Violence Against Women and Girls - Independent Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of Services: report

Executive Summary

The Independent Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of Violence Against Women and Girls Services was set up with a remit to develop a more consistent, coherent, collective and stable funding model that will ensure high quality, accessible specialist services across Scotland for women, children and young people experiencing any form of VAWG.

The Istanbul Convention and other human rights instruments such as United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the International Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are at the heart of our proposed new model. After an extensive programme of evidence gathering, we have identified a number of ways in which change is required to deliver our remit and have made recommendations in several specific areas (see page 88 for full list of recommendations).

Legislation

We recommend that VAWG is put on a statutory footing. This will include: a right in law to our minimum core services; a public duty on service providers to ensure that the full range of minimum core services are provided, and a public duty on prevention identifying children and young people as co-victims in relation to domestic abuse; Violence Against Women Partnerships (VAWPs), Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs) and Multi Agency Tasking and Co-ordination (MATAC); and actioning the recommendation from the National Advisory Council for Women and Girls (NACWG) for a statutory underpinning for intersectional gender budget analysis.

Minimum Core Services

As a result of the evidence we have gathered, we have identified a range of services which are required to provide safety and support for women, children and young people wherever and whenever they need it (see Chapter 4, Minimum Core Services). These services are intended to be a floor not a ceiling – additional services can be provided but there should never be fewer than the minimum core.

Participation

Participation of women, children and young people and the needs of all victims/survivors of Violence Against Women Children and Young People (VAWCYP) should be included and resourced in the development and implementation of all aspects of the new model.

New Model of Funding

Providing these minimum core services as a right in law means that there will no longer be a competitive fund run by the Scottish Government. Funding for VAWG will be provided through collaborative commissioning arrangements as described in Chapter 9 and should be agreed for at least an initial three year period, with the option of two further years thereafter. The current national, competitive fund for essential services provided by the SG will be replaced by ring fenced, devolved funding for VAWCYP minimum core services to local authorities and their statutory partners. VAWCYP funding should increase in line with increased costs linked to the retail price index year on year.

The Scottish Government will continue to fund national work and services e.g. helpline/s and national offices and will run a competitive fund for innovation. The SG will also fund national prevention work, including campaigns and the establishment of the Istanbul Convention Implementation Observatory.

Prevention

Led by partners including the Observatory, Public Health, SG and COSLA, we recommend allocation of dedicated resources to develop a national programme on prevention that will identify the actions required at the individual, interpersonal, community and societal level. This should include national awareness raising campaigns by the Scottish Government itself and in partnership with others and a training programme for all professionals.

Budgeting for VAWG

Scotland should aim to work towards meeting Women Against Violence Europe's call for 10% of the annual cost of VAWG to be provided in funding for services to tackle it, from the Scottish budget as a whole, and develop an action plan towards achieving this as a baseline for funding commitments from the Scottish Government.

We also recommend that a gender analysis of Scottish Government spend is carried out, including intersectional data, local government and other public service spend in order to meet the reporting and timescale requirements of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO).

Mainstream Services

Mainstream services have a key role in responding to VAWCYP, and we are therefore recommending the development of a whole system, intersectional, gendered, child rights response to VAWCYP as a prerequisite to achieving the transformational shift required, including training for staff in mainstream services, delivered through a national training strategy. On the evidence gathered by the Review, specific attention needs to be given to training on advocacy for sheriffs, and on disability, particularly learning disability.

Violence Against Women Partnerships

As noted above, we recommend that VAWPs should be put on a statutory footing and included in Public Protection arrangements at local authority level. Investment in developing the infrastructure of VAWPs is essential and should include appropriate levels of resource for coordination and administration, and capacity building to support monitoring and evaluation. Resources should be provided to support VAWPs to undertake a strategic commissioning role within their local areas to meet local needs and circumstances and to carry out local needs assessments. VAWPs should also be resourced to ensure that the experience of women, children and young people informs their local strategy and that their work is grounded in an intersectional understanding of VAWG.

Standards and Regulation

A Violence Against Women and Girls Commissioner should be appointed, covering all aspects of VAWG, along with the establishment of an Istanbul Implementation Observatory which will assess progress against international standards set by GREVIO. Scottish Government oversight and drive for implementation should always sit at Cabinet Secretary level and not be delegated to ministers. The eradication of VAWCYP, as a transversal policy issue, is the responsibility of the full cabinet, and should be driven by a nominated Cabinet Secretary and visible across all portfolios. At civil service level, all Directors General should have an accountability and delivery responsibility for VAWG included in their role. The Scottish Government and COSLA should provide a report on implementation of the new model by December 2024 and annually thereafter.

Immediate Priorities for Action

We recognise that this is a challenging and ambitious programme for change, and will take some time to implement. Having been made aware of some of the most urgent needs for action and funding, we have identified the following immediate priorities:

Address and reduce waiting lists for VAWCYP support services to ensure that victims/survivors can get help to recover when they need it. Different ways of managing waiting lists should be examined, which may include a trigger point mechanism whereby additional funds are released if waiting lists reach a certain point.

Provide funding to support the development of VAWPs as a matter of urgency to create the infrastructure required to implement the new model and to enable them to undertake local needs assessments in partnership with Public Health. The SG and COSLA should work together to produce an accurate assessment of the current costs of VAWCYP nationally and locally (VAWPs should also be included in the local element).

Provide funding to ensure CEDAR is available in every local authority. National co-ordination of CEDAR/MARACs/ MATACs/MVP rollout and other national prevention work should be established.

Develop a national VAWCYP core dataset and evaluation methodology.

A standing committee for minority ethnic women and girls should be established to scrutinise, inform and advice on policies and practice on all matters relating to VAWG.

The Scottish Government and COSLA should develop and publish by December 2023 a timeline for full implementation of our recommendations over a reasonable period, setting out short, medium and longer term goals and how survivors will be involved in the implementation process.

Conclusion

We believe that our new model of services and funding represents an opportunity for Scotland to fully integrate human rights conventions and protections on VAWCYP into our legislation, establishing us as an exemplar leader in this area.

We recognise that this is a stretching plan, and that it will have to be implemented over a number of years. It enables us to keep moving forward, and to avoid further regression.

We are currently failing, despite our significant efforts over the past 50 years, to properly support victims/survivors and provide them with the services they want and need.

This is our chance to do better.