North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called for an update from the Welsh Government on the implementation of the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015.
Mr Isherwood made the request in the Assembly Chamber yesterday when questioning the Leader of the House, Julie James AM, whose Ministerial Responsibilities include ‘Anti-slavery, domestic abuse, gender-based violence and sexual violence’.
He said:
“You mention national indicators and, as you know, the Act said ‘Welsh Ministers must publish national indicators that may be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the purpose of this Act’.
“Given that 29 April this year will be the third anniversary of Royal Assent for the Act, could you give us a little more information on where you stand with national indicators? You say later this year. Can you say when and what stage you've reached in their formulation?”
The Leader of the House replied:
“Our National Strategy on Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence was published in November 2016. That sets out the key objectives based on the three purposes of the Act: prevention, protection and support. We'll publish a cross-Government delivery framework to complement the strategy, drawing on the new national adviser's expertise, before publishing the framework in the summer of this year. We're developing national indicators, which will be measures of progress against the purpose of the Act. This is a priority for the new national advisers, working with our external partners.”