The Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy sets out the strategic direction in terms of addressing domestic abuse and sexual violence.  The current strategy needs to be refreshed and updated to reflect changes in legislation.

That Cabinet recommends to Council:

That the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy as set out in Appendix 1 to the submitted report, be approved.

The previous Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy was due to end in early 2023.

An alternative option would be to do nothing.  However, this was discounted as the current policy was set to expire this year and would not take account of the information gathered from the review and the high profile nature of domestic abuse and sexual violence in Torbay.

A further option would have been to have two individual strategies for domestic violence and abuse, and sexual violence this was discounted by the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Executive Group (DASVEG) as this would fragment the strategic response, create areas of overlap and duplication and ineffective use of resources.

The recommendations of the Cabinet will be considered at the Council meeting on 7 March 2023.

The current Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy (Policy Framework document) ends in March 2023.  In preparation a strategic review of the domestic abuse response in Torbay was undertaken in 2021.  The review incorporated a review of the Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference, the Safe Accommodation Needs Assessment as required by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and a lived experience listening exercise.  All the recommendations and findings have informed the direction and focus of the new Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy.

At the meeting Councillor Carter proposed and Councillor Stockman seconded a motion which was agreed unanimously by the Cabinet, as set out above.

None.