Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy - Kensington and Chelsea Council and Westminster City Council

The Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Partnership, working with Kensington and Chelsea Council and Westminster City Council, undertook extensive engagement and consultation to inform the development of a new five-year VAWG Strategy. VAWG is the umbrella term used to describe a range of violent and abusive acts and behaviours, including: domestic abuse (including coercive control), rape and sexual violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, crimes in the name of 'honour’, sexual harassment, stalking, trafficking, prostitution/sexual exploitation. The Councils (Kensington and Chelsea Council and Westminster City Council) sought the views of those who live, work and study in the two boroughs, to better understand the needs in the borough and to establish the strategic direction of this vital work. The consultation was an opportunity for residents, businesses and other stakeholders to tell the VAWG Partnership how safe they felt in the borough, what needs to be done to better support survivors, and what should be our priorities to make our boroughs safer. This survey was part of a wider consultation process which included online workshops with a range of professionals and focus group sessions with survivors and experts through experience.

• Safety during the day: A total of 22 per cent of respondents who live/work/study in Kensington and Chelsea outlined that they felt ‘Very safe’ and 51 per cent felt ‘Fairly safe’ from the threat of VAWG in their area during the day. A total of 27 per cent of respondents who live/work/study in Westminster said that they felt ‘Very safe’ and 43 per cent said that they felt ‘Fairly safe’ from the threat of VAWG in their area during the day.
• Safety at night: A total of 26 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents and 30 per cent of Westminster respondents said that they felt ‘Fairly unsafe’ at night, whilst 19 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents and 15 per cent of Westminster respondents outlined that they felt ‘Very unsafe’ from the threat of VAWG in their area at night.
• Personal experiences of VAWG: Across both Kensington and Chelsea (59 per cent) and Westminster (66 per cent) ‘Harassment in the street/Cat calling’ was the most selected response. A total of 47 per cent of respondents from both Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster outlined that they had experienced ‘Sexual harassment’.
• Witnessing harassment: A total of 23 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents outlined that they had witnessed a woman being harassed ‘1-2 times’ in the last two years, whilst 32 per cent of respondents from Westminster selected this option. A total of 23 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents said they had witnessed a woman being harassed ‘3-5 times’ compared to 19 per cent of Westminster respondents.
• Accessing support for VAWG: A total of 35 per cent of respondents selected ‘No’ they did not know how to access support, whilst 33 per cent were ‘Unsure’. Meaning 68 per cent (net) of all respondents did not know how to access support for VAWG.

• Priorities for local VAWG partnership: A total of 72 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents and 70 per cent of Westminster respondents selected ‘Support for those who need it, when they need it and for however long, they need it’. Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of Kensington and Chelsea respondents, and just over half (51 per cent) of Westminster respondents selected ‘Support for victims of VAWG throughout family court proceedings’.

The ideas, priorities and suggestions provided by our residents through this survey have informed the development of our new five-year Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy. This strategy will set out the commitment of the wider partnership and the role we can all play to end VAWG as part of a coordinated community response.

These priorities are:

• Violence against women and girls is prevented
• Victims are supported
• Partnership working is undertaken to end violence against women and girls
• Abusers are held to account

Next steps:

We are now developing our strategy using these four priority areas to frame our approach. We are expecting to launch our new strategy to coincide with the United Nations 16 Days of Activism to End Violence against Women, November 25 to December 10 2021.