Details of Wokingham borough’s domestic abuse strategy have been revealed ahead of its publication.

The borough council is required to publish a strategy on how it aims to tackle the issue of domestic abuse, which affects around 2,700 women and 1,500 men in Wokingham each year, according to the council’s figures.

Key details of the strategy, which will be enacted until 2024, were revealed during a meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny management committee yesterday (Monday, October 18).

The committee received a presentation from Karen Evans, a council officer and domestic abuse co-ordinator.

READ MORE: Drivers around Wokingham warned of road closure this weekend

Elements of the strategy were scrutinised during questioning by councillors.

Councillor Sarah Kerr (Liberal Democrats, Evendons) praised the draft strategy for being ‘very thorough’, but raised concern about some of the language used in the document.

She said: “There’s one little piece of language I hope there can be consideration in adapting slightly.  It’s the terminology throughout which says ‘victims and children.’

“I’ve noticed children who haven’t directly suffered abuse but have witnessed abuse are still victims, and that’s not always recognised, and that needs to change. By separating them, I think that language could be counterproductive to the change we need there.

“I wonder if we can make it ‘victims which include children’ maybe?”

In answer to the query, officer Evans stressed that document has been written using ‘statutory guidance wording.’ However, she did acknowledge children can be victims, and says that the terminology section in the strategy can be changed to reflect that.

During the meeting, it was mentioned that domestic abuse support services will be taken over by Cranstoun, a social services company which also provides support for people with drug addictions and those in need of housing support.

Currently, those seeking refuge from domestic abuse in Wokingham can shelter in a three bed refuge run by Berkshire Women’s Aid.

READ MORE: New leader of the opposition in Wokingham vows to put 'equality at the heart of everything we do'

Cllr Kerr expressed a serious concern that once Cranstoun takes over vulnerable victims could end up spending time in mixed gender accommodation.

Officer Evans reassured the committee that those seeking refuge would not be put in mixed gender refuges.

She said: “There would never be a case where you’d have mixed refuge accommodation, it would always be single gendered accommodation. Cranstoun are working to get another refuge up and running.”

You can view tweet coverage of the meeting here: https://twitter.com/jamesAjourno/status/1450175870614876160

Scrutiny of the Domestic Abuse Strategy took place ahead of the publication of the council’s draft strategy, which must be published by Tuesday, October 26.

The council is required to publish the full strategy by January 5, 2022.

The chair of the committee, Pauline Heliar-Symons (Conservative, Wokingham Without) introduced a vote to note the report, ratify the implementation of the Domestic Abuse Strategy 2021-2024, take on board the points members of the committee had made and conduct full review of the strategy in 2024 to guage its success.

The vote was seconded by Cllr Kerr and approved unanimously.