Part 6.3.2.1 - Appendix: Domestic Abuse Board
Contents
- Preamble
- Establishment and Accountability
- Scope of Role - Statutory
- Scope of Role - General
- Membership
- Chairman and Quorum
- Meetings and Decision Making
1. Preamble
- 1.1 Part 3 (Meeting Procedure Rules) and Part 6 (Council Bodies) set out the rules and procedures that apply to all of the Council's Bodies and Sub-Bodies.
- 1.2 If there is any conflict between the wording of Parts 3 and 6 and this Appendix, this Appendix will prevail.
2. Establishment and Accountability
- 2.1 By Part 4 and s.58, Domestic Abuse Act 2021 ("DAA") a "relevant local authority" (which term includes the Council) is required to appoint a domestic abuse local partnership board ("DALPB") for the purposes of providing advice to the authority about certain functions and aspects of domestic abuse.
- 2.2 The West Berkshire Domestic Abuse Board ("DAB") is the Council's DALPB.
- 2.3 The DAB is a Sub-Body of the Building Communities Together Partnership ("BCTP") which, in turn, is a Sub-Body of the West Berkshire Health and Wellbeing Board ("HWB").
- 2.4 The DAB, through the Chairman, is accountable to the Council via (in turn) the BCTP, the West Berkshire Health and Wellbeing Board Steering Group ("HWBSG"), and the HWB.
- 2.5 The Council receives funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ("DLUHC") to undertake certain functions and activities in relation to domestic abuse and has accountability to DLUHC for that funding.
3. Scope of Role - Statutory
- 3.1 The DAA requires a DALPB to:
- assess the scale and nature of the needs for support within safe accommodation for all victims, including their children, including those that require highly specialist support and those that come from out of area;
- prepare and publish a domestic abuse support in safe accommodation strategy setting out the steps needed to meet the needs of diverse victims including their children;
- give effect to the strategy by making commissioning and decommissioning decisions of support within safe accommodation for the area;
- monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy, including local delivery of support within domestic abuse safe accommodation;
- report on progress and how funding has been used to DLUHC (see above);
- review the provision of any other local authority support being provided to victims of domestic abuse or their children within the area.
4. Scope of Role - General
- 4.1 The DAB will also:
- maintain and regularly update corresponding action plans for the West Berkshire Domestic Abuse Strategy and the West Berkshire Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Strategy to ensure it is being delivered effectively;
- regularly review performance data to monitor any trends or anomalies locally to help identify and delegate areas for improvement, opportunities to increase service provision, develop training and further protect victims;
- actively seek to include the voice of victims/survivors and their children (or specialist practitioners on their behalf) in understanding the range and complexity of needs;
- meet the support needs of all victims including those with protected characteristics and/or complex needs;
- manage and decide how any funding to support the work of the DAB is allocated in the district;
- consider, as appropriate and necessary, reports from Sub-Bodies (for example the Lived Experience Sub Group ("LESG"));
- provide regular reports to the BCTP and/or the HWBSG and/or the HWB.
5. Membership
- 5.1 The membership of the DAB consists of a minimum core membership as set out under the DAA, together with other members of the DAB from additional organisations (with members encouraged to identify Substitutes to attend if they are unable to do so).
- 5.2 An Appendix to this Part details the behaviour and conduct expected of the DAB membership.
- 5.3 The minimum core membership consists of the following ("Core Members"):
- a representative of the Council (Executive Director - People (DASS and DCS));
- the Council's Executive Member with responsibility for Health and Wellbeing;
- at least one person appearing to the Council to represent the interests of victims of domestic abuse (facilitators of LESB);
- at least one person appearing to the Council to represent the interests of children of domestic abuse victims (A2Dominion and Children and Family Services);
- at least one person appearing to the Council to represent the interests of charities and other voluntary organisations that work with victims of domestic abuse in its area (Berkshire Women's Aid, Flag DV, Parents and Children Together, Home-Start, Safe, ManKind and SupportU);
- at least one person appearing to the Council to represent the interests of persons who provide, or have functions relating to, health care services in its area (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust);
- at least one person appearing to the Council to represent the interests of persons with functions relating to policing or criminal justice in its area (Thames Valley Police and National Probation Service).
- 5.4 Additional membership of the DAB are the following members:
- Adult Social Care;
- Berkshire West Safeguarding Children Partnership;
- Diverse Ethnic Communities Support Agency;
- Education Welfare Team;
- Healthwatch West Berkshire;
- Housing Team;
- Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Children and Young People;
- Public Health and Wellbeing Team;
- Sovereign Housing Association;
- Stone Water Housing Association;
- Two Saints;
- WDP, Drug and Alcohol Misuse Service;
- Youth Offending Team.
6. Chairman and Quorum
- 6.1 The Council's Executive Director, People, shall be Chairman of the Board and the senior representative of Thames Valley Police on the Board shall be Vice-Chairman.
- 6.2 The quorum for a meeting is four Core Members.
7. Meetings and Decision Making
- 7.1 Ordinary Meetings of the DAB will generally take place every two months.
- 7.2 The DAB will be responsible for making decisions in relation to its operational and strategic domestic abuse duties. All views should be considered during this process but ultimately any final decisions which have to be taken will be made in accordance with the Council's Scheme of Delegation.
- 7.3 Where commissioning/de-commissioning decisions are to be made during a meeting, any representatives from commissioned domestic abuse charities and services will be taken to have a disclosable pecuniary interest ("DPI") and be required to leave the meeting for the duration of the item.
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