Agenda item

The Health & Wellbeing Board is RECOMMENDED to:

1.    NOTE the activities and outcomes of the Safer Oxfordshire & Oxfordshire Domestic Abuse Strategic Board, reflected in Annex 1 & 2.

Rob MacDougall (Director of Community Safety and Chair of the Safer Oxfordshire Partnership) presented the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Agreement.

The Director of Community Safety began by setting out the statutory basis of Community Safety Partnerships under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. He explained that CSPs were responsible for reducing crime, tackling anti‑social behaviour, addressing re‑offending, substance misuse and exploitation, and protecting vulnerable people. He emphasised that these objectives were inseparable from health and wellbeing outcomes.

It was described how CSP priorities were developed using local intelligence, Police and Crime Commissioner priorities, and county‑wide strategic intelligence assessments. These assessments identified the most significant risks and harms at district and county level. It was explained that while local CSPs responded to local contexts, the Safer Oxfordshire Partnership provided a county‑wide strategic framework to ensure alignment, avoid duplication and support escalation where required.

The practical work of the Partnership was also outlined, including coordinated prevention activity on serious violence, modern slavery, domestic abuse, exploitation and anti‑social behaviour. It was explained how governance arrangements ensured accountability across agencies and supported joint responses to safeguarding and public health concerns.

The Director of Community Safety placed particular emphasis on the intersection between community safety and health, explaining that many CSP priorities addressed the wider determinants of health. Domestic abuse, substance misuse, unsafe environments and repeat victimisation were all drivers of health inequality and high demand on health and care services. It was explained that effective community safety interventions could reduce pressure on emergency departments, mental health services, ambulance services and social care by preventing crises and repeat harm.

The Director of Community Safety also highlighted the role of CSPs in convening partners beyond the traditional health system, including housing, policing, safeguarding, fire and rescue, youth services and the voluntary sector. He stressed that this breadth of partnership was critical to addressing complex, cross‑cutting issues.

In discussion, Board Members reflected on the strong alignment between CSP priorities and the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Members noted the importance of prevention‑focused approaches and welcomed the emphasis on reducing inequalities. There was recognition that community safety work often prevented demand that would otherwise fall on health and social care services.

Ansaf Azhar introduced the Domestic Abuse Partnership Strategic Board Annual Report for 2024–25. He explained that the report formed part of the Partnership’s accountability to both the Safer Oxfordshire Partnership and the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Ansaf Azhar outlined the evolution of the Domestic Abuse Partnership since the implementation of the Domestic Abuse Act in 2021. He explained that Oxfordshire had developed a holistic domestic abuse strategy alongside a safe accommodation strategy, structured around a four‑P framework: prevention, provision, pursuing perpetrators, and partnership. He emphasised that lived experience was embedded throughout governance, strategy and delivery.

Serena Abel (Public Health Principal) was invited to expand on key areas of progress. She described the domestic abuse training needs assessment commissioned following a multi‑agency conference in January 2025, which had focused on seldom‑heard voices. Feedback from the conference had highlighted the need for more coherent and accessible training across the system.

It was explained that while Oxfordshire had a strong overall training offer, it was fragmented. There was duplication in some areas, gaps in others, and inconsistency in access and quality. The needs assessment had involved surveys, interviews and workshops, and had identified opportunities to develop a central training directory, clearer graduated pathways for professionals, stronger quality assurance, greater involvement of people with lived experience, and more flexible training formats to meet the needs of frontline staff.

There was also a description of the progress on reviewing pathways for children and young people affected by domestic abuse. This work had been driven by safeguarding learning, national inspection findings and local intelligence. A proposal for a full pathway review had been approved in December 2025, enabling additional officer capacity to begin structured engagement with children, young people, parents, carers and professionals. It was explained that the aim was to develop a pathway that was trauma‑informed, grounded in lived experience, and practical for professionals to use.

The Public Health Principal outlined how the wider domestic abuse needs assessment was feeding into a refresh of the overarching strategy and a review of governance arrangements, including the structure and focus of sub‑groups.

Questions were raised by the Board about how success could be measured without relying solely on reported incident numbers, and how the system dealt with perpetrators who did not engage with training or support. In response, Ansaf Azhar explained that increased reporting was often a positive indicator of improved awareness, trust and access to support. He stressed that cultural change took time and required a whole‑system approach, including education, mental health support, substance misuse services and work with schools.

The Public Health Principal added that the Strategic Board reviewed a quarterly multi‑agency surveillance pack bringing together data from MARAC, high‑risk services, safe accommodation, children’s social care and health settings. While acknowledging data limitations, she explained that this provided a more nuanced and timely picture than annual reports alone.

There was further discussion about the need to join up safeguarding, community safety and domestic abuse narratives more clearly, both internally and externally, to avoid fragmentation and duplication.

The Board RESOLVED to:

1. NOTE the activities and outcomes of the Safer Oxfordshire & Oxfordshire Domestic Abuse Strategic Board, reflected in Annex 1 & 2.