Coercive Control

Part of Questions to the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:34 pm on 19 February 2019.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 2:34, 19 February 2019

I thank Jayne Bryant for that question. I was fortunate to be at the launch of this campaign, and to hear from Luke Hart from CoCo Awareness a very powerful account of his experience. And he and his brother have committed their lives now to raise awareness of coercive control, which led to the death of their mother and their sister. So, this campaign is important for us in taking forward our raising awareness of the treacherous, cumulative nature of coercive control. And it will encourage victims to recognise that what they are experiencing is coercive, controlling behaviour—it's wrong and abusive, and they can seek support. It's a year-long campaign, and, clearly, it will be delivered as a result of the engagement of all those partners who are part of our national strategy as a result of the violence against women legislation. And just finally to say on this point, very importantly in terms of the public sector, over 135,000 professionals have been trained through our national training framework for violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence.