APPENDIX 12
Memorandum submitted by Newham Asian Women's
Project
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Newham Asian Women's Project is a specialist
domestic violence agency operating mainly in the London borough
of Newham. The key points in our response to the Home office inquiry
into the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 are:
— The local Domestic Violence strategies
have not considered the immediate needs of vulnerable women within
their commissioning frameworks, and have focused almost entirely
on introducing provisions under the criminal justice system. NAWP
argues that, without adequate support services and specialist
provision for boroughs like Newham, a longer-term impact on the
struggle to eradicate of violence against women cannot be achieved.
This view is consistent with the Violence Against Women framework
for holistic specialist provision to women.
— Domestic violence work within the
Local Area Framework is very narrowly defined, and multi-agency
work is undermined in the long term.
— After an initial three-year period,
there will be an increase in the needs of vulnerable women and
under-reporting of domestic violence will continue, especially
from the BAMER sector.
— Specialist provision at the borough
level will begin to erode for as long as the local authority continues
to deny the need for adequate funding for this sector.
— Public education and awareness-raising
work, which is currently under-funded, will not be adequately
addressed either in policy or strategy, and gaps will remain in
core funding for this work.
— The MARACs system is costly and redundant,
and with the absence of funding for direct provision, early intervention
and prevention, and specialist services, cases will progress to
the high-risk stage and create a backlog within the system.
— The IDVAs and specialist courts will
assume the responsibility for specialist provision, but this will
not mean that BAMER women approach these mechanisms for support
and assistance.
1. ABOUT NEWHAM
ASIAN WOMEN'S
PROJECT
1.2 Newham Asian Women's Project was established
in 1987 to provide holistic services to women fleeing gender-based
violence. The project works towards the eradication of violence
against women by providing direct support to survivors, and by
influencing government policy, strategy and legislation to promote
an integrated approach to ending violence against women. In terms
of the implementation of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims
Act 2004, NAWP participates as a leading, specialist agency in
the Greater London Domestic Violence Forum, the Newham Domestic
Violence Forum and the Newham Domestic Violence Strategy Sub-Group.
NAWP has raised concerns about specific actions required for the
implementation of the Act, and about the overall direction of
domestic violence services. In summary, NAWP is of the opinion
that the local strategy has very little scope for including essential
sustainable, holistic and specialist domestic violence services
for vulnerable Black, Asian Minority Ethnic, Refugee Women (BAMER).
The local strategy is a reflection of national strategic aims,
which have been shaped and influenced by the Domestic Violence
National Delivery Plan. With regard to latter, although local
strategies are required to address local needs and the demand
for domestic violence services, in reality it is the national
plan outcomes that influence local spending. While we welcome
the strengthening of provisions under the criminal justice system
leading to sentencing and other legal remedies, we are concerned
that perpetrator-led criminal justice provisions are replacing
sustainable support provision for women, and that, overall, there
is a failure to protect specialist services. NAWP's response is
to reflect upon the gaps that currently exist in the development
of holistic, specialist approaches to domestic violence, both
locally and nationally, and consider the longer-term impact of
the 2004 Act.
2. MULTI-AGENCY
APPROACHES AND
BARRIERS TO
EFFECTIVE OPERATION
2.1 NAWP has reviewed the position of multi-agency
working in Newham from two perspectives. (1) How can we characterize
the multi-agency approaches at present? (2) How does available
funding shape multi-agency working? The domestic violence indicator
framework defines the nature of multi-agency working, and is articulated
in the London Borough of Newham Local Area Agreement (LAA) framework,
which establishes the funding level of agencies under a steady
state contract for a minimum three-year period. In short, it is
has been made clear by the Domestic Violence Forum that the services
that deliver on the following outputs—increased rates of
reporting of domestic violence to the police, of third-party reporting,
of domestic violence incidents resulting in sanctions/detections
and of sanctions/detections connected to sentencing—will
be considered for funding under the domestic violence strand of
the LAA. This has a number of implications for the further development
and sustainability of specialist domestic violence services:
— There is no output linked to the
work of the specialist sector, and therefore no funding has been
set aside for specialist services.
— The partnership approach is also
tied to the DV LAA framework, and therefore implies a radical
departure from the way services are currently delivered.
— The DV work under the LAA framework
is very narrowly defined and myopic, and so the longer-term impact
of early intervention and prevention work and the range of holistic
specialist and support services will not be `picked up' by the
LAA framework for funding.
