Domestic Violence

I attach great importance to action on domestic violence. Today I will share with you some recent initiatives I have set in motion for the Welsh Assembly Government.

Domestic Violence is a serious problem, which affects people from all walks of life and within all kinds of  relationships.  It can start with words, move on to sexual and physical abuse, and sometimes only end when someone is killed. Every day in Wales an average of 49 women contact Welsh Women’s Aid because of domestic violence or abuse. On one particular census day in 2000, 138 women contacted Welsh Women’s Aid and 173 women and 240 children were living in refuges throughout Wales. It is a sad fact that every three days a woman somewhere in the UK dies as a result of domestic violence.

The Welsh Assembly Government has responsibility for health and social services and child protection issues, and as Minister for Health and Social Services I have a responsibility to help prevent domestic violence in Wales, and to provide care for its victims. However, lead responsibility for the criminal aspects of domestic violence rests with the Home Office. The Assembly’s Crime Reduction Unit, which is funded by the Home Office, and reports to the Minister for Finance, Local Government and Communities.  They have a number of programmes in hand in this area.

The Assembly liaises closely with the Home Office, and has taken part in their Domestic Violence campaigns. We were part of the launch of the “Break The Chain" campaign in 1999, which involved the distribution of thousands of leaflets and posters - in English and Welsh - to a wide variety of organisations all over Wales. Officials have also attended meetings of the Interdepartmental Group on Domestic Violence and Violence against Women.

The Assembly has already taken a number of steps to ensure that domestic violence is taken into account in our policies. For example in October 2001 we launched a domestic violence resource manual for health professionals. Staff throughout the health service now have up to date information on giving advice to women. Children can also be victims of domestic violence, either directly or indirectly.  We are therefore producing a model protocol, highlighting the child protection aspects of domestic abuse, to be issued to all Area Child Protection Committees in Wales.

The Assembly has, for some years, been providing funding to Welsh Women’s Aid and Black Association of Women Step Out (BAWSO) from a number of different budgets to enable shelter and support to be given to victims of domestic violence. We have also ensured that relevant guidance to local authorities, registered landlords, schools and Area Child Protection Committees has included reference to the need to take domestic violence issues into account. I am very much aware, however, that  more needs to be done to pull all our strategies together and to develop new initiatives to tackle this very important issue.

As a first step, we have drawn together a number of funding streams that supported Welsh Women’s Aid in previous years into one new grant scheme. Welsh Women’s Aid now has one source for direct Assembly funding, and this is within the Communities Directorate which has policy responsibility for domestic violence and violence against women. We shall be looking again at ways to fund domestic violence initiatives during the next budget planning round.

I have also asked for a Working Group on Domestic Violence and Violence against Women to be set up. This will include both Assembly officials – from Communities Directorate, NHS Wales, Crime Reduction Unit, Education, Housing and Social Policy Development - and representatives from relevant outside organisations such as the Police, the Health Service and voluntary bodies such as Welsh Women’s Aid. The main purpose of this Group will be to develop a comprehensive strategy for Wales covering the criminal justice, health, social welfare, child protection, education and equality aspects of domestic violence and violence against women. I have recently written to nominated representatives of these organisations inviting them to become members of this new Group. The first meeting will be held very shortly.

I have also agreed in principle to hosting an inter-governmental conference on Domestic Violence in Cardiff late this year. This is being considered as a result of a cross-border Liaison Group set up in 2000 to develop inter-country initiatives on crime related issues. The Group comprises representatives from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales. A conference on Domestic Violence was hosted by Ireland’s Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in Dublin last December, and in view of its success it has been decided to hold another conference this year, hosted by an alternative country. This will provide an excellent opportunity to raise the profile of domestic violence in Wales, and I very much hope that it will be possible to host this event in Wales.

I hope that this statement highlights my commitment to tackling this problem in Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government – with the help of experts from other agencies – will be developing more integrated policies in this area in the future, and will be giving a lead to the people of Wales in tackling this very disturbing problem.