Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Committee
Thursday 11th June 2026
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10:39
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
One. Can I?Everyone to this session of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Committee. And I'd like to say good morning to everybody and and welcome our two witnesses this morning. Um, for the benefit of the public who might be viewing this committee is what's called a post-legislative scrutiny committee, where we're looking at a piece of legislation that was passed, uh, five years ago now. And we're looking to see just how effective the legislation has been. And so we're taking evidence from those who work in the in this sector and who will be able to give us their expertise with regard to how the bill, the how the Act of Parliament is, is working out.
So can I welcome our two witnesses today, uh, this morning in this first session, uh, Catherine Briody, who's the head of Violence against Women and Girls and Youth Commissioning at Islington Council. It's very nice to see you here. And thank you very much for coming. Uh, local authorities play a big part in this, as we know. And it's very nice to welcome Meena Kumari, who's the founder and director of Hope, a training consultancy group which was founded in 2008 and delivers trauma informed training, um, around issues like forced marriage, honor abuse and female genital mutilation.
And she's won many awards and she is the recipient of great recognition for the work that she's done. So it's really wonderful to see you both here today. And I'm just going to, um, introduce my panel who are all here from members of the House of Lords who themselves, um, often have considerable experience in dealing with these issues. Now my question, my first question is really mainly directed to you, Catherine Brodie, um, about outlining the programme of prevention and research that you're responsible for and how it works out.
Um, with regard to outcomes and, uh, and some of the headline, uh, results that you've seen since the legislation was introduced.
So can I welcome our two witnesses today, uh, this morning in this first session, uh, Catherine Briody, who's the head of Violence against Women and Girls and Youth Commissioning at Islington Council. It's very nice to see you here. And thank you very much for coming. Uh, local authorities play a big part in this, as we know. And it's very nice to welcome Meena Kumari, who's the founder and director of Hope, a training consultancy group which was founded in 2008 and delivers trauma informed training, um, around issues like forced marriage, honor abuse and female genital mutilation.
And she's won many awards and she is the recipient of great recognition for the work that she's done. So it's really wonderful to see you both here today. And I'm just going to, um, introduce my panel who are all here from members of the House of Lords who themselves, um, often have considerable experience in dealing with these issues. Now my question, my first question is really mainly directed to you, Catherine Brodie, um, about outlining the programme of prevention and research that you're responsible for and how it works out.
Um, with regard to outcomes and, uh, and some of the headline, uh, results that you've seen since the legislation was introduced.
10:41
10:41
10:41
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10:42
10:42
Speaker 2
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Speaker 2
Thank you chair. Yes, I'm from Islington Council. And before I start talking about our work, I really want to give credit to my team. I've got Ashley Barker, who's here today, who's currently on secondment to the Cabinet Office, and Carolyn because. When I talk about this work, it's a lot of their work. But what I really want to talk about is some of the things we're doing differently in Islington. So one of the main things we did was in 2021, we replaced the monthly merit meeting with the daily safeguarding meeting.
Um, it meets every day for an hour working day. Um, we hear 2 to 3 cases every day. And the impact of that has been that we've really improved survivor engagement in the meeting. We have a dedicated idva who contacts all survivors referred before the meeting to find out what their wishes are. Then after the meeting to tell them what's happened, we've got much improved engagement, um, in our partners. We get more referrals that are non-police referrals and we've ever had before.
It has resulted in a big increase in referrals. And social workers directly refer GPS directly refer on occasion, health partners definitely refer. So it's made a really big difference. And what we've been able to do is track all the actions from the meeting. So we know what impact it's having as well. And it's we see it as not as a meeting, but a full time safeguarding function. So colleagues will attend meetings, for example, whether perpetrators are being heard at those meetings.
And they'll also chair and attend professional meetings.
Um, it meets every day for an hour working day. Um, we hear 2 to 3 cases every day. And the impact of that has been that we've really improved survivor engagement in the meeting. We have a dedicated idva who contacts all survivors referred before the meeting to find out what their wishes are. Then after the meeting to tell them what's happened, we've got much improved engagement, um, in our partners. We get more referrals that are non-police referrals and we've ever had before.
