Last night I attended the public meeting on violence against women and girls (VAWG), hosted by Rodborough Parish Council, alongside members of Gloucestershire Constabulary, the PCC, Gloucestershire County Council and Stroud District Council.
Following two local horrific incidents of rape and further incidents of assault this year, concerns and worries have been felt across our community and it is important these be addressed, and questions asked.
A vast amount of work is being done both here in Gloucestershire and more broadly by the government to tackle the issue of VAWG, but it is stark how little is known about this.
I have included an overview of the work that is being done on this below:
Locally:
🔹Gloucestershire’s Office of the PCC have submitted a successful bid covering the topic of VAWG with over £659,000 being allocated to tackling VAWG through techniques including:
🔹Educational theatre on the topic of stalking
🔹Funding for personal safety apps and alarms
🔹Expansion of a local Sex Worker Outreach Programme
🔹New drug testing machines to tackle spiking
🔹Additional presence in the night-time economy through Street Medics, Night Safe Officers and Street Pastor
Nationally:
🔹Between 2016 – 2022 the VAWG Service Transformation fund allocated £17 million to 41 projects to support and embed programmes to make systemic change to local service provision across England and Wales.
🔹From 2021 – 2022 the government have committed just shy of £151 million for victims and witness support services, including over £20 million for local, community-base sexual violence and domestic abuse services.
🔹Publishing of the Strategic Direction for Sexual Assault and Abuse Services.
Extending the Rape Support Fund until March 2023 to ensure support services have the funding stability, they need to meet demand.
🔹The Ministry of Justice are commissioning a 24/7 rape victim support service.
🔹Appointing an Independent Government Adviser on Preventing VAWG.
🔹A new National Policing Lead for Tackling VAWG being established to drive forward the policing approach.
From the meeting, it is clear that the key concerns locally are to do with a lack of knowledge of what the police are doing to improve safety, a feeling of not being able to report issues due to a lack of trust in the police and issues around lighting and CCTV in certain areas within our district.
There is always more that can be done and I remain committed to making this a priority. I will be following up with local police and councils.
I want to also thank all the residents that attended and shared their personal experiences - it is a very brave thing to do and it is so important that local voices are heard.
If you were unable to attend the meeting last night, the SNJ did a live feed covering the key points that were made. You can find this here 👇🏼https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/20614218.recap-community-me….
Rodborough Parish Council also hosted a live stream of the event which can be viewed here 👇🏼
https://www.facebook.com/103211635834599/videos/3202040716714319
If you have any further questions or comments as to how we can improve safety in our area, please do email me on siobhan.baillie.mp@parliament.uk.