LAST WEEK, a new Domestic Abuse Strategy was approved, setting out the council’s response until 2024.
The strategy will run for three years and include work with partners such as schools and the police. It was hailed by members of the Conservative executive committee and approved unanimously.
However, concerns were raised that the council’s new domestic abuse service provider, Cranstoun, does not have refuges for people fleeing abuse.
Cllr Sarah Kerr, Liberal Democrat councillor for Evendons why the contract was awarded to Cranstoun in July when it did not have refuge space.
Cllr Bill Soanne, executive member for neighbourhood and communities defended Cranstoun and said that it has worked councils across the country, including in London, Sussex and areas in the Midlands.
Cllr Soanne said: “[Cranstoun has] considerable reach across the country and one which demonstrates its capability to deliver a comprehensive Domestic Abuse service to Wokingham residents.
“No one will be left without support and a safe refuge in our borough should they require it.”
Cllr Grahame Howe, Conservative councillor for Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe said that 1,479 women and 568 men reported domestic abuse incidents to Thames Valley Police from the Wokingham area this year.
Last month, the council’s executive rejected joining the White Ribbon campaign, which works with boys and men to end violence against women and girls.
However, Cllr John Halsall, leader of the council, argued that his administration had devised a “White Ribbon Plus approach”, which recognises that one in three domestic abuse victims are men.
Cllr Kerr called Cllr Halsall’s reference to the “White Ribbon Plus approach” hollow rhetoric.
She said: “The White Ribbon charity is about engaging with men and boys to end violence against women and girls through addressing and tackling the deep-rooted misogyny prevalent in society that gives perpetrators a platform on which to abuse, degrade or demean, attack, rape, and murder women.
“He is also assumption that all violence against women is domestic abuse. Sarah Everard was murdered by a stranger. This is about women feeling safe to go about their day to day lives, doing everything a man feels comfortable doing.”
She added that seeking White Ribbon accreditation would have helped identify knowledge gaps in the domestic abuse strategy to help out victims even further.
But Conservatives have argued that seeking accreditation would “needlessly duplicate” the work the council is already doing in its equality strategy, domestic abuse strategy, and staff training.
