Domestic Violence Scrutiny Review
Community Safety and Social Inclusion Scrutiny Commission
Despite under-reporting, domestic violence in Hackney accounts for 20% of all violent crime. We have the second highest rate of domestic violence reporting in London compared with the family of most similar boroughs. 28% of domestic violence incidents reported to the police in Hackney showed a young person as an informant or witness to an incident. Across London 75% of children on the 'at risk' registers have domestic violence as a feature of their lives.
A challenging 'value for money' service review of Hackney's domestic violence services was carried in June 2010 and rather than finding possible savings which could be made it had concluded that Hackney's service was "currently under-resourced given the level of need in the borough". A very strong case therefore can be made for Hackney's investment in preventative and risk reduction activities.
The establishment of the Domestic Violence and Hate Crime Team within the Council and the creation of the joint Specialist Domestic Violence Court with LB Tower Hamlets have had significant impact in the past two years in driving up the reporting of domestic violence and in achieving successful outcomes for the victims.
Our review set out to answer whether current partnership arrangements were sufficient, whether they took account of the culturally specific needs of our diverse borough, whether the services had enough resilience to withstand the current budgetary pressures. The Commission also set out to ask whether there was sufficient emphasis on behaviour change programmes for perpetrators (outside of those mandated by the courts) and whether there were sufficient interventions to support the specific needs of children living with domestic violence.
In its evidence gathering the Commission talked to all the key local stakeholders including national experts from Respect, the organisation which works with perpetrators. It visited the Specialist Domestic Violence Court at Thames Magistrates Court, a joint arrangement with LB Tower Hamlets, and the Partnership Triage Unit in the Council's Children and Young People's Services, which plays a key role in risk assessment. It also visited Camden Safety Net at Holborn Police Station to see how their model of co-locating police officers who are working on DV cases with their council's DV team, was working.
The Commission's Final Report
The Commission made 11 recommendations. Broadly these focused on increasing awareness within council departments and within our partners of the extent of the problem, of the care pathways which exist and of the lack of training on these issues for a whole range of frontline staff. They demonstrated that greater attention needs to be paid to funding and supporting programmes which work with perpetrators (and not just those mandated by the courts) and they highlighted a neglected area which is that DV also exists within the LGBT community, elders and the disabled. The report concluded that the current Domestic Violence and Hate Crime team and the joint specialist DV court deserves full support in these times of budgetary constraints. The report also highlight the vital role played the third sector and in particular nia project but also the role of small community based organisations (such as IMECE in the Turkish/Kurdish community) which provide that vital first point of contact for victims where there are language and cultural barriers. These can save lives and refer victims on to the generic providers for a more comprehensive wrap-around support.
Response from the Cabinet Member
Cllr Sophie Linden, Cabinet Member for Crime Sustainability and Customer Services responded to the recommendations and stated "The Council is committed to delivering these services and supporting the victims of domestic violence. I am grateful for the scrutiny commission for undertaking this review and am committed to ensuring that its recommendations are implemented". All recommendations were accepted.
What has happened as a result of the review?
In Septebmer 2012 the Commission will receive an update on how the council has implemented the review's recommendations. Further details will be published here when available.
Page updated: 2 Mar 2012
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