PCC encourages survivors to complete Drive survey

PCC Mark Shelford is encouraging victims to complete Drive Partnership’s survey, which focuses on services that perpetrators receive and the difference it makes to survivors and their families.

The new Domestic Abuse Act requires the Government to publish a strategy on how they are going to deal with perpetrators of domestic abuse in England and Wales. The PCC and Drive Partnership, which is made up of three organisations, Respect, SafeLives and Social Finance, want to ensure that the strategy includes the voices and experiences of victims and survivors of domestic abuse at its core.

Drive Partnership’s survey, which takes 10 minutes to complete, asks victims and survivors for their views on services received by perpetrators from the council, police or specialist domestic abuse services. The survey also asks about domestic abuse behaviour change programmes, which work to challenge and change the abusive behaviour of perpetrators. The Partnership, with support from the PCC, are calling for a perpetrator strategy that includes high-quality support services for all victims of domestic abuse.

“I am pleased that the new Domestic Abuse Act is progressing, but it is essential that we bring victims and survivors along as the strategy develops and ensure their voices and thoughts are heard as part of this work.

“I encourage as many victims and survivors to complete the short survey to ensure they are telling the Drive Partnership their views on perpetrator-focused services to help the Partnership’s work on developing a perpetrator strategy that goes hand-in-hand with high-quality practical and emotional support for victims and survivors.”

PCC Mark Shelford

Drive offers an evidence-led approach that targets the perpetrators’ behaviour to stop the cycle of reoffending and, in turn, increase victim and survivor safety. The programme challenges offenders’ behaviour and encourages them to work with partner agencies to stop the abuse. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) is the lead commissioner for the Drive Project in South Gloucestershire.