On International Women’s Day 2025, the Government pledged to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
At the meeting of full Council on Wednesday, 19 March, a Notice of Motion was given the unanimous backing of councillors from all parties.
The original motion was proposed by Cllr Shelley Powell and seconded by Cllr Jayne Lonergan welcoming the pledge and committing Knowsley Council’s support. An amendment put forward by Cllr Graham Golding and seconded by Cllr Joanne Burke to include specific reference to Women’s Aid – who provided the model for such a motion – was also agreed.
As part of the motion, the council pledges to:
- work with survivors and local specialists and ‘by and for’ services to understand the impact of violence against women and girls in Knowsley and develop a strategy to address this;
- work with headteachers, governing bodies and academy trusts as appropriate with a view to ensuring that comprehensive education on healthy relationships is available in all schools across Knowsley;
- ensure that Knowsley’s procurement practices for commissioning violence against women and girls’ services are cognisant of how these align with statutory guidance and the needs of all survivors, including the most marginalised survivors;
- appoint a violence against women and girls champion, in accordance with the model motion provided by Women’s Aid, to hold the Council to account on these pledges and amplify the voice of survivors
- report to Members within 12 months on the actions it has undertaken to fulfil the pledges of this motion.
The Notice of Motion follows on from Knowsley Council’s Cabinet agreeing to an additional £1m investment to support domestic abuse victims / survivors.