Report - London Borough of Hillingdon

Hillingdon Domestic Violence Strategy 08/2005
Local context
The Housing Services conducted a mapping exercise (as detailed above) of
the services currently available within the borough.
The areas used as a guide during the mapping exercise were those indicated
in the guidance document published by the home office in December 2004 to
assist local authorities with developing domestic violence strategies.
This allowed for a comprehensive gap analysis to be conducted.
The key findings of the gap analysis were:
Presently, the complex nature of domestic violence defies the necessity for
building a systematic way of understanding its impact. Health, Police and the
council’s housing dept have all developed ways to collect data but their
different criteria, modus operandi and the ‘masked or hidden’ issues arising
often reduce compatibility.
Local voluntary organisations operating on limited resources with clients at
crisis point can be reluctant to contribute to mapping exercises as the needs
they identify may then be taken up by rival agencies with the resources to
develop services.
There is a strong commitment to develop good practice and outreach to all
communities. Many organisations have primary concerns with survival, and
reaching targets and these qualities can contribute to minimise ‘thinking out
side the box’, which is important to enable the power-sharing roles in
partnership working, with a view towards prevention.
However, more work is needed to develop a clear picture of the level of
understanding of this crime within the community as a whole.
Violent relationships often become more violent over time. While it is
impossible to predict with any degree of certainty when relationships will
escalate to lethal violence, researchers have identified some common factors.
The police have taken a strong initiative in adopting a new assessment tool
that they consistently use for domestic violence cases. This has resulted in
more effective ways to determine the lethality of perpetrators, as well as
providing earlier intervention by the agencies they refer victims to.
This tool is being shared and developed with other agencies through multi
Agency DV training and will be instrumental in developing a common
assessment tool. It is compatible with adult and child protection procedures.
Many agencies are moving toward a common assessment tool, indicating that
in the future the information they share will be more meaningful and enable
more effective referrals.
Until then, there is no common assessment tool in place.
PART 1 – MEMBERS, PUBLIC AND PRESS
Cabinet report 10 th November 2005 Page 85