Agenda item

Interview with Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle, Cabinet Member for Community Safety on:

 

·  Southwark’s Community Safety Plan (Supplementary Agenda no. 2)

 

·  Impact of the change of Domestic abuse providers from Solace to Refuge (Main Agenda)

 

§  Effect on Domestic Abuse (Main Agenda)

 

§  Effect on Anti-Social Behaviour (Supplementary Agenda no.1)

The commission first heard from Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle on the following topics

·  Council Delivery Plan setting out community safety priorities, commitments and objectives

ØUpgrade street and estate lighting

ØTackle misogyny and violence against women and girls (Through Her Eyes’ campaign)

ØMake Southwark safe for young people

ØMake it clear that there is no place for hate in Southwark

·  Council’s successes in tackling ‘Cuckooing’ by working with the police

The commission then asked questions on the following points

·  Measuring success of the anti-misogyny education campaign

·  Reasons behind the high levels of homophobic hate crime  at 18 % compared to national levels of 13%

·  Safe spaces for people to communicate thus evaluate the success of the community safety campaigns against domestic violence, misogyny and hate crime

·  Dedicated Liaison officer for Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG)

Councillor Dixon-Fyle informed the commission that the measure of success in anti-misogyny educational campaign would be reduction in cases of domestic violence, name-calling and wolf-whistling. The educational campaign received quite positive responses and feedback from the young men and boys in the schools.

 

Stephen Douglass, Director Communities, Environment, Neighbourhoods and Growth explained to the commission a good measure was the number of online views of the anti-misogyny video and also that there will be a full evaluation of the educational campaign before we roll out further stages. On homophobic hate crime Stephen informed the commission that Southwark has a high number of people who identify as LGBTQ compared to other London Boroughs and majority of such incidents go un-reported, spreading awareness throughout the community is an important step in tackling this issue.

 

Stephen informed the commission that there is a wide-network of safe spaces and havens across the borough where women can discuss wider issues with regards to their safety.

 

On having a dedicated Liaison Officer for VAWG Councillor Dixon-Fyle explained that she wasn’t aware that such a gap had occurred and it could be filled by working in partnership with the police.

 

Domestic Abuse (DA)

 

The commission then heard from Sharon Ogden, Safer Communities Team Manager on the Transition of Domestic abuse service providers from Solace to Refuge;

 

The commission then asked questions on the following points

·  Crossover of services at Women’s Safety Centre due to the change in contract

·  Council planned changes to communication with domestic abuse sufferers under the new contract with Refuge

·  Collaboration with other Local Authorities like schools, to spread awareness of domestic violence.

·  Changes in delivery mechanism and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Sharon explained to the commission that 70 referrals have been crossed over from Solace to Refuge and this new contract with Refuge is for a period of 18 months with the same service options, referral mechanisms and contact number also remaining the same as Solace with a slight change in delivery mechanisms; from August 2024 there will be a new holistic service in place for the Women’s safety centre with a staggered approach to the launch of services.

 

Sharon informed the commission that changing providers is an opportunity to communicate with domestic abuse sufferers through road shows with some key partners in the police, children services, housing and the voluntary sectors. In addition there will also be communication going out about the new Refuge service on International Women’s’ Day. On awareness in schools; there is a misogyny campaign, breakfast meetings with Head teachers which is a forum attended by the council to spread awareness of the new Refuge service. The Council plans to look at the wider community by involving young people, identifying key areas of need with partners and also looking at diversity and cultural aspects of the service.

 

Furthermore, the council plans to have 40 Safe Havens’ for women across the borough and also rolling out training in sexual harassment on streets to door security staff in partnership with Lambeth council.

 

Sharon also explained to the commission that some minor changes have been made to delivery mechanisms moving from Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVA) to Independent Gender Violence Advocates (IGVA), survivor group work which is now a peer led group and Own My Life program delivered over a 12 month period by Refuge and the perpetrator program moving from group work to one to one model. Child therapeutic service through Beat House, Iris working with General Practitioners (GPs) and mental well-being services remain the same as it was with Solace.

