take this agenda forward.

Violence against Women

We will be developing our work around violence against women and considering the establishment of a working group to assist in that process.

Children's Services

We will be developing our approach to children's services once we have received the final paper from the working group.

Conclusion

So in conclusion we have achieved a lot in the last year and we will continue to work on all the areas I've mentioned. We know we have an ambitious and varied programme of work and we do not intend to slacken our pace or our determination in tackling this very important issue. However, we can't do it on our own!

We must continue to work together.

But that is why we are all here today because we want to achieve a Scotland where every women, every young person and every child receives the most effective, most appropriate response when they contact one us for help, advice or support.

We are determined to make a difference. To improve the lives of the thousands of women and children who live in fear and misery.

I know many of you work tirelessly every day with the same objective and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the sterling work that you do.

This afternoon you will be going into workshops. I hope you will use this time to look at what is happening locally and what needs to happen. It is important that myself and Margaret Curran know what is happening at a local level so that we can plan the way forward at the national level.

I know that you will use this time to share information and meet up with colleagues old and new. I hope you take time for this networking - it's important.

I'd like to thank you again for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today and I'd now

like to open the floor for the Open Forum Session.

Open Forum Session

An open forum session followed with the Deputy Minister for Communities and Yvonne Strachan, head of the Equality Unit. The following points were raised:-

No mention was made in relation to the NHS guidelines and the £300,000 funding, can you give us an update on where the Scottish Executive is with this issue? The funding will be distributed by the Women and Children Unit in the Health Department. The National Group has requested an update on the distribution of the funding and is expecting to hear a progress report at the next meeting.

There is a lot of nervousness in the room around funding and what will happen beyond March 2006, in particular to children's services. The nervousness is recognised. This issue is all part of the discussions taking part at the moment around the spending review. Sustainability will have to be developed. However, this spending is firmly established and it could prove difficult to pull back from future funding. Nevertheless, funding is finite and whilst we are hopeful that funding will not be reduced, we have to be aware that we may not see the same growth as in previous years. Value for money will also be a key element, as with all Scottish Executive funding.

What support services will be offered to those people going through the Domestic Abuse Court ? We are continuing to work with colleagues in the Justice Department. Adequate support services are vital to ensuring the success of the pilot and these take time to develop. This has caused a slight delay. Everyone will be made aware of what services are available. The main issue is to address problems before they arise - where possible.

The issue of working with perpetrators and the funding issues around partner work were raised. We are aware of these issues and this is something that the National Group has been looking into.

What safeguards will there be around access rights to children where there is an issue of domestic abuse? Justice Department is consulting on this issue at the moment and we will be contributing to that debate. We would also encourage other to contribute their views.

An update on the support services for people going through the domestic abuse court pilot. This work was slightly behind the procedural element of the court, however, it is now underway. Firm proposals are being developed and other domestic abuse courts are being considered. One size doesn't fit all and can not be easily replicated in Scotland .

The issue of value for money was raised and that this area of work has seen a great deal of local innovation. Don't want to see this innovation burdened with lots of performance indicators. This point is often made and we believe that the Scottish Executive is improving. However, there needs to be a balance between ensuring that funding is responsive the needs of local communities and that it is spent appropriately.

The difficulties experienced in some of the island communities were raised and how they are struggling to find solutions, particularly where there are no services available on an island. Could special recognition be given, especially in areas where the council do not provide emergency home less accommodation, let alone to women fleeing domestic abuse? We are aware of the particular difficulties that island communities face, but can't offer specific solutions to the issue raised, other than to speak to colleagues here today. We will, however, take this issue back to the National Group for further consideration.

Could the specific issues and difficulties that island communities face be considered in all areas of the Scottish Executive work? This is certainly a subject that we will take back to the National Group for further consideration.

Some solutions to the difficulties faced by the island communities had been found and an offer of a discussion was made. [DN Think this needs clarified?]

One of the outcomes of raising awareness is the domino effect that it has on services, one of which is the children's reporter service. Don't want to stop women coming forward due to a fear that their children will be reported to the children's reporter system. We will continue to monitor the demands on service, particularly around the issue of children and young people. There is also a review of the children's reporter system being carried out.

The need of services for women from minority backgrounds was raised, including asylum seekers. We do need to be aware of this issue and that some work already exists, however, this work is not across the whole of Scotland. We would be interested in finding out what demand there has been for services for specific group and if there is a need/desire for different service providers for different groups of women.

