The Joint Consultative Committee with Ethnic Minority Organisations of Merton Council was scheduled to discuss the council's strategy for tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and receive an update on immunisation uptake. The meeting's report pack also included information on the council's previous meeting minutes.

Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy

A significant portion of the scheduled discussion was dedicated to Merton Council's strategy for tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The report pack outlined a comprehensive strategy with a vision to end VAWG through a robust multi-agency action plan. The strategy prioritises changing attitudes and behaviours, improving the safety of women and girls, early identification and help, supporting victims and their children, and holding perpetrators to account.

The strategy defines VAWG as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. It acknowledges various forms of VAWG, including domestic abuse, rape and sexual violence, female genital mutilation, early and forced marriage, honour-based abuse, faith-based abuse, sexual harassment, stalking, modern slavery, and prostitution and sexual exploitation.

The report highlighted the national and regional context of VAWG, noting statistics on domestic abuse, exploitation, sexual violence, stalking, and harmful practices. It also detailed relevant policies and laws, including the Policing and Crime Plan 2025–2029, the Mayor of London's VAWG Strategy 2022–2025, the Baroness Casey Review and New Met for London Strategy, the Crown Prosecution Service VAWG Strategy, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, the Victims and Prisoners Bill 2024, and the cross-government strategy Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls.

The strategy specifically addresses the recognition and support of male victims of domestic abuse, noting that one in six men will experience domestic abuse nationally, and 22% of victims in Merton were male in 2023–2024. It also detailed the prevalence of VAWG in Merton, with domestic abuse flagged offences accounting for 11.7% of all recorded crime in the borough in 2024. The report also outlined achievements to date, such as encouraging active bystanders and Merton Council's White Ribbon Accreditation, which demonstrates a commitment to ending male violence against women.

The strategy detailed how Merton Council would approach tackling VAWG, emphasising intersectionality, hearing survivors' voices, providing a coordinated community response, and addressing the root causes of VAWG. It outlined five partnership priorities: changing attitudes and behaviours, improving the safety of women and girls, early identification and help, supporting victims, survivors, and their children, and holding perpetrators to account. The report also described the governance and partnership work in place, including the Merton Community Safety Partnership (CSP) and the VAWG Strategic Board.

Immunisation Uptake

The committee was scheduled to receive a verbal update on immunisation uptake. The report pack indicated that this update would be provided by Desta Pinks, Unika Cumberbatch-Wynter, and Dr Andrew Brown from the Croydon BME Forum.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

The committee was also scheduled to review the minutes of its previous meeting, which took place on 2 December 2025. The report pack included these minutes, which detailed discussions on developing a co-production strategy in partnership with Merton Communities and Merton Talking Therapies. The minutes also covered discussions on child poverty, with a strategy being developed to address the needs assessment and data collection.