The Healthy and Safe Communities Scrutiny Panel were scheduled to discuss the Enfield Safer Stronger Communities Board Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2026-30, a performance report from the Safer Stronger Communities Board, and community cohesion work in the borough. Councillors were also expected to note the panel's work programme for the year 2025/26.

Enfield Safer Stronger Communities Board Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2026-30

The panel were scheduled to review the Enfield Safer Stronger Communities Board (SSCB) Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2026-30. The strategy was to be formally recommended to the cabinet for approval.

The strategy was developed to accord with the Domestic Violence Act 2021, which requires local authorities and partner agencies to support victims of domestic abuse, including children.

The strategy was described as taking a victim-centred approach, ensuring that the voices of victims and survivors are heard and represented. It also recognises that preventing and addressing violence against women and girls is everyone's responsibility, and that partner agencies must work together under one recognised and adopted approach.

The strategy is based on a three-tiered public health approach:

• Primary: Preventing violence before it occurs.
• Secondary: Responding to the immediate risk of violence.
• Tertiary: Long term support for those impacted or affected by violence.

The strategy sets out a shared vision, mission statement, and priorities. The vision is to:

Create a borough where all residents live a life free from domestic abuse and violence against women and girls.

The mission statement is:

Over the next 5 years, partner agencies will work together using a public health approach to prevent violence against women and girls, provide timely and effective support to those affected, challenge harmful attitudes and behaviours, and ensure perpetrators are held accountable, creating a borough where abuse is never tolerated.

The agreed priorities are:

• Work in partnership to support all victims and survivors no matter where they are in their journey.
• Understand, prevent, and tackle the root causes of all forms of violence.
• Responding to the changing nature of how harassment and violence against women and girls is committed.
• Holding perpetrators to account.

The report pack states that officers liaised with leads at the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime to ensure that the SSCB Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2026-30 aligns with the Mayor's Office Police and Crime Plan and Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.

The report pack also notes that officers consulted with a wide range of partner agencies, community and voluntary sector organisations, including specialist violence against women and girls' services, and that a focus group involving survivors of domestic abuse met twice to provide insights into the strategy, its priorities and actions. Solace Women's Aid were thanked for their support.

The Violence Against Women and Girls Strategic Group will have responsibility for the strategy and will develop a delivery plan based on the agreed priorities and using the public health tiers. The strategic group will have ownership of the delivery plan and will report annually to the Safer Stronger Communities Board on the progress and impact.

The report pack also notes that Enfield Council supports the national White Ribbon Campaign¹ which challenges the attitudes of men, that men are not bystanders and have an active role to play. Enfield Council is White Ribbon accredited and has a White Ribbon Champion, the Director of Public Health, and eight male Ambassadors.

Safer Stronger Communities Performance Report

The panel were scheduled to receive a performance report from the Safer Stronger Communities Board, providing key highlights from crime data for Enfield up to October 2025.

The report compares performance between November 2024 to the end of October 2025, and the previous 12 months, November 2023 to October 2024.

Key highlights from the report included:

• Total Notifiable Offences decreased by 1.1%.
• Violence Against the Person offences decreased by 2.7%.
• Violence with Injury (Non-Domestic Abuse) offences decreased by 12.6%.
• Domestic abuse incidents decreased by 0.9%.
• Domestic abuse violence with injury offences decreased by 7.3%.
• Robbery of personal property offences decreased 2.1%.
• Gun crime offences fell by 5.5%.
• Knife Crime offences increased by 2%.
• Residential burglaries decreased by 12.7%.
• Drug offences increased by 52.4%.
• Shoplifting increased by 12%.
• Theft person increased by 33%.

The report pack notes that a reduction of Violence Against the Person and Violence with Injury, coincides with the start of Operation Pisces².

Community Cohesion Work

The panel were scheduled to receive information about ongoing community cohesion work and relevant hate crime data for the borough.

The report pack notes that Enfield has a long history of working in partnership to foster community cohesion and challenge hate and discrimination, and that the SSCB places strong emphasis on supporting community cohesion work, building local resilience and helping to tackle hate crime.

The Council's Community Safety Team has offered workshops and assemblies on supporting cohesion to schools within the borough, and created eight dedicated resources including classroom workshops and school assembly materials. The workshops, aimed at tackling hate crime and online hate, have been delivered to over 1400 students in the past year.

Community Safety also works closely with community partners to support community cohesion through collaborative initiatives, including training events, publicity campaigns and engagement events held in relation to supporting diversity and tackling hate crime. Advice and guidance is also sought from dedicated organisations such as the Community Security Trust (CST) and Galop, who provide support to the Jewish community and the LGBT+ community respectively.

Earlier this year, the Community Safety Team worked with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to support community cohesion activity by helping to celebrate local communities by bringing various groups and cultures together. This activity saw the formation of a Turkish-Kurdish network in the local area supported by a local community group named Gikder.

As part of improving cohesion in the borough, the council has worked to re-establish the Enfield Multi Faith Forum, and the SSCB is committed to establishing a Community Resilience Group.

The SSCB recognises that hate crime remains under reported and the need to sustain and strengthen efforts to tackle it across the borough, and has continued to monitor and analyse reported hate crime information.

In the twelve months period November 2024 to October 2025, there were 580 hate crime offences recorded in Enfield, a decrease of 11% over the same period the previous year. Racist and religious hate crime offences in Enfield reduced by 9.7% in year ending October 2025.

Enfield has recorded reductions across most hate crime strands, with the exception of faith- related and disability hate crime. Islamophobic and Antisemitic hate crime offences have increased, partly attributed to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict that began in 2023.

Enfield has regularly supported the National Hate Crime Awareness Week, and collaborates with national organisations such as True-Vision and Stop Hate UK. The Council also works closely with the Prevent programme to ensure that extremist groups are not actively seeking to damaging the local community and extremist narratives are not allowed to cause harm to the cohesion within the local communities.

Work Programme 2025/26

The panel were scheduled to note the Healthy & Safe Communities Scrutiny Panel Work Programme 2025/26.