The Government’s next Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy (VAWG) needs to align with other strategies and legislation, including the Domestic Abuse Bill.
In its response to a call for evidence to inform a new strategy, the LGA also calls for the systemic barriers facing minority ethnic, migrant, deaf and disabled women, and LGTBQ+ people, to be considered, as these groups are disproportionately affected by violence.
The LGA’s response says it is helpful that the Government has published a Male Victims’ Position Statement to strengthen the response to male victims of violence.
The VAWG strategy for 2021-24 aims to focus on all forms of violence against women and girls, and drive forward improvements in the effort to target perpetrators, placing victims and survivors at the heart of the approach – something the LGA supports.
Investment in early intervention and prevention, particularly community-based support, are integral to any work in this area.
The LGA response says that, while there is a case for having a single VAWG strategy incorporating domestic abuse, there “must be a coordinated whole-systems approach to tackling violence against women and girls embedded across all Government departments and relevant agencies… other government strategies should align with, and complement, the VAWG Strategy”.
Overall, long-term, sustainable government funding is needed to help councils and their partners deliver a comprehensive approach to addressing VAWG, and the LGA will be responding to future discussions on this issue.