In relation to women from minority ethnic backgrounds, language continues to be the main barrier. However, separate services are not necessarily the answer as this can sometimes exclude women. It may be more appropriate if there issues could be address within the service of the main helpline. Also, raising awareness for everyone would help towards a more inclusive society.

Other barriers were faced by women who were home less, part of the criminal justice system or drug users. Could future awareness raising campaigns be targeted toward these minority groups? We will certainly take all these issues back to the National Group and consider how we can develop work in these areas.

There is still a culture of good victim/bad victim.

Will the National Group be engaging with the working group on prostitution? To date we have not had involvement with this group, but considering the widening of the group remit we will begin to feed in our comments on this issue.

Can you give an update of where the Scottish Executive is with the implementation of the National Training Strategy and in particular with filling the posts? Scottish Women's Aid has advertised the post of National Trainer. The secondment of the 2 National Co-ordinators is underway and we hope to have people in post be the end of the summer. We are aware that many people here today will be interested in the progress of this work and possibly in the posts themselves, so we will keep all multi-agency partnerships up to date on this work.

The issue of refuge provision for women drug users was raised. It was pointed out that during the research women drug users did not want to be put in a refuge with non drug users and the a multi-agency approach is required in these circumstances.

Yvonne wound up the session, highlighted main issues, thanked the Minister and broke for lunch.

Workshops

After lunch the delegates were split into 4 workshops, Prevention, Training, Young People, and Minority Groups focusing on issues at a local level and sharing good practice. Each group were given the same two questions. What has been done locally? and What needs to happen locally?

Workshop 1 (Conference Room 4) - Prevention

Clearly prevention work and engagement requires to be linked to local needs and resources. People shared examples of what worked in their areas and as you will see it was difficult to just speak about prevention without talking of provision!

Elgin and Moray have been targeting large companies carrying out employment awareness forums. Companies participated in giving things in kind also e.g. Baxters gave over premises. It raises issues for having to deal with employees who are suffering abuse and those who are perpetrators of abuse. There was a need to share policies between local authorities addressing issues relating to employees. Inverclyde, Dumfries and Galloway and Renfrewshire have policies in progress. An example was given of one private organisation 'covering up' abuse of an employee since the incident was perpetrated by another employee.

It was considered that awareness raising in schools should continue, examples were given of the various packs available and ways of doing this such as 'Healthy Relationships' used in North Ayrshire, VIP packs, RESPECT pack and Action Against Abuse pack. Also the Baldy Bane Theatre Co. was seen as a good example of what works and the use of the video 'Only a Kiss' in creating opportunities with young people to share information and ideas. The problems identified seem to be that awareness raising programmes are not mandatory in schools, teachers prefer someone else coming in to do this and children if provided with a programme tend to be older and it would be advantageous to target primary school children.

In Fife there is a domestic abuse coordinator designated within each school. Trying to provide training for all school and support staff and is a 'named' person for children to approach. In Glasgow having a Development Worker within Education to work on violence against women issues was also seen as positive. The group felt that there was a need to evaluate the effectiveness of awareness raising/prevention programmes in changing attitudes. This would also apply to the Scottish Executive Public Education Campaign on domestic abuse. The issue was raised about extending this to other areas of violence against women. Also that although responses were positive about the campaign, comments were that some people felt it was not relevant to them e.g. homeless women. Television programmes e.g. soaps and/or documentaries can be useful to raise awareness and facilitate discussion. Glasgow has regular public events in a local cinema around a media portrayal of violence against women and children to engage with a wider audience. Radio also seen as making an impact, parking tickets, bus stop adverts.

A discussion followed regarding engaging with men who were abusive but did not receive a service because they had not been to court. This again raised the issue of non court mandated work with abusive men, however, it was thought best to concentrate on getting right the court mandated work with abusive men. Examples of good programmes were SACRO, Change, DVPP and Fergus. What is needed is an evaluation of the programmes, aim to have a programme available as a disposal to all courts as soon as possible, in each Local Authority and that partner support work is seen as a necessity to working with the perpetrators and that funding and resources for this work is consistent, DVPP partner support work was used as an example of good practice.