 

On KPIs the commission learned that in domestic violence survivor support it is about reducing the risk and increasing their well-being, expectation is of around 1500 referrals a year with 60% accepting help. Officers are having weekly meetings with Refuge to set expectations on KPIs.

 

The commission then asked further questions on the following themes

·  Solace’s performance leading to change in service providers to Refuge

·  Reaching culturally diverse community groups

·  Financial implications in changing service providers

Sharon informed the commission that through the contract monitoring process of Solace some issues were identified with inconsistency in data calculations in different areas and are now subject to an audit process, this had led to a higher management decision of changing service providers to Refuge.

 

Sharon explained to the commission that there are many other organisations such as Latina America women’s group, Refuge has outreach and training programmes and also the council has been focusing on LGBTQ groups accessing council services.

 

Sharon also informed the commission that there are no cost implications in changing service providers.

 

Sharon then briefed the commission on Cost of living crisis and its effects on domestic abuse cases:

·  Early data collection ongoing in the new contract with Refuge on cost of living impact

·  More people being directed to food banks due to financial hardship

·  Domestic abuse cases having Non-molestation orders costing £900

·  Domestic abuse perpetrator’s using non-payment of utilities bills as a means of control (economic abuse)

·  No overall increase in domestic abuse levels due to cost of living

The commission then asked questions on the following points

·  Increase in seriousness of domestic abuse cases that are high risk, Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)

·  Council response rate and strain on its Domestic abuse service due to 118% increase in referrals during Covid

·  Other models for the Women’s Safety Centre

Sharon informed the commission that there was a 21% increase in council referrals with increased levels of high risk cases during the first lockdown of the Covid pandemic, which went up from 25-30 referrals to 40 referrals fortnightly. With regards to MARAC it has gone back down to pre-Covid levels and although there were slightly higher than average referrals but there was no visible impact of cost-of-living on seriousness of domestic abuse cases. The council in 2013-2014 was the 5^th highest volume borough in London reporter of domestic abuse cases and now ranks 15^th which has been a significant reduction in Domestic Abuse (DA) levels.

 

Sharon informed the commission that the Council added additional resources to the DA service (Solace) during Covid, the council also monitored cases thoroughly and will continue to under the new contract with refuge, there is an expectation of 1500 referrals annually thorough IGVA for DA survivors. Under the new contract with Refuge there are service delivery requirements and standards with regards to first contact within 24 hrs and a first risk assessment within those 24 hours and a further assessment to be completed within 5 days.

Councillor Dixon-Fyle added that there is a need for DA survivors to be tracked and provided permanent housing with the council after completion of the initial offer of temporary accommodation.

 

Sharon and Councillor Dixon-Fyle explained to the commission there are on-going discussions and initial research work being carried on models for the Women’s Safety Centre one of the models being discussed is the Orange House in Amsterdam replicated in Sussex, Little Hampton.

 

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)

 

The commission then heard from Stephen Douglass on Anti-Social Behaviour on the following themes:

 

·  Similar trend in ASB as in DA with early collection of data on-going

·  Increase in reporting of noise and neighbour issues during Covid

The commission then asked questions around the following points

·  Categorisation of ASB’s wide range, covering of varying issues from physical violence to fly-tipping

·  Working with Local partners particularly schools

Councillor Dixon-Fyle explained to the commission that categorisation of ASB issues and its seriousness would have a bearing on response rates.

 

Councillor Dixon-Fyle agreed to provide the commission with statistics based on categorisation of ASB with varying levels of severity and also confirmed that a low category ASB case such as graffiti but with racist or homophobic element would be category 1 (highest priority).

 

Stephen informed the commission that there is work on-going with schools and local partners such as youth providers across the borough; providing positive youth activities which are funded.