Priority 4: Violence against Women and Girls

Work with partners to make sure women and girls are safe and feel safe from sexual violence and harassment in public places including transport systems and in the night-time economy.
Work with partners to increase confidence to report VAWG crimes to the police through campaigns and awareness raising.
Support my office in promoting work to tackle misogyny and sexism which are some of the root causes of VAWG.
Ensure effective use of all available protection and prevention orders to safeguard victims of domestic abuse, sexual offences and stalking and harassment.
Promote the Right to Ask and Right to Know about a current or ex-partner and whether they have a previous history of violence and abuse.

Treat victim survivors of rape, serious sexual assaults, domestic abuse and stalking with empathy ensuring access to the best support to meet their needs from the services commissioned by my office or others.
Continue to explore options to provide support and engage victims at the earliest opportunity, for example building on the success of domestic abuse specialists in the police control room.
Ensure that Northumbria Victim and Witness Service (NVWS) is responsive to the needs of victim-survivors helping to maintain victim engagement through any criminal or court proceedings.

Continue to strengthen investigations involving rape, serious sexual offences, and domestic abuse, ensuring more offenders are brought to justice.
Support my office around the delivery of behavioural change programmes engaging men and boys to reduce harm to women and girls.
Work with partners to provide the best response to stalking and harassment ensuring that alongside support for survivors, we are also targeting priority perpetrators causing the most harm.

Make it easier to report incidents of business and retail crime.
Support local businesses by responding to shop theft, targeting repeat offenders, and carrying out effective investigations.
Continue to engage with the retail sector to understand first hand experiences.
Explore and develop the use of Restorative Justice in preventing shop theft and supporting victims to recover from their experience.

Continue to listen to victim survivors to understand barriers to reporting or accessing support and ensure information is widely available.
Support the work of my VAWG External Advisory Panel, responding to the voices of victim survivors and specialist VAWG organisations.
Help shape my commissioning intentions to ensure a broad range of services and clear support pathways are in place for adult and child victim survivors.
Drive the work with partners to improve the victim journey through the criminal justice system.
Support the Government’s ambition to halve the number of victims of Violence Against Women and Girls by focusing on reducing the number of repeat victims and prolific perpetrators.