6. What is the Government doing to eliminate violence against women? OQ57336

Llywydd, public consultation begins today on the Welsh Government's next five-year strategy for eliminating violence against women, and there'll be a statement later this afternoon from my colleague Jane Hutt. Amongst other actions, it focuses on bringing together all agencies in Wales to challenge attitudes and behaviours and improve the trust of women in the help available to them.

Diolch yn fawr. Last week, we saw the release of some disturbing figures for the Gwent area when it comes to domestic violence. The South Wales Argus reported that domestic abuse crimes have more than doubled in Gwent during the last six years. Despite legislation like the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 and high-profile campaigns like the recent White Ribbon campaign, we still have problems in Wales with domestic abuse. Eradicating this crime has been made even more difficult due to the changing nature of our working lives, with many now working from home. The pandemic has coincided with a spike in domestic violence, sadly. How is this Government tailoring its approach to tackling domestic violence, given the way coronavirus has changed people's lives?

I thank the Member for another very important question this afternoon. Those were disturbing figures that were published and, as ever, it is very difficult to distinguish between the success that organisations on the ground have had in persuading more people to come forward and to report crimes of domestic abuse from the actual increase that we know has been there as a result of the pandemic, but because we have never succeeded in eradicating domestic abuse here in Wales. There are a series of ways in which the Welsh Government works with others to try to respond to the most contemporary patterns: £4 million in additional investment during the pandemic period, the work of the taskforce that we have brought together in Wales on domestic violence, led by a police and crime commissioner. It meets every week, it's meeting again on Thursday of this week. It is developing the blueprint approach here in Wales that's been very successful in relation to youth offending and female offending, and that blueprint approach is reflected in the strategy that we are launching for consultation today, a strategy that focuses on co-ordination, on making sure there are specialist services available when necessary, and where there's a national framework of standards to make sure that the services that are available in one part of Wales reflect the nature and quality of services that will be available elsewhere.