2.2 Domestic violence services will be adversely
affected for the next three years:
— There will be an increase in the
support needs of vulnerable women who do not access mainstream
services, creating an even bigger gap in provision to South Asian
women in particular, and BAMER women in general.
— Under-reporting of domestic violence
will continue, as women will be less inclined to approach services
which do not address their support needs.
2.3 It must be remembered that women approach
domestic violence services to gain support for themselves and
their children, and to ensure that they have access to safe emergency
accommodation until they are able, and empowered, to move on to
permanent accommodation.
2.4 The barriers to effective operation
are:
— The fact that local authority business
plans will be unable to detect the need for holistic specialist
services for at least a three-year period.
— The inadequacy of local authority
response, which has suggested that domestic violence agencies
who wish to continue with their remit for specialist provision,
seek funding from sources outside the local authority framework
to commission services.
— The nature of the domestic violence
strategy that is being shaped under the Act, which means that
major domestic violence work that has continued in the borough
for more than twenty years is not funded.
2.5 To reiterate NAWP's position: a strategic
approach to ending violence against women includes effective service
planning; an integrated approach to prevention; effective protection;
access to, and provision of, support and rehabilitation; effective
prosecution; and adequate resources. The local authority response
in general, and the impact that it has on multi-agency working
in particular, has been focused on effective prosecution. The
response does not recognise that, for effective working, all aspects
of the fight to end violence against women must be developed and
securely funded.
3. PUBLIC EDUCATION
AND AWARENESS-RAISING
NAWP's evidence shows that it reaches nearly
150 young women per year through its early intervention and prevention
work in schools with young women, provides training and capability-building
work to approximately 131 professionals and frontline providers
in specialist domestic violence services and appropriate responses,
and has a solid, multi-agency approach to receiving referrals
from social services and from the health and education sectors.
3.2 There are three interrelated points
that must be made regarding public education/awareness-raising
work regarding funding, strategy and other indicators:
— There is no long-term funding strategy
for such work. Most funding contracts are for a minimum of one
year, with no guarantee that work will continue. Awareness-raising,
education and prevention work takes time to develop, and requires
a minimum of three years' work with people to identify longer-term,
sustainable results.
— The strategy for education and awareness-raising
is not comprehensive, and does not reflect the need for awareness
raising and education on specialist issues. Without a strategic
framework, there is no alignment with funding.
— There is no output for this kind
of work, and therefore a LAA framework will either address it
minimally or not at all.
4. CRIMINAL AND
CIVIL JUSTICE
PROCESSES
4.1 In this section, three interrelated
processes will be discussed. (1) The Specialist Domestic Violence
Courts (2) The Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) (3)
The Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference. It is NAWP's position
that these are the three main vehicles through which the Domestic
Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 has been implemented, and
priority action and funding have been subsumed within these three
initiatives, with a subsequent de-emphasis on specialist and holistic
provision.
4.2 What possible scope is there for effective
early intervention and prevention work through the MARACs? Once
a high-risk case arrives at the MARACs, various needs are identified,
including alcohol and drug abuse, repeat domestic violence by
the same partner and by different partners, and mental health
problems. Does MARACs indicate failure in provision along the
way? Does MARACs suggest the need for co-ordinated action? Is
MARACs the most appropriate pathway for high-risk cases? The history
of MARACs clearly shows that the cases brought before it have
had a long history of intervention and provision, including prior
multi-agency working and a full range of pathways. MARACs has
not been effective in responding to these problems or offering
solutions to them. In reviewing cases that remain middle and low
risk, and so do not reach a "MARACs stage", it is most
evident that early intervention and prevention, and director-support
work provided by specialist agencies, have been highly effective,
and these comprise the majority of cases in the borough.
4.3 The existing nature of specialist provision
highlights the fact that there are many success factors achieved
on a value-for-money basis, and that MARACs involves not only
an escalation of a few select cases, but an inadequate response
to gaps in joint-working which could be addressed through other
cost-effective means, including sustainable support provision.
"Escalation to high risk"—a variable used to measure
the success of response—is in itself an indication of ineffective
working. Almost all MARACs cases have involved escalation to high
risk wherever holistic provision was absent or marginalised within
the client pathway.
