Work is well underway to improve services across Plymouth to make women and girls feel safer, with the city well on track to be the first area in the UK to receive a national accreditation for its efforts to end domestic abuse.
At the Cabinet meeting today (13 November), Councillor Sally Haydon, Plymouth City Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety, updated members on the ongoing work to deliver the recommendations from the 2021 Violence Against Women and Girls Commission.
One of the main actions is to work towards a Coordinated Community Response Accreditation (CCR) by 2025. This accolade has been pioneered by a national charity called Standing Together. They encourage organisations to come together to ensure that survivors are kept safe, hold people who harm to account and prevent domestic abuse.
- As part of this, the Council will work with others across the city to deliver tangible actions that will tackle violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and sexual violence. This includes: Recommissioning of our domestic abuse and refuge service, to help provide safe accommodation and community support for individuals and families in the Plymouth area
- Introducing a Healthy Relationships Alliance and increasing educational work with young people
- Launching e-learning and workforce development for staff alongside refreshing the Council’s domestic abuse policy
- Expanding our response to addressing people causing harm by rolling out further Bystander training and working with the Police and partners to protect people in their homes and also on our city’s streets, by installing purple help points, working with the NHS and the Police by offering a safe bus and working with Best Bar None to implement anti-spiking initiatives in pubs, bars and clubs.
Councillor Haydon said: “Having a zero-tolerance approach to the mistreatment, abuse and violation of women and girls is so important to this Council.
“It is vital that as a city we continue to work together to protect our women and girls. Whilst much has been achieved over the past few years, there is still so much work to be done.
“As we approach the 16 days of activism, we need to continue with our work to ensure victims and survivors are able to escape abuse and be safe, facilitating access to services that build resilience, reducing the risk of families reaching crisis point and reducing the impact on children.
“But we can’t do this alone. It is incumbent on us all to work tirelessly to make Plymouth a safe home for everyone women and girl who lives, works, visits and studies here.”