It has resulted in a big increase in referrals. And social workers directly refer GPS directly refer on occasion, health partners definitely refer. So it's made a really big difference. And what we've been able to do is track all the actions from the meeting. So we know what impact it's having as well. And it's we see it as not as a meeting, but a full time safeguarding function. So colleagues will attend meetings, for example, whether perpetrators are being heard at those meetings.
And they'll also chair and attend professional meetings.
10:44
10:44
Speaker 2
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Speaker 2
So, um, what we've seen some of the things we've seen from that we've seen, um, an a. Decrease in repeat referrals. Um, currently 22%. Um, and we've dramatically increased survivor engagement. So now we have about 86% of survivors that know about the meeting and have a say in what's happening compared to, um, quite significant. It's about 20% previously. Um, and we've got stronger multi-agency coordination and working. There's a lot I can say about daily safeguarding meeting, but I also want to talk about, um, our workforce development team that Ashton is here today headed up.
Um, we offer free training and consultations to anybody working in Islington who are working with survivors and families affected by domestic abuse, and what that has led to is a really change in the approach to domestic abuse. When we look at social work files, for example, we're able to see evidence and the change in tone, how survivors are worked with, but also increasing actions. Perpetrators bringing them into account more often. Um, the other thing that we've done, which links into the act when the, um, non-fatal strangulation was brought in by the act as a crime for the first time, and we recognised there was a real lack of understanding on the impact of non-fatal strangulation amongst professionals.
And so the team actually trained all our Central North police, um, on domestic abuse and non-fatal strangulation training. 750 police officers. Um, we've also trained health colleagues because a lot of health colleagues didn't know. And one of the things that's come out of that, which we're really proud of, is we've developed a non-fatal strangulation clinical pathway in Islington, which means that if someone's experienced non-fatal strangulation, they will have an opportunity to go and see a vascular surgeon. And we've had over 100, 160 survivors referred through that pathway.
And in some cases, it's uncovered, um, problems they didn't know about that undisclosed. They didn't know they had a stroke, things like this. And we think this is really significant. And now it's being rolled out to other parts of London with the NHS. And our team are training the NHS on non-fatal strangulation. Um, I'll pause there because there's a lot.
Um, we offer free training and consultations to anybody working in Islington who are working with survivors and families affected by domestic abuse, and what that has led to is a really change in the approach to domestic abuse. When we look at social work files, for example, we're able to see evidence and the change in tone, how survivors are worked with, but also increasing actions. Perpetrators bringing them into account more often. Um, the other thing that we've done, which links into the act when the, um, non-fatal strangulation was brought in by the act as a crime for the first time, and we recognised there was a real lack of understanding on the impact of non-fatal strangulation amongst professionals.
And so the team actually trained all our Central North police, um, on domestic abuse and non-fatal strangulation training. 750 police officers. Um, we've also trained health colleagues because a lot of health colleagues didn't know. And one of the things that's come out of that, which we're really proud of, is we've developed a non-fatal strangulation clinical pathway in Islington, which means that if someone's experienced non-fatal strangulation, they will have an opportunity to go and see a vascular surgeon. And we've had over 100, 160 survivors referred through that pathway.
And in some cases, it's uncovered, um, problems they didn't know about that undisclosed. They didn't know they had a stroke, things like this. And we think this is really significant. And now it's being rolled out to other parts of London with the NHS. And our team are training the NHS on non-fatal strangulation. Um, I'll pause there because there's a lot.
11:01
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
That's that that's that's, that's a phenomenal set of changes actually. It's really incredible. We've also been told that, um, I mean, the integrated approach that you're describing has made responses to high and medium risk referrals 15 times quicker. Yes. And, and that, um, cases are heard on average within 2 to 3 working days, whereas it used to be 40 to 50 working days often. And that, um, we've also seen a 305% increase in requests for civil and legal protection orders, which is pretty extraordinary.
And, and, um, and that's because of the kind of. Rapid response, if you like, and also about people being much more knowledgeable. Yeah. Um, and well informed.
And, and, um, and that's because of the kind of. Rapid response, if you like, and also about people being much more knowledgeable. Yeah. Um, and well informed.
11:01