Section A: The organisations and groups within the partnership Lead applicant Name of Organisation: St Albans and Hertsmere Domestic Abuse Forum
Type of Organisation: Voluntary Organisation
Contact details: Contact - Valerie Kane
Email - [email protected]
Phone - 020 8207 7801
Address - C/o Hertsmere Borough Council
Summary of : promote the provision of services directed towards the relief/support of persons who organisation: have suffered or are suffering from domestic abuse : advance the education of voluntary/statutory agencies and the public in all aspects of domestic abuse, its causes, remedies and prevention and : promote and maintain co-operation and joint action between partner agencies This is undertaken via a joint annual conference with Welwyn Hatfield DA Forum Partner 1 Name of Organisation: Welwyn Hatfield Domestic Abuse Forum
Type of Organisation: Voluntary Organisation
Contact details: Contact - Sharon Montgomery Email - [email protected]
Phone - 01707 329333 Address - c/o Crane and Staples Summary of Our role, similarly to St Albans and Hertsmere DA Forum is to promote the provision of organisation: services directed towards the relief/support of persons who have suffered or are suffering from Dal educate voluntary/statutory agencies and the public in all aspects of domestic abuse, its causes, remedies and prevention and promote and maintain co- operation and joint action between partner agencies. This is undertaken via a joint annual conference. Partner 2 Name of Organisation: Hertfordshire County Council
Type of Organisation: Local Authority
Contact details: Contact - Tricia Day Email - [email protected]
Phone - Address - Summary of Statutory Children’s Safeguarding organisation: Partner 3 Name of Organisation: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Type of Organisation: Local Authority
Contact details: Contact - Chrystalla Karvella Email - [email protected]
Phone - 01707 357524 Address - WHBC Campus East, Welwyn Garden City, AL8 6AE Summary of WHBC as a responsible authority agency and as part of the Community Safety organisation: Partnership, is committed to deliver its priority to support people enduring or escaping domestic abuse. Intimidation and harassment. We are the lead agency in coordinating the Sunflower drop in in Hatfield and ensure all our front-line officer receive training to spot domestic abuse, make a referral and signpost to the appropriate service. WHBC regularly attends MARAC. Partner 4
Name of Organisation: Hertsmere Borough Council
Type of Organisation: Local Authority
Contact details: Contact - Valerie Kane Email - [email protected]
Phone - 020 8207 7801 Address - Civic Offices, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Herts, WD6 1WA Summary of HBC as a responsible authority within the community safety partnership organisation:
Section B: Partnerships & Stories What the partnership is achieving and learning 1. Your partnership’s project or initiative.
Since 2006 St Albans and Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield Domestic Abuse Forum have collaborated to bring informative domestic abuse related topics to professionals and the voluntary sector via an annual half-day conference. We believe that by attracting experts within the domestic abuse arena, covering topics that are timely and relevant, to speak – we can keep practitioners in this part of Hertfordshire informed of current thinking and working practices. We are very pleased to be able to offer these conferences t no charge to the attendee – this ensures that everyone who wishes to attend can – they are, therefore, not precluded from attending on financial grounds. We have managed to build up a track record over the years of putting on an event that is very popular and well received, as evidenced by the evaluation sheets completed by the attendees.
2. How did your partnership come about and develop?
Welwyn Hatfield and Hertsmere Borough Councils have had a close working relationship over a number of years, with regard to community safety (for policing purposes we share a Community Safety Sergeant) as did, and indeed still do, the Chairs of the respective for a for each area. It was through this mutual trust and understanding and desire to provide timely, up to date information to a wider audience that the joint event was born, 11 years ago. Our working relationship has developed over the years and we now have a dedicated working party comprising members of St Albans & Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield Domestic Abuse for covering a range of organisations i.e. Herts Constabulary, HCC, local authorities and solicitor’s practice. This group meet on a regular basis, hosted by Crane and Staples to plan and progress the events. Dependent on the subject of the conference we can draft in other agencies.
3. Impact. Please describe what outcomes you are achieving, your impact or how you are making a difference.
Since 2006, we (St Albans and Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield Domestic Abuse Forum) have planned, budgeted and presented a domestic abuse related half day event on an annual basis. A snapshot of the topics covered include: hidden victims (children, teenagers, black minority ethnic communities), the legal aspects of abuse, moving forward and improving relationships. We have achieved a track record of offering up to date informative, localised information to attendees. We are pleased to be able to offer places at no charge to attendees. The audience is made up of professionals, the voluntary sector and those people who work within the domestic abuse arena. Such is the interest in the events, we now must allocate places accordingly. Over the last few years we have been oversubscribed. Outcomes include – 10 information packed half day events, over 100 professionals in attendance at each event, the opportunity for local organisations to promote their services, platform for professionals to inform audience about their work, the opportunity for attendees to question speakers and seek further clarification, those working in this field in Welwyn Hatfield, St Albans and Hertsmere are more informed.
4. How partnership working is helping you to achieve more.
By working together, we have been able to utilise the strengths within each of the partners involved. This has enabled us to streamline the process of putting on an annual event. We have a small working party comprising key individuals who all have a valuable contribution to make towards the process, from differing backgrounds. We have been able to achieve more by working together as a partnership. We are able to share the load of organising the event – each of us taking on board respective tasks which means no single person has responsibility for the entire event. This year our event is being held on 03 March and the venue has been arranged by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council (free of charge) the printing of the programmes will be done by Hertsmere Borough Council (free of charge), 3 different people given the speakers to contacts and the press release will be jointly written after the event. Another advantage of working together across three districts means that we are able to attract attendees from a wider area; we are therefore making a greater impact by working in this way.
5. How you are making sure that the partnership is working effectively.
As described above, we are made up of individuals from a number of different organisations with the common goal of increasing awareness of domestic abuse practices within St Albans, Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield. Our purpose is to ensure the smooth organisation and running of our joint annual event. We are clear about dividing up responsibilities, we communicate regularly, share relevant information and are committed to sharing knowledge with others. These events are highly regarded by all sectors and this highlights the effectiveness of our partnership working. This partnership has been going for a number of years and trust, understanding and teamwork have been built with each new event.
6. What you are learning from each other.
We are constantly learning from each other, particularly with regard to how each of the agencies is involved in the domestic abuse arena and the impact each organisation is making. We want to promote the services that are available to residents within the boroughs, e.g. following a discussion with one of the working party we were able to put a local women’s refuge in touch with the food back. Similarly, we held a Christmas Collection within the Council offices, for our local refuge - we asked for unused holiday travel items e.g. shampoo, conditioner and this proved a great success. We were then able to use this to promote Hertfordshire’s Domestic Abuse Helpline within the press release.