DECISION

1.    Approve the women’s safety action plan at Appendix 1 to the report, subject to the following additions to the recommendations as underlined below:

Recommendation 1

The council and its strategic partners, including the Metropolitan Police, Faith Communities and the VCS to collaborate to improve the awareness of women of the programmes and help available directly that support women’s safety on the streets.

Recommendation 2

The Council to review current funding arrangements and increase the capacity to support women’s groups that offer domestic abuse services to the community. This to tie into a service-wide review of what is on offer to women of all communities.

Recommendation 4

The Council’s Children and Education Service, in particular Young Tower Hamlets to design support for increasing capacity at schools on raising awareness of domestic abuse and support available.

Recommendation 5

The Council and Residential Social Landlord (RSL) partners should actively strengthen their partnership workings to focus on tackling women safety issues  on RSL estates which will build on ongoing RSL work begun with the Ask the Ombudsman event.

Recommendation 6

The Police/THEOs to actively target and focus their recruitment and retention strategy to reflect recruiting representative women from the community in Tower Hamlets. This to be done in cooperation with faith communities and the Council.

Action by

CORPORATE DIRECTOR COMMUNITIES (S. BAXTER)

Head of Community Safety (S. Smith)

Council Abu Talha Choudhury, Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, introduced the report that set out the Women’s Safety Action Plan developed and implemented as a result of seven recommendations made by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in February 2023. Councillor Choudhury explained that all of the recommendations were already in progress of implementation, with an overarching Strategy to be launched soon.

Ann Corbett, Director Safe Communities and Simon Smith, Head of Community Safety and Menara Ahmed, Senior VAWG, Domestic Abuse & Hate Crime Manager added detail summarising some of the current Council initiatives to address safety of women including working with partners such as police, licensing colleagues, schools and faith communities.

Cabinet members welcomed the report and explained how some of the Mayor’s recent initiatives would also improve the lives of women by providing a more active, affluent and stronger economy and community.

The Mayor welcomed the report and stressed how some of his wider efforts, including those to combat overcrowding in the borough and investment in a new youth service would promote wider social and health benefits for women in Tower Hamlets, adding value to the work of this action plan. The Mayor asked for some amendments to the recommendations as listed.

RESOLVED that the Mayor in Cabinet:

1. Approves the women’s safety action plan at Appendix 1 to the report, subject to the following additions to the recommendations as underlined below:

Recommendation 1

The council and its strategic partners, including the Metropolitan Police, Faith Communities and the VCS to collaborate to improve the awareness of women of the programmes and help available directly that support women’s safety on the streets.

Recommendation 2

The Council to review current funding arrangements and increase the capacity to support women’s groups that offer domestic abuse services to the community. This to tie into a service-wide review of what is on offer to women of all communities.

Recommendation 4

The Council’s Children and Education Service, in particular Young Tower Hamlets to design support for increasing capacity at schools on raising awareness of domestic abuse and support available.

Recommendation 5

The Council and Residential Social Landlord (RSL) partners should actively strengthen their partnership workings to focus on tackling women safety issues  on RSL estates which will build on ongoing RSL work begun with the Ask the Ombudsman event.

Recommendation 6

The Police/THEOs to actively target and focus their recruitment and retention strategy to reflect recruiting representative women from the community in Tower Hamlets. This to be done in cooperation with faith communities and the Council.