Jane Hutt AM, Deputy Minister and Chief Whip
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The National Strategy for Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence sets out the Welsh Government’s commitments to eliminating violence and abuse. The Strategy commits the Welsh Government to publishing statutory guidance for relevant authorities on the commissioning of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence services. It builds on the good practice guide “Tackling Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence – A Collaborative Commissioning Toolkit for Services in Wales”.
Today, the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Commissioning Guidance has been laid before the National Assembly for Wales.
The Guidance supports Article 7 of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (‘Istanbul Convention’), to which the UK is a signatory, by supporting and encouraging collaborative approaches between relevant authorities and other providers.
The VAWDASV Commissioning guidance will promote high quality collaborative commissioning that delivers more consistent, needs-based and effective services to prevent VAWDASV and protect and support victims of VAWDASV in Wales. It will help support the national, regional and local commissioning of evidence-based and integrated interventions by both specialist and non-specialist VAWDASV services to meet the purpose of the Act to prevent gender-based violence, domestic abuse and sexual violence; and to protect and support victims.
We want to make Wales the safest place to live and to encourage people suffering from abuse to seek help.
We want Wales to provide a world class service and to do this we need to ensure that when people seek help, they receive the highest possible standard of advice and support. By working collaboratively, we can ensure that these vital and needs based services continue to be available for citizens in Wales.