London VAWG Board meeting minutes - 7 June 2021

Present         

Diana Luchford - Co-Chair – MOPAC

Joan Smith - Co-Chair

Aisha Graham-Sharif – MOPAC

Ash Herron - MOPAC

Carol London-Baptise – VRU

Jain Lemom – MOPAC

Lisa Le Masson - MOPAC

Lynne Conroy - MOPAC

Michael Keenan - MOPAC

Michael Taylor – MOPAC

Susan Price - MOPAC

Tara Poore - MOPAC

Andrea Simon – EVAW

Arabella Hoskyns, HMPPS

Chloe Collins – NHS

Damian McCleave - HMCTS

Daniel Sheaff – London Councils

Hajara Allison – London Probation

Melanie Dales - MPS

Michael Still - London CRC

Niki Scordi - Advance

Nour Garzarin – WRC

Rebecca Goshawk - Solace

Lisa Ramsarran – CPS

Viv Hayes - WRC

Apologies

Clive Grimshaw - London Councils

Emma Connor - London CRC

Katie Nash – HMPPS

The Board was welcomed to the meeting. 

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed; all actions are completed or are being covered in this meeting. 

Following his re-election, the Mayor wants to rapidly deliver on his new Police and Crime Plan during his limited three-year term, which will necessitate a focus on high impact delivery. The Mayor’s top priority remains reducing all forms of violence, including VAWG.  The VAWG Strategy will be refreshed and will ensure a focus on public safety and supporting victims with multiple disadvantages.

MOPAC and partners have been very successful in delivering the current Strategy, and partners will be vital to the development and delivery of the next Strategy. 

MOPAC is also exploring how to consider data gathered from VCS and other partners, to support the tackling of VAWG. 

The Board was consulted on the priorities for inclusion in the next Strategy under the following categories: perceptions of public safety, victims/survivors, perpetrators, and prevention. 

Partners provided much valuable feedback which MOPAC will consider; MOPAC will further report on the development of the Strategy at a future meeting. 

Draft Terms of Reference for the VAWG Board under the new LCRB partnership board structure had been circulated to members and invited feedback from members. 

Members welcomed the renewed focus on the Board being able to hold partners to account for their delivery of actions in the VAWG strategy as the Board has a crucial role in addressing VAWG in London. 

The Board considered the overview of data on VAWG offences: Domestic Abuse incidents and offences, Domestic Abuse homicides, Sexual Offences, forced marriage, honour-based violence and FGM, and the public perception of safety on the Public Attitude Survey.

The VAWG Board had previously commissioned this work, using the same methodology as the Rape Review.  

The Board considered the finding on: characteristics and demographics of victims, repeat victimisation, context of offences, police responses, attrition of cases, case progression and withdrawals. Intersectionality is also recognised as an important aspect of data to be considered, and MOPAC will be exploring how this can be incorporated into the research. 

The Board will consider the learning from this research in the development of the next VAWG Strategy; any arising actions will be most effectively delivered as a collective of partners.

The Board was updated on a range of activities that the that MPS has taken, including both Pan-London actions such as the Operation Temora VAWG deployment plan and a range of activities conducted by Basic Command Units.  

The MPS has established a Gold Group to investigate police perpetrated offences of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

The MOPAC VAWG Team circulated a report providing an update on MOPAC programmes.