Violence Against Women and Children Action Plan

Thursday 25th November 2010 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Anne Milton)]

Today, I formally launch the Department of Health action plan, improving services for women and child victims of violence. This document sets out how the Department, in partnership with others, will take action in response to the findings of the independent taskforce on the health aspects of violence against women and children (VAWC), which were published in March 2010.

The work programme aims to lay the foundations for embedding high-quality evidence-based practice within the national health service in response to violence and abuse and is set around four key themes: awareness-raising; workforce, education and training; improving quality of services; and evidence and information.



The action plan takes into account the key findings from the independent taskforce, which were informed by focus groups with women and children service users. An NHS implementation group on violence against women and children, established in June, will oversee progress of the implementation work.



The Department’s work in this important area also feeds into the cross-Government programme on violence against women and girls. This highlights the importance of partnership-working at both a national and local level to tackle violence and abuse.



I am placing a copy of the report in the Library and copies are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office.