Against Domestic Violence and Abuse Partnership
Notes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 5th April 2006
The Ockment Centre, Okehampton
Present:
Cllr Jill Owen-Chair
Sarah Adams-Sure Start Dawlish & Teignmouth
Alison Allen-North Devon PCT & Healthcare Trust
Steffi Bednarek-ADVA
Michael Beechener-Independent DV Trainer
Marion Braund-PPSA
Deborah Booth-DCC
Malcolm Corlett-Police
Mark Coulter-Mens Advice Line
Maria Cox-Exeter Women’s Aid
Sally Crombie-Social Services Department
Chris Dimmelow-DCC
Melody Floyde-DCC
Robert Hutley-SDVC
Kath Jones-North Devon Women’s Aid
Zoe Joslin-Central Devon Magistrates Court
JaneLake-Education Welfare Service
Rachel Martin-ADVA
Mary Mitchell-Probation
Jo Morrish-North Devon Women’s Aid
Angie Mudge-Devon Educational Psychology Service
Rose Neave-Independent
Bill Pascoe-Police
Anne-Marie Parkin-North Devon Women’s Aid
Debbie Paterson-East Devon Safe House
Chris Pearson-Exeter Women’s Aid
Jo Penhaligon-Safer Communities Torbay
Nikki Phillips-Zero 14+
Maureen Read-District Judge
Katy Shorten-Devon Strategic Housing Group
Andy Stapley-PPSA
Steve Swani-Police
Roy Tomlinson-DCC
Jenny Veale-South Devon Women’s Aid
Alice Woods-Exeter Women’s Aid
Apologies
Sharon Clayborough – Victim Support;Pat Clewer – SSD;Lyn Davis – CAMHS;Ian Fraser-Roe – Police; Pam Freeman – Exeter University; Martin Gladwin – CAFCASS; Juliette Hammacott – EWS;Sally Jones – EDP; Sally Kingdon – Police; Clare Lemmy – Safer North Devon;Christine McKenna – SDWA; Anne Morecraft – PPSA; Carol Needs – Police;Jane Richards – Health; Jan Rockey – YOT;Julia Ryder – Mid Devon DV Forum; Ruth Saltmarsh – Magistrates;Viv Savage – Probation;Adele Smale – Police; Mary Smeaton – NHS Direct; Jill Snell – Police; Lesley Valentine – Police; Mark Walker – Connexions; Wendi Wallen – Police; Lindie Whitfield – DYA; Nick Wilden – Police;
- Welcome and Update
Jill Owen welcomed everyone to the meeting and updated on recent ADVA developments
- The 3 REPAIR Programmes are now running in North Devon, South Devon & Exeter
- The Survivors Reference Group has now been established
- 4 Pilot Risk Assessment Training Courses were delivered in March 2006. These will be evaluated then rolled out properly during 2006/07.
- Unfortunately DI Dave Beer from Plymouth DVU was unable to attend to give the presentation on the DVU Pilot work as planned so will be invited to the next meeting. This was a successful pilot and improvements should be seen in the work over the next 2 years.
- The final decision is still expected as to whether Devon & Cornwall Constabulary will stay as a stand alone force or will be amalgamated with others in the area.
Update on Specialist Domestic Violence Court (SDVC) Work – Robert Hutley
Robert reported on the work he has been leading to set up the SDVC in Exeter, which will be piloted from Monday 10 April 2006, with a parallel pilot running in Plymouth. The SDVC will take place every Wednesday afternoon in Exeter. Staff from agencies are being trained on DV so there will be specialist staff available.
There have been several challenges with the work, including the lack of priority being given to the initiative and the lack of support/ funding from Government. Exeter has a high number of cases so it may be possible to get an earlier listing in Barnstaple.
This is an ongoing piece of work, and there is still work to be done on monitoring, data collection, and protocols. The overall aim of the work is that support mechanisms from other agencies will be improved, the number of perpetrators being prosecuted and brought to justice will increase and support for victims will improve.
A summary report of the SDVC implementation is attached.
New Home Office Model for an Integrated Community Response to DV
The new model was circulated at the meeting (see attached). It has been created as part of the national drive to get Community and Criminal Justice Agencies working towards MARACS, and will allow other agencies to make referrals.
ADVA Funding Update – Roy Tomlinson
Roy reported that the original PSA1 targets have been met and that the reward payment for this has been confirmed as £500k over the next 2 years. It is proposed that the money is used on the following:-
- Appoint 3 advocates for MARAC process
- Appoint advocate post for SDVC (Exeter)
- Independent Evaluation on ADVA
- Work with BME Community Services
- Improve data collection system for outreaches
Roy confirmed that ADVA has entered the PSA2 process and has received pump-prime money for the DV Target – ‘increase rate of successful prosecutions (brought to justice outcomes)’.
The DAPHNE European funding bid was successful and £25k was awarded. Roy & Rachel have recently attended a meeting in Sweden to discuss the use of the money.
Devon MALE – Mark Coulter
The Home Office has agreed to fund MALE for a further 12 months as a national helpline.
A website ( has been established which contains information for male victims/perpetrators and professionals. There will be a bookshop and leaflet ordering service, and there will shortly be a text messaging service available.
The site also contains a database which sessional workers will be able to access securely to log all calls, enabling them to work from their own bases. This is similar to the database used by the Cardiff Women’s Safety Unit.
Survivors Reference Group – Steffi Bednarek
The group of 15 women has met twice since the conference. Philippa Chapman will be co-ordinating this piece of work for 1 year.
The Aims of the Group will be to (i) increase understanding of DV in statutory agencies; (ii) improve the situation for children in DV situations; (iii) increase knowledge of the situation and statistics on DV in Devon and for agencies to improve services.
The work of the group will be in 2 phases, the first phase will be monthly meetings for 3 months followed by a period of intense training for the women on presentation & communication skills. The women will also be working with Women’s Aid and consulting with other women so that they will be able to provide general views and information. Once training has been completed, the group will be available for consultation with agencies.
Future Structure of ADVA Meetings – Rachel Martin
Rachel had received feedback from 6 people on the format of the partnership meetings. General consensus was that it is important to continue to meet quarterly, and that people need to commit to attend meetings and send a representative if they are unable to attend themselves.
It has been suggested that ‘champions for DV’ could be identified in each agency to work with others who are interested in the area and would like to be more involved.
Date of Next Meeting:
Wednesday 26th July 2006, 9.00am-1.00pm – The Ockment Centre, Okehampton
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