The Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee were scheduled to discuss updates on counter-terrorism, domestic abuse and CCTV in County Durham. The committee was also due to review the minutes from their meeting held on 30 October 2025.

Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Executive Group Annual Report

The committee was scheduled to review the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Executive Group (DASVEG) Annual Report, which provided an overview of work delivered by the group between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

The report noted that, based on national prevalence, around 22,500 County Durham residents may have experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2024. This included more than 15,000 women (aged 16+) and almost 6,500 men.

DASVEG's plan was organised around three key workstreams:

• Prioritising prevention
• Supporting victims
• Tackling those who cause harm

Prioritising Prevention Subgroup

The Prioritising Prevention subgroup was scheduled to present on strategies for early intervention and prevention of domestic abuse, including a focus on young people, education, recognition of victimhood, professional trust-building, and campaigns.

A Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) programme, funded from public health reserves, was scheduled to be discussed. The programme was designed to improve RSHE delivery across education, social care, and community settings. Delivery outputs included 'Outside the Box' training courses, bespoke Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) programmes, Consent2it interventions in schools, and sessions delivered through the Everyone's Invited model.

The committee was also scheduled to discuss children as victims, with the report stating that since the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021¹, children have had equal victim status to adults. The Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse (CAPVA) triage team was also scheduled for discussion. In County Durham in 2024/25, 140 children and young people aged 8 to 17 and their families were referred to the CAPVA Triage Team, with 89 families receiving support through the RESPECT Young People's Programme (RYPP).

Supporting Victims Subgroup

The Supporting Victims subgroup was scheduled to present on Durham and Darlington's Safe Accommodation offer, Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) arrangements, learnings from Domestic Homicide Reviews, and victim voice representation.

Durham County Council received £1.216m in New Burdens Funding² to support local authorities in meeting their statutory duty to provide support to those in safe accommodation. The number of women supported in safe accommodation in County Durham has increased for the third year in a row, from 254 in 2022-23 to 311 in 2023-24 to 384 in 2024-25. This increase was attributed to an increase in the number of women supported in Sanctuary, which has risen from 72 in 2022-23 to 126 in 2023-24 and to 177 in 2024-25. The Remain Safe Scheme, also referred to as target hardening, is provided in a partnership between Durham County Council and Durham Constabulary.

During the period from April 2023 to March 2024, an average of 85 cases were discussed monthly by Durham Constabulary's MARAC, increasing to 106 cases monthly in 2024/25, marking a 24% rise, while the number of children involved rose from 2,013 to 2,341, a 16.3% increase.

The Domestic Abuse Related Death Review (DARDR) process, also known as Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) is a statutory process for the local authority. In the last 12 months, there has been an increase in potential DARDRs whereby a victim of domestic abuse has died by suicide and no identified DHR's where by the victim was killed by a perpetrator.

Operation Encompass (OE) is the name for a notification system that ensures staff in schools receive timely information about police attended incidents of domestic abuse. From 01/09/2024 to 31/03/2025 2971 notifications were sent to 216 different schools (relating to 3791 children).

Tackling Those Who Cause Harm Subgroup

The Tackling Those Who Cause Harm subgroup was scheduled to present on a graded response to challenging those who cause harm, from early intervention and awareness raising to behaviour change programmes.

Durham Constabulary, along with West Yorkshire Police, have been one of the pilot areas for 'Forensic Marking' of domestic abuse perpetrators. Forensic marking, sometimes termed 'Smart Water' allows victims of domestic abuse to be provided with products by the police which can forensically mark a perpetrator to provide evidence that they have been present at a specific location.

Multi-Agency Tasking and Coordination (MATAC) targets serial perpetrators to reduce domestic abuse incidents. MATAC only worked with 33 perpetrators in 2024-2025.

During the period April 2024 to March 2025, under Clare's Law³, there were 1,865 applications, with 726 (38.9%) resulting in disclosures. The Durham Stalking Intervention Project (D-SIP) is an effective multi-agency collaboration between statutory agencies, victim care services and members of the National Stalking Consortium.

Public Health Response to Domestic Abuse

Domestic abuse is recognised as a preventable public health issue in both County Durham and Darlington.

Referrals to Harbour Support Services continue to increase each year. Harbour Support Services received 11,143 referrals in 2024-2025.

Violence Against Women and Girls

In recent years the UK Government has introduced several statutory duties to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). In response to this, a working group was created to implement the changes in Durham County Council.

Durham County Council has been White Ribbon⁴ accredited for three years.

Safety of Women at Night Hub

Durham has hosted a Safety of Women at Night (SWaN) hub for several years. A major project explored women's safety at night in Durham's night-time economy. The evidence is informing a new 'Shout Up!' project (launching Oct 2025), monitored by the DASVEG Prioritising Prevention subgroup.

Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 Prevent Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the Safe Durham Partnership's progress in meeting the statutory duties contained within the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015⁵. The update was scheduled to cover the UK Counter Terrorism Strategy (Contest) 2023, and its objectives:

• Prevent: Stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
• Pursue: Stop terrorist attacks happening in this county or against UK interests overseas
• Protect: Strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack
• Prepare: Minimise the impact of an attack and reduce the likelihood of further attacks.

The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 placed Prevent⁶ on a statutory footing and requires all specified authorities to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism . The three Prevent objectives as required in Section 26 of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 are:

• Respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it.
• Prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support.
• Work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address.

The presentation was scheduled to be delivered by Andy Bailey, Senior Policy and Partnerships Officer, Durham County Council and a representative from Counter Terrorism Police North East.

The presentation was scheduled to include data from Counter Terrorism Policing North East (CTPNE) showing the position of Durham against the other forces in terms of Prevent referrals across the North East.

The presentation was also scheduled to cover Channel, a multi-agency approach to identify and support individuals who are susceptible of being drawn into terrorism. In Durham, the Channel Panel is chaired by the Head of Adult Care.

CCTV in County Durham

The committee was scheduled to receive an overview of CCTV operated by Durham County Council.

The presentation was scheduled to cover:

• Why Durham County Council uses CCTV
• Legislation and Governance relating to CCTV
• Types / Purpose of CCTV
• Location of CCTV and other users
• Planning & Installation of new CCTV

The presentation noted that the council's CCTV service has an annual corporate budget of £810k (2025/26). There are 307 public space cameras covering County Durham, and the CCTV Service also achieves income by monitoring cameras for 15 internal and external partners. The locations of all public space CCTV cameras can be found online via GIS Mapping.

The presentation was also scheduled to cover the use of body worn cameras by neighbourhood wardens and debt recovery.

The council received 13762 reports and removed 5260 incidences of fly-tipping in 2024/25. Circa 40 re-deployable cameras are in use operationally at any one time. 129 fly-tippers were caught using these cameras in 2024/5.

The presentation was scheduled to note that the implementation of new CCTV cameras in communities is an intrusive measure and should always be a multi-agency, partnership supported decision.