4.4 The important point is that, although
the majority of the work takes place outside MARACs, the special
emphasis on ensuring that each authority has a MARACs means that
resources are disproportionately allocated to the system. Approximately
eight cases are presented to the MARACs each month. There are
usually four representatives from the top domestic violence agencies
present around the table, who observe and participate in these
cases. More than 12 representatives from the statutory sector
are required to present evidence. The involvement of more than
15 people, all of whom have some authority to make decisions within
their respective organisations, in reviewing a total of eight
cases that have been classified as high risk, clearly demonstrates
the resource imbalance. The MARACs runs for a minimum of four
hours each month, with some MARACs stretching to six hours. The
cost, while it cannot be quantified here, is disproportionately
high, and not an indicator of value for money, especially where
there are more cost-effective methods available for handling high
risk cases. If this situation continues, then it is possible that,
in future, funding for the specialist domestic-violence sector
could disappear in favour of a MARACs system, causing the number
of cases which are currently low to medium risk to increase to
high risk, and creating a highly expensive system which cannot
be supported through holistic provision, because this provision
has disappeared due to under-funding.
4.5 There are also major concerns about
the IDVAs. In Newham there are four leading domestic violence
agencies, but funding for them has been allocated to only one
non-specialist organisation. In effect, the three specialist agencies
have been "shut out", both of the specialist courts
and of the IDVA system. The knowledge, experience and skills-base
of the specialist agencies have not been utilised in any cogent
manner, and this has resulted in early implementation difficulties
for the IDVAs; consequently, gaps are appearing in their own capabilities.
It would have been much more effective to spread the IDVAs across
agencies, thus ensuring better representation and the utilisation
of existing skills—a missed opportunity for strategic joint-working
which has had a negative impact on the way that Newham domestic
violence work is being developed and delivered. There is concern
that the IDVAs and specialist courts, because they will function
together with the Family Justice Centres, will eventually replace
the outreach work done by women's organisations in the borough.
Not only have holistic specialist services been told that funding
in the borough is not available for domestic violence work of
the kind done by NAWP, but under the new criminal and civil remedies,
vital outreach work done by women's organisations to women is
being replaced by the `one-stop shops': the courts, family centres
and ill-qualified IDVAs.
5. CONCLUSION:
TOWARDS AN
EFFECTIVE CRIMINAL
JUSTICE RESPONSE[27]
5.1 In general, national and local strategy
is focused almost exclusively on the criminal and civil legal
system, or on other state-mandated responses such as child protection.
Services or specialist support structures outside this realm are
usually secondary in nature, because there is no genuine commitment
to funding. In our experience, this means that a criminal justice
response has replaced the idea that violence and abuse of women
is linked more broadly to gender inequality. As one of our experts
recently commented:
I think we are way over-focused on criminality-legality
as a solution. That's where all the money is going, that's where
the resources and partnerships are going—there needs to
be a reality check, to address the need for stand-alone specialist
services for BAMER women to be strengthened and expanded.
Another contributor to this submission noted:
DVCV Act 2004 has not translated into greater
access to justice for BAMER women.
5.2 The law is a powerful regulatory force
for controlling people's behaviour. In the VAW movement, a decision
was taken to use the law to control the behaviour of abusers,
as well as to establish a societal norm that violence against
women was no longer acceptable. That this return to the law has
required many a subsequent return visit, and has resulted in many
unintended consequences, would not surprise those of us who work
to provide greater access to better support and justice for BAMER
women.
5.3 Although the state has been successful
in developing the discourse on violence against women, challenges
remain. For example, the development of the specialist courts
has failed in its efforts to achieve its basic mandate; for any
criminal justice initiative to be successful, it must be accompanied
by a sufficient social justice component. Analysis of BAMER women's
help-seeking methods shows that: (1) the barriers they encounter
are substantial, and the supports and resources are appallingly
limited; (2) gaining access to help-seeking is often long delayed,
due to poor availability of resources. Furthermore, our findings
about the quality of services provided for these women show that
the availability of a comprehensive, multi-systemic service model,
which is specialist-based and composed of direct services, refuges
and community outreach, is being eroded by the decommissioning
process. Until sustainable investment in the specialist sector
is put in place, the level of success compared to the criminal
justice system will not be fully understood. Without this investment,
we run the risk of not contributing to the fight to end violence
against BAMER women to the best of our ability, because attention
will have been inadvertently drawn away from initiatives that
focus on prevention, protection, the needs of the victim, and
the elimination of gender-based violence.
1 October 2007
27 Newham Asian Women's Project made a comprehensive
submission to the Family Law Act in response to the consultation
on the Forced Marriage Civil Protection Bill Amendments in March
2007. In this response, NAWP discussed its views on police powers
and legal protection for victims. In addition, the response addressed
support for victims, provision of refuge services and the issue
of the lack of recourse to public funds. The consultation paper
can be provided to this Committee on request. Back
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