By Cllr Sarah Kerr
It is a privilege to have the opportunity to be a member of the new Liberal Democrat administration at Wokingham Borough Council and, while I’m excited about the potential of what could be achieved, I do not take the responsibility lightly.
I have the new title of Executive Member for Climate Emergency and Resident Services which covers a fairly broad remit.
The Resident Services aspect covers Customer Excellence, Digital and IT, Domestic Abuse and Gender Based Violence and Arts and Culture.
What connects all of these areas is ‘partnerships.’ It’s imperative that as a local authority we do things with people and organisations, not to them.
It’s equally important that we don’t just focus on what’s in our direct control, but what’s in our sphere of influence.
Local government is in a unique position to bring together the public sector, private sector, charity sector, citizens, and other institutions to work collaboratively for all our benefit, and we need to harness this.
In my first ‘From the Chamber’ article, I want to focus in on one of these areas: Domestic abuse and gender-based violence.
It is a little over a year since the Domestic Abuse Act gained royal assent and the act places a statutory duty on local authorities relating to the provision of support to victims of domestic abuse and their children residing in refuges and other safe accommodation.
I am having regular meetings with council officers and service providers, as well as attending sessions for victim-survivors of domestic abuse to ensure I hear the full stakeholder voice.
There are some key areas that I will be working on. Disguised compliance is where individuals appear to cooperate with professionals in order to allay concerns and stop professional engagement, which is an area of concern; Embedding trauma-informed practice in the relevant areas of the council, to ensure that we prevent retraumatising victim-survivors; Domestic abuse training is not only given but understood and embedded so domestic abuse is not wrongly labelled with the devastating repercussions that can have.
We also need to ensure that we work closely with our service providers to ensure high quality delivery of the contracts in place, and victim-survivors feel safe and supported with clear pathways in place.
I had the opportunity to meet and speak with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, Nicole Jacobs last month and relayed some of the issues we face at local level, particularly around funding these services.
The number of victim-survivor’s is increasing at an alarming rate, and we need the funding to ensure that there is good quality provision for everyone.
Sitting above domestic abuse is the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) agenda.
Domestic abuse is a pillar of this, but VAWG encompasses much more. I have written and spoken extensively about this and have set the ball rolling on Wokingham Borough Council becoming a White Ribbon accredited organisation and developing a VAWG strategy.
The culture of misogyny in society leads to one woman being killed every three days by her partner or ex-partner, 85,000 women a year being subjected to rape or attempted rape and 20% of women suffering from sexual assault (figures for England and Wales).
White Ribbon is about putting the onus on men and boys to lead the change so that women and girls can be safe.
Wokingham Borough Council needs to take an active and visible lead and we intend to make a public commitment at our Executive meeting in September to not only become White Ribbon accredited, but to specifically develop a VAWG strategy.
This will be done in a collaborative manner, working with the council’s own scrutiny function, and a range of internal and external stakeholders. There is a lot of work to be done in this area, but we are committed and will demonstrate leadership and partnership working to bring about much needed change.
Cllr Sarah Kerr is the Executive Member for Climate Emergency and Resident Services and Lib Dem ward councillor for Evendons ward
