On Tuesday December 10th, to mark the final
day of the 16 days of action to tackle violence against women and
girls, York and North Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire
and Crime, visited New Beginnings, a domestic abuse support
service for women and children.
New Beginnings is a
domestic abuse support service for women and their living in
North Yorkshire. They provide long-term support, both at home and
in the community, in the form of group meet-ups and 1:1 sessions
designed to provide a safe and secure environment, empowering
women and children to rebuild their lives.
, York and North Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing,
Fire and Crime said:
“One in four women will be a victim of domestic
abuse during the course of their lifetime and last year in York
and North Yorkshire support services worked with over 14,000
victims and survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. There's much
more we need to do to ensure we support victims in all our
communities, in particular in some of the rural areas where it
can be hard to access services.
“We began the 16 Days of Action with a violence against women
and girls summit bringing together stakeholders from across our
region to look at what more we can do together to tackle the
epidemic of violence facing women and girls. Today I joined
survivors of domestic abuse to hear about their experiences and
to talk about what more we can do, working together, to improve
and expand the support women and girls receive.”
“In the coming weeks the Mayor and I will be setting out our
police, fire and crime priorities and renewing our strategy to
ensure we're doing all we can to reduce the number of women and
girls who are victims of violence and abuse each
year.”
Official figures estimate 2 million women in England and
Wales are victims of violence every year, with 20% of adults in
these regions being victims of domestic abuse every
year.
16 Days of Action is a global campaign to end violence against
women and girls, running from 25 November to 10 December.
One of the central visions of
York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith is to ensure safe
places for all residents of our region, prioritising early
intervention, tackling violence against women and girls, domestic
abuse, anti-social behaviour and rural crime.
On 25 November, the Deputy Mayor began the 16 days of action
campaign by hosting a Violence Against Women and Girls
Summit an event which brought together key
stakeholders for honest discussions around the responses to
disclosures and support available for women and girls, and how
they could be improved. The summit also heard from people with
lived experience and how they have now dedicated their lives to
improving services for victims in the future.
The Office for Policing, Fire, Crime and Commissioning (OPFCC)
will publish a refreshed Strategy to Address Violence Against
Women and Girls Strategy in Spring 2025. To support this,
residents of York and North Yorkshire are being encouraged to
complete the ongoing Violence Against Women and Girls
Survey to share their experiences and insights.
The OPFCC has also been promoting the broad range of services
available to support women and girls in York and North Yorkshire,
a full list of which can be
found on the OPFCC website.
To find out more about our current VAWG Strategy and an overview
of outcomes achieved since the launch in June 2022, please visit
the OPFCC website: Addressing violence against
women and girls in North Yorkshire & City of
York
