Violence Against Women and Girls

Date

27 January 2023

Latest news:

Read the report and recommendations into Male Violence Against Women and Girls in Plymouth below.

pdf, 2.92 MB

If you are a local business / organisation working on how you can support the work to combat violence against women and girls in Plymouth, sign our pledge demonstrating your commitment.

In November 2021, Plymouth City Council announced a new multi-agency Commission to tackle violence against women and girls in Plymouth.

What is the Commission?

The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Commission was set up to review what is being done across the city to educate people, prevent and deter these types of crimes, consider what support is available for victims and make recommendations on what more could be done to make women and girls safer in the city.

See the Membership of the Commission.

The Commission aimed to:

Take a proactive stance to better understand a wide range of views and experiences, and consider what more needs to be done to tackle the issue.
Improving the perception, and the lived experience of women and girls that Plymouth is a safe city.
Promote a better understanding of the causes and means of addressing male violence against women and girls.
Providing impetus for partners and the private sector to review their contribution to tackling VAWG in the city.
Take the opportunity to revisit and revise local policies if appropriate.
Share widely the work and findings of the Commission across local, regional and national systems.
Reviewing existing partnership arrangements in the city to make sure there is a clear focus and tangible action on addressing VAWG, including its wider impact on the families and children of victims and abusers.
Ensuring there is strong and visible leadership on VAWG for the city to drive through the recommendations identified by the Commission, and to be the champion for change.

How did the Commission work?

As part of the Commission's work, earlier this year they invited evidence and feedback from a wide range of local organisations, victims, and experts, including a number of public sessions. They were keen to hear from as many local people as possible, in order to understand how violence affects women and girls in Plymouth.

The Commission received a huge amount of evidence, including;

A survey was launched to understand how violence affects women and girls in Plymouth and seek views about how it should be prevented and addressed. A total of 1,327 people took part. We commissioned an independent research company to evaluate the results. This report was then submitted to the Commission and considered as part of a wider call for evidence. Read VAWG Survey report
Written submissions from groups and organisations that work with victims
Around 40 hours listening to feedback from 33 individuals or organisations during evidence sessions, including a large number of young people.

The Commission heard about a vast number of issues and considerations, arranged under the key themes of the role of men and boys, children and young people, places and spaces and culture as well as a session focused on innovation and best practice.

Final report and recommendations

On Friday 27 May, the final report and recommendations into Male Violence Against Women and Girls, was published.

Read VAWG final report

pdf, 2.92 MB

The report presents the findings of the Commission, and makes 15 recommendations on how the city will:

Drive the culture change needed to challenge male violence against women and girls
Better support women and girls who have been subjected to male violence and abuse
Create safe places and spaces
Ensure the building blocks are in place to enable real change to happen.

Pledge your support

We are working towards launching a new Violence Against Women and Girls charter mark for the city. However, in advance we are asking local organisations to pledge their support for delivering the recommendations in the Commission report. Find out more and sign.

What happens now?

The Plymouth Violence against Women and Girls Commission will hold a launch event on 10 June 2022 to share learning and the recommendations. It is expected that key organisations in the city will use this opportunity to pledge their support to delivering this ambitious programme of change.
Work will begin to appoint a Plymouth Violence against Women and Girls strategic lead for Plymouth and the Commission will establish a framework for monitoring and evaluating progress towards implementing the recommendations and assessing the impact.
Some members of the Commission will remain actively involved in providing advice and guidance on this issue, acting as ambassadors and critical friends.
The Plymouth Violence against Women and Girls Commission aims to share learning and findings from this process with other organisations locally, regionally and nationally.

Please email VAWG@plymouth.gov.uk if you would like further information about the Commission.

Debate in Parliament

The work of the Plymouth Violence Against Women and Girls Commission prompted a debate in Parliament on 25 January 2023, with Sir Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, tabling the debate to highlight all that is being done across the city to make it feel and be safer and calling on the Government to invest more funding on the issue.

Read the Hansard transcript