Council joins national campaign to end domestic abuse and sexual violence

19 July 2024

West Northamptonshire Council has joined a nationwide campaign aimed at ending domestic abuse and sexual violence as it continues to strengthen its commitment towards tackling these issues with partners.

The UK Says No More Campaign (UKSNM) brings together organisations, businesses and communities across the country to actively take a stand against domestic violence and make positive changes.

Signing up to the campaign enables the Council to join a national network of professionals and ambassadors working to achieve similar goals in ending domestic violence; draw upon a range of invaluable resources; and get involved in supporting, promoting, and expanding key community initiatives locally, such as the Safe Spaces and Online Safe Spaces schemes and Ask for ANI.

WNC already delivers UKSNM awareness events including No More Week and 16 Days of Activism, and also now intends to draw upon the campaign’s Everyone’s Business initiative as it progresses work to strengthen its policies and support for victims of domestic abuse within the workplace.

As well as pursuing initiatives within the UKSNM campaign, the Council is also continuing to move forward with a wide range of actions tackling domestic abuse through its work as part of the West Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Partnership and Community Safety Partnership, with the development of a new strategy also under way for reducing violence and improving outcomes for residents.

At last night’s Full Council meeting, WNC’s Leader Cllr Adam Brown updated members about the recent campaign sign-up and confirmed that the Council has the resource in place to deliver against the objectives of UK Says No More.

We are totally committed to working with all our partners towards ending domestic abuse and violence of any kind, and ensuring victims are supported with the compassion they deserve, but we know people currently feel let down by us and we need to rebuild that trust.

The only way we can do this is by fully demonstrating our commitment to how seriously we take these issues, by listening to our partners and residents and acting on their concerns.

Signing up to the UK Says No More campaign is an important step in doing this, as it closely aligns with our priorities for working with partners to eradicate domestic abuse and sexual violence. It will provide us with invaluable professional support and resources to help us develop a future action plan with partners towards tackling these issues.Cllr Adam Brown, Leader of the Council

A motion on the issue of domestic abuse was originally planned to be presented at council last night by Councillor Jonathan Harris, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in West Northamptonshire. 

Cllr Harris has regularly highlighted the need for the Council to take action on preventing domestic abuse and violence against women and girls and he welcomed the Council joining UKSNM, having initially proposed a similar sign-up to White Ribbon UK.

WNC’s decision to sign up to this national campaign is an encouraging start, but there is still so much more to do and a long way to go to restore people’s faith. We must be much bolder in our approach, with tangible actions and outcomes that really make difference to people’s lives. Most importantly, all groups across the Council need to work together to make this happen and that includes ensuring our own staff and councillors will stand up and be counted.

We cannot let the work to stamp out domestic abuse and sexual violence slip in any way and so opposition members will continue to hold the Council’s administration to account to ensure this does not happen. We will be looking for clear actions and timetablesCllr Jonathan Harris, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in West Northamptonshire