During a question to the First Minister this week on domestic abuse in Wales, North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood asked what action the Welsh Government has taken on taking forward pre-custodial perpetrator programmes in order to increase the safety of women & children.
Speaking in the Chamber, he said: “You’ll recall that, when we debated Stages 3 and 4 of the legislation last year - the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act— the then Minister, although not accepting the need to include reference to perpetrator programmes, committed the Welsh Government then to gather further evidence on taking forward pre-custodial perpetrator programmes. What action is your Government doing to facilitate that?”
The First Minister responded, “these are issues that are being taken forward via the Ministerial Advisory Group and, of course, via the Strategy.”
Mr Isherwood said: “This is thin gruel and we need to know more. As I said in the concluding stages of the legislation, “Wherever there are relationships, there is a need for perpetrator programmes. There will be no regions where there are no perpetrators, or where the proportion of perpetrators is lower per head. Leaving it up to regions to decide if they commission pre-conviction programmes is a mistake”.
ENDS