STADA Statement: Freedom from Violence and Abuse Strategy

STADA welcomes the launch of the Government’s Freedom from Violence and Abuse strategy, which rightly recognises violence against women and girls as a national emergency and affirms that ending VAWG is everyone’s business. The ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade is significant, and the commitment to a whole-of-government, whole-of-society response reflects what survivors and frontline organisations have long called for.

Responding to the strategy, Jo Choi, Chief Operating Officer at Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, said:

“This is an ambitious government VAWG strategy, and it is encouraging to see a clear recognition that tackling violence against women and girls requires coordinated action across every system. Delivering this ambition will depend on sustained investment, meaningful accountability and the training of professionals across health, housing, justice and community services to turn policy into real change for victims and survivors.”

Our immediate key takeaways from the strategy:

• Reaffirming commitment to the expansion of the SDAC (Specialist Domestic Abuse Court) model as recommended by the Sentencing Review

• The announcement of nearly £500 million to provide safe accommodation (however we need to scrutinise the detail of this) and we’re pleased to see the reference to the Whole Housing Approach model in the Homelessness Strategy  

• A plan to improve responses to domestic abuse in primary care but concerned that this is not a whole system response when we need every bit of the NHS working to identify and support victims.

• Continued funding of support to families bereaved by domestic abuse related deaths and the expansion of the Domestic Homicide and Suspected Victim Suicides Project. We’d like to see more detail on how the system will learn from DA related deaths.

• Requirement for police to seek a domestic abuse victim’s consent before sharing their information with Immigration Enforcement.

STADA will now take some time to scrutinise the strategy and accompanying action plan in detail, including how it aligns with other recent government commitments. We will return in the new year with a fuller analysis through the lens of the coordinated community response, including the support and training required to implement this strategy effectively and safely for victims and survivors.