The Communities and Public Protection Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to consider two reports, one on the impact of the Council's work to address Violence Against Women and Girls, and a second on the progress of the local Combating Drugs Partnership. In addition, the Committee was scheduled to review its work programme and the responses to recommendations and actions arising from the previous meeting.

Making Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Everybody's Business

The Committee was scheduled to consider a report that provided an update on the impact of the Council's strategy to address violence against women and girls, covering progress against its four key objectives of strengthening the coordinated community response to VAWG, preventing VAWG, providing support for survivors of VAWG and holding perpetrators of VAWG to account.

The report described the Council's current activities across a number of VAWG issues including:

• Domestic abuse - The report described the Council's approach to tackling domestic abuse in the context of falling recorded incidents in the borough, but rising referrals to the Council's commissioned IDVA (Independent Domestic Violence Advocate) service. The report detailed the steps taken by the Council in response to the murder of a domestic abuse survivor, Alana Odysseos, in July 2024.
• Sexual harassment - The report outlined the work the Council is doing to tackle sexual harassment, including the promotion of the Safe Streets app, a tool which allows residents to anonymously report areas where they feel unsafe, and the 'Stand by Her' training, a programme that aims to empower men to become allies to women and challenge harmful behaviour.
• Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) - The report described how work on ending FGM is embedded across the Council's services, with a particular focus on raising awareness in health and educational settings.
• Harmful practices (forced marriage, so called honour based violence) - The report provided information about the Council's commissioned service, Ashiana, which delivers support to survivors of harmful practices.

The report also discussed the Council's work with a range of other agencies and organisations including:

• Schools and colleges - The report described the Council's Whole School Approach, a programme designed to tackle and prevent VAWG in educational settings.
• Health services - The report provided details about the Council's partnership work with the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB), in particular a new programme, the VAWG Health Project, which is funding a dedicated VAWG worker to work with healthcare settings.
• Police - The report highlighted the challenges of police reporting in relation to VAWG, noting that despite falling police reports, referrals to support services had been maintained.

The report included a series of recommendations for strengthening the Council's approach to tackling VAWG, including:

• Lobbying for the reinstatement of the local Special Domestic Abuse Court (SDAC), which was disbanded during the pandemic.
• Exploring funding for a flexible fund to enable survivors of domestic abuse to purchase security measures for their home, as an alternative to rehousing.
• Working with the police to identify specific actions that will improve police engagement with minoritised women and girls.

In addition to the report, the meeting pack included the Council's Ending Violence Against Women & Girls Strategy 2020-2025[^1] which describes the four key objectives of the strategy:

• Strengthening our Coordinated Community Response: Building shared responsibility and coordination across all agencies to work within our communities to drive joint action that can be flexed and adapted to meet the diverse needs of residents.
• Prevention: Using a public health approach to address the root causes of VAWG. Challenging the values and attitudes that underpin VAWG and making these unacceptable.
• Support for Survivors: Ensuring survivors get the support they need when they need it in ways that works for them, removing barriers that restrict access to services and ensuring that there is no wrong front door for people to access support.
• Holding Perpetrators to account: Proactively managing those responsible through swift, proportionate action while providing opportunities for behaviour change, ensuring systems work to disrupt and tackle perpetrator behaviour.

The meeting pack also included performance data on the Council's commissioned VAWG services, including Solace Women's Aid and the Rise perpetrator programme.

Protecting Communities from Alcohol and Drug Related Harm

The Committee was also scheduled to consider a report on the progress of Waltham Forest's Combating Drugs Partnership (CDP). The CDP, which was set up in 2023 in response to the government's 10-year drug strategy From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives has three strategic priorities of prevention, supply and treatment. The report outlined the activities undertaken in the past year by the partnership and its members including:

• Prevention:
  • Delivering County Lines assemblies to Year 8 pupils, Junior Citizens sessions to Year 6 pupils, and drug and alcohol awareness education sessions in secondary schools.
  • Working with Community Safety to coordinate Operation Elbert, which employs passive drug dog operations in drugs hotspots.
  • Providing training to professionals on Make Every Contact Count (MECC), a public health approach that encourages healthcare professionals to use routine interactions to provide brief advice on healthy lifestyle choices.
  • Commissioning a Community Health Champions programme from Groundworks London.
  • Running a safer drinking campaign during the Euro 2024 football tournament.
• Supply:
  • Building a deeper understanding of drug markets and investing in capacity to conduct proactive operations.
  • Disrupting drug dealers and their networks.
  • Tackling public space drug dealing and associated harms.
  • Identifying vulnerable individuals being exploited by substance misusers or drug dealers in their home.
  • Robustly tackling drug related offending.
• Treatment:
  • Reprocuring the drug and alcohol treatment, support and recovery service via a direct award process to the current provider, Change Grow Live (CGL).
  • Distributing Naloxone kits to people who use opiates, professionals working with people who use opiates, and friends and family of people who use opiates. Naloxone is a medication that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.
  • Providing rapid access to Buvidal, a long-acting injection for the treatment of opioid addiction.
  • Providing an outreach service, delivered by a dedicated outreach worker, who acts as a link person between people who use drugs and other support services.
  • Running a weekly recovery cafe.

The report highlighted the success of the partnership's multi-agency response to drug hotspots in the borough, which was implemented in response to acute problems in Leyton in 2024. The report also outlined the progress made on the delivery of Project ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery), a London-wide programme which was launched in Waltham Forest in March 2024 and seeks to improve engagement with treatment services for individuals in contact with the criminal justice system.

Finally, the report confirmed that work will begin in 2025 to review and refresh the Partnership Framework and Delivery Plan to further reduce the harm from drugs and alcohol in Waltham Forest.