Prevention/Safety examples were shared. In some areas the response is to work towards women staying in their own home, especially in rural areas. Measures taken to increase women's safety are: safety audit of house, CCTV, dial system, mobile phones, safety doors, changing locks (an example given, however, concern expressed about legal protection being backed up straight away, due to the abuser's rights). This doesn't seem to be a problem with the practice in Aberdeenshire.

Identified as a gap is work with women asylum seekers and those women affected by the two year rule. Connections have to be made between domestic abuse strategy and policies in Scotland and immigration and benefit requirements.

Workshop 2 (Conference Room 5) - Training

Summary of Main Points:

1. Importance of multi-agency training

2. Mainstreaming in pre and post qualification training

policy initiatives, and

performance measurement

3. Sharing good practice across sectoral and professional boundaries

4. Pooling resources and funding streams

5. Leadership from the top

6. Build on existing capacity

7. Promote and enforce good practice standards

Initial discussion looked at what has been happening:

• Training is seen as a priority (although in many cases it is more awareness raising that is taking place)

• Same people come to training, hard to target others

• Workers need support within their organisation after training to help them put what they've learnt into practice

Difficulties in Releasing Staff

This was widely recognised as a problem with a range of organisations - the discussion focused particularly on Education and Health.

· difficulties in finding supply staff etc even if the resources are available.

· need to be flexible in how training is delivered, may need to take the training to workers e.g. education staff on in-service closure days, target GP practices rather than GPs

What Needs to Happen in the Future?

Prioritise Domestic Abuse Training

· statutory requirements take priority - domestic abuse needs to be mandatory as is child protection

· accreditation

· Multi-agency training is invaluable (supports collaborative working at the local level by promoting good practice standards, building trust/challenging misconceptions about each others roles)

· Need service specific training too

· Mainstream one day training / awareness raising for all new members of staff

Training Audit / Standards

• A bit hit and miss currently
• Personality driven
• What is already on the ground?

Need an audit of good training practice

· There is a lot of good practice out there but there is also a lot of `re-inventing the wheel`- role for national co-ordinators in facilitating sharing of practice.

Who does the training?

This can be difficult:

• Voluntary organisations looking for income
• Statutory organisations have their own trainers
• Need to link domestic abuse, violence against women, child protection etc.
• funding can be fragmented
• in some areas health workers have 'shadow' trained with Women's Aid - capacity builds

Need to facilitate networking of trainers - National co-ordinators to provide this link

Strategic Plans

Domestic abuse needs to be incorporated in key strategic documents e.g. Community Plan, Children Services Plan

Managers need training to enable them to appropriately take disclosures from staff and staff need trained to take disclosures from service users, pupils, patients. Otherwise staff sees this as `opening a can of worms` and avoid the issue.

Domestic abuse needs to incorporate into other guidelines "absence from work", "dignity at work" etc.

Need To Mainstream - pre and post qualification

How do you mainstream?

· Need to keep the pressure up

· May not be any quick way

· Could COSLA take a lead?

· Need to benchmark and encourage others to match other services

· Need to join up policy initiatives so that domestic abuse is seen more as a cross-cutting issue impacting on a wide range of priority areas such as community safety, child protection, equalities strategies etc.

· Need to mainstream/join up funding to provide more sustainable support to women and children experiencing domestic abuse and allow greater flexibility to for local partnerships to respond to local needs and circumstances.

· Build domestic abuse outcomes into performance assessment arrangements for key services/agencies.

Why multi-agency training is so important?

· Need info about local support networks

· Challenge perceptions of local services e.g. Women's Aid, CPU etc

Recognise that staff may fear implementing changes

Barriers in getting the right people to attend training - they either think:

1. Domestic abuse isn't a very big issue!!

Or

1. I know about everything!!

Workshop 3 (Conference Room 7) - Young People

This workshop tackled 2 questions the first is as follows:

Q. What has to be done locally to engage with young people?

Responses/Debate

A broad discussion and debate followed in relation to this question.

• Education: it was agreed that schools offered an important and vital forum to raise the issue of domestic abuse (DA), both in relation to the tackling of this problem but also in raising awareness both with young people and education staff- it was recognised by the group that DA effects children of all ages, and its impact can effect behaviour within schools, bullying and educational development

• A number of the members of this group had tried to access schools in order to offer training programmes etc. East Dunbarton reported issues in relation to gaining access initially into schools within the area, with letters in the first instance sent to school Heads, offering training/visits - in many cases this offer was declined outright, with some Heads referring to the national curriculum as being adequate to deal with the issue (as included within Social and Moral education modules) in other cases no response to the offer was received. This would indicate that there is either a lack of awareness in the issue or a desire not to engage ( mooted that perhaps this was due to fear of the subject).

• In order to engage with schools and education centres, a more positive response was received when DA as an issue was 'dressed up' or slanted towards 'healthy relationships' e.g. health, respect for others etc. For example. Dumfries DA Development worker reported that an entry into schools was facillated by accompanying police officers utilising a 'respect for others and healthy relationship' approach. This approach seemed to be positively received by schools and was well received by both pupils and teaching staff

• Group reported that persistency with schools and education departments was needed to access the school environment

• Zero Tolerance packs were sometimes difficult to access with sometimes only one pack available - Stirling Council officer advised that only one pack had been received by DA training co-ordinators and this was to cover the whole of the Forth Valley Area - which includes Stirling, Clackmannan and Falkirk. There was also only one FTE training co-ordinator for the whole area and this was a job share post. These individuals were responsible for delivering training in line with the National training strategy across many differing disciplines including health workers, council staff (variety of disciplines - from social work to housing) etc.

• Issues raised in regarding raising awareness within schools and young people - where would teachers and staff refer onto? Fears raised in relation to raising expectations of support and then there not being appropriate levels and sources of support to meet the needs of children and young people who require support and assistance. Fear of letting young people and children down due to inadequate or inappropriate response. There were also concerns that within schools children may not always feel that they can discuss concerns or issues with their PSE teachers, as they may not see them regularly and they may fear that they will not get a sympathetic response.

• Group advised that within most areas there had been a marked increase in referrals from the Reporter service and this led to great pressures on social work departments and staff within these sections.

• East Dumbarton's worker advised that she was working with young people to develop a healthy relationships magazine and the issue of domestic abuse would be included within this publication - young people were interested and happy to engage with this kind of approach

• Family mediation services reported that young people and children could not be all grouped together as different age ranges required different approaches to the issue and different forms of support. Groups for family mediation were as follows: 7-11 years, 12 -15 and 15 up. Group remarked that teenagers in particular were exposed to the witnessing of violence in general whether that be in the home or through the media, schools, social lives etc. This made DA awareness raising and support services vital.

• Group reported that there needed to be a mapping exercise undertaken in relation to the type, number and quality of services that young people and children can access throughout Scotland as this would enable local areas to re-prioritise, re-design provision available at a local level.

Q. What needs to be done at a National level in relation to DA and the needs of Young People and Children?

• Group agreed that there need to be more strategic links made both locally and nationally with other overlapping issues. For example although clear links are made in relation to child protection agenda and legislation, links need to be developed with education, housing, mental health services, substance misuse etc. It is important these links are developed and sustained.

• There needs to be sustained and evaluated 'joined up and inter-agency partnership' working to address the issue of DA at all levels. DA is a complex issue and requires joint work to tackle and prevent.

• Examine social work shortage: as increase of referrals and need for more reports to the Reporter, fears of increased over demand on current staff due to problems with recruitment and retention.

• Need to raise awareness that DA affects young people for a long period of time - emotional and psychological abuse is equally if not more damaging in some cases as physical abuse. Professionals need to recognise this issue and take it seriously, as it can impact on services in the future. Correlation between abuse experience and the following: health problems (particularly mental health), substance misuse, offending behaviour, poor educational attainment, links to homelessness etc. Need to recognise the impact of DA to these potential outcomes - again successful prevention work should be viewed as a positive long term gain for communities and not a short term 'quick fix' for current generation. Need sustainable programmes of education and prevention work with follow up services and support for those experiencing or those who have experienced DA.

• Services need to be appropriate for different age ranges - felt that there was a lack of suitable services for those young people who have other complex needs - particularly those aged between 16-25, an age range that traditionally and historically are often reluctant to seek support or engage with projects.

• Some members of the group reported that many young people felt let down by services as they either had difficulty accessing them, or in the case of short term funded projects, the projects were no longer available to them. The group referred to the fact that young people often found it difficult to admit to the abuse that they were experiencing or living with, and that if they experienced a poor response or an inadequate response to their needs, they would share this experience with friends who in turn may be put off seeking help and support.

• At a National level recognition made to the fact that the use of reasonable force was still acceptable within the family unit to discipline children and young people. This in affect legitimises the use of violence as a control and power mechanism within family units. In order for there to be long-term prevention of abuse within the domestic setting recognition needs to be taken at a National level, that abuse and violence is unacceptable within the family unit- no matter what reason/excuse is given for it. If young people are exposed to smacking and physical chastisement as part of their development within the family, the violence is in effect legitimised and views that violence and abuse are acceptable as a way of managing conflict are developed by young people. In effect, this means that some young people may utilise abuse and violence within their adult relationships. This is an area that could be tackled in relation to anti-smacking legislation, which already applies to childminders/childcare organisations, and is an issue that is being looked at in England and Wales at the present time. There was recognition by the group that there have been a number of high profile cases within Scotland in relation to the use of physical force within parenting.

• There is a need for enhanced support services for children and young people who are exposed to DA within the home, particularly when this exposure to DA is on-going as the perpetrator is still within the family unit. For many young people, recognition was given that they may only escape abuse if the victim flees with the survivor of the abuse. If this does not happen, there is a need for specialist agencies for young people to access support whilst they are either still exposed to the abuse or after they are coming to terms with their experiences within adulthood.

• The National Training strategy roll-out was recognised as useful, but there were concerns that the training of staff across multi-agencies should be viewed as on-going, and therefore should be a continual process, mainstreamed into all relevant agencies induction and professional development programmes.

Workshop 4 (Conference Room 8) - Minority Groups

Q. What has been done locally to engage with people from black minority groups?

• In reality very little is specifically targeted at black and minority ethnic groups.
• Some community safety partnerships have black and minority ethnic group forums but not aimed specifically at issues of domestic abuse.
• Some areas have translated domestic abuse leaflets into community languages.
• Scottish Police Service have carried out training in relation to forced and arranged marriage issues and published guidelines.

Fife domestic abuse forum works in partnership with Shakti women's aid to: provide raining and information to agencies in Fife on issues affecting black minority ethnic women, their children and young people (mainly issues around domestic abuse and forced marriages).

§ raise awareness on domestic abuse amongst the BME communities.

§ to provide information, help and support to BME women in Fife.

Q. What needs to be done?

• We need to know what resources already exist, where we can find them and what these services can and do provide.
• We need to identify what services are actually required i.e. where are the gaps in existing service provision.
• We need to raise awareness in BME communities of how to access services and what services are available and should consider a media campaign aimed at this hard to reach community i.e. Asian TV channels may be one are that could be developed.
• We need to raise awareness within existing services of problems associated with BME communities in relation to domestic abuse i.e. abuser may not only be partners but is likely to include family members and extended family members and on some occasions community leaders.
• We need to raise awareness of domestic abuse issues with other service providers, who do not necessarily have a domestic abuse remit, but do come into contact with women. Many victims of domestic abuse contact a variety of agencies looking for help in relation to specific problems i.e. housing, benefits etc when the real problem is abuse. By asking the right questions we can identify the real problems and provide a more relevant response.
• We need to educate sections of the BME communities that domestic abuse is not acceptable. In England and Wales some areas have undertaken a series of talks aimed at community leaders and elders in an attempt to discuss the issues.
• We need to evaluate the relevance of existing material that has been published, i.e. is the information written in a manner that can be easily understood and does that information / message translate into different languages.
• We need to make existing services more available to hard to reach communities
• We recognise that it is difficult to engage with some parts of the community and we need to be more resourceful in our approach when it comes to delivering / making services available. Communities might not promote or attend talks aimed specifically at Domestic Abuse but may find it more acceptable if it is not the main or only subject i.e. part of a healthy living presentation or the Talk magazine published by Fife.
• We need to work in a non-judgemental and more inclusive manner.
• We need to mainstream services for BME communities rather than further isolate them. i.e. Introduction of language line type service, or recruitment of more people from BME community.
• We should consider specific guidelines / strategy for BME communities

Throughout the discussion although we concentrated on black minority communities it was clear that the issues, service provision, training and education experienced in relation to this group was equally transferable to other groups such as the homeless, drug users, people with both physical and mental disabilities and the elderly.

Violence Against Women Team

October 2004