A timeline of work
- Timeline of work 2023
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November 2023
A new team of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) dedicated to West Yorkshire’s bus network were introduced. With £1m in funding from the West Yorkshire Mayor’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), 15 full time PCSOs will patrol bus stations and buses across the county. The Safer Travel PCSOs aim to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, increase the safety of women and girls, and reassure and protect more vulnerable travel users.
September 2023
The Mayor launches a powerful new campaign aimed at tackling everyday harassment and inappropriate male behaviour towards women and girls. The “Just Don’t” campaign is centred around a powerful video which shows men and boys making excuses for inappropriate behaviour and harassment in everyday situations. This escalates to a chilling finale. The Mayor is urging everybody in the region to be an ally, step up, call it out and help stop it.
May 2023
Practical guidelines which will help to make parks and green spaces safer for women and girls across the UK were launched. They followed a recent study of a cross-section of more than a hundred women and girls from West Yorkshire which found that most believed their local parks to be unsafe. The research - funded by the Mayor of West Yorkshire and carried out by researchers at the University of Leeds - concluded that feeling vulnerable in parks is a barrier that needs to be urgently addressed to ensure that women and girls feel able to use, enjoy and benefit from them.
March 2023
Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime responds to first benchmark of police performance tackling VAWG.
February 2023
- Timeline of work 2022
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February 2022
West Yorkshire joins national campaign raising awareness of Sexual Assault Referral Centres.
March 2022
Victims of crime further supported with the £3.3million, specifically aimed at bolstering local support services. The cash, allocated from the Ministry of Justice funding enabled the Mayor to provide, or commission dedicated emotional and practical support services for victims of crime to help them cope. The money has been allocated to 22 different service providers, including 15 voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, five local authorities and two hospital trusts.
April 2022
Mayor supports Stalking Awareness Week 2022.
May 2022
The Mayor hosts an event to co-design the West Yorkshire Safety of Women and Girls Strategy.
Mayor launches grant round 2 of her Mayor’s Safer Communities Fund with £270,000 in grants available. Those applying for funding need to address one of the cross-cutting themes in the Police and Crime Plan, of which the safety of women and girls is one.
July 2022
Announcement that victims’ support services across West Yorkshire are set to receive nearly £14m in a cash boost aimed at supporting the region’s most vulnerable. The funding will secure services for the next three years, and will pay for over 70 different services and support roles for victims and witnesses across West Yorkshire including 52 Independent Sexual Violence/Domestic Violence Advisers (ISVA/IDVA). A new West Yorkshire wide service will also be established to specifically support victims of Domestic Abuse related Stalking.
The Mayor and Community Safety Partners are successful in a bid to the Safer Streets Fund. £717,953.61 will be directed into a number of projects to support the safety of women and girls across the night-time economy in West Yorkshire. A portion of the money will also enable the development of a male targeted behaviour change campaign designed to address attitudes and approaches towards women.
August 2022
September 2022
Mayor’s Women and Girls Strategy builds momentum. A further co-design event took place in Wakefield with 60 attendees from charities, community safety organisations, local authorities, and the police. The purpose of this event was to discuss West Yorkshire’s upcoming Safety of Women and Girls Strategy which is set to launch later this year.
September 2022
Mayor supports Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Week of Action raising awareness of the help for victims and work to tackle offending. A woman from Calderdale also bravely shared her personal experiences following her partner being convicted of assaulting her and sentenced at Crown Court. She hopes her account, which remains anonymous to protect her identity, will encourage others to come forward and help them to understand the processes behind the scenes.
October 2022
The Mayor awarded over £320,000 to community projects that are making the region safer. 61 innovative projects, run by community groups, charities, and partners, received grants of up to £6000. Each of these projects address at least one of the cross-cutting themes or priorities within the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan, including keeping women and girls safe, diversity, equality, and inclusion, and early intervention and prevention.
November 2022
Mayor's Safety of Women and Girls Strategy officially launched. The strategy reveals the shocking experiences and challenges facing women and girls, including a recent survey that found 97% believe ‘being a woman’ affects their personal safety, and outlines a plan to tackle this.
Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Support 16 days of action against domestic abuse.
December 2022
School pupils in West Yorkshire are being empowered to speak up against gender-based violence thanks to funding from the Mayor. Tender Education and Arts, a charity working to prevent domestic and sexual abuse, received a near £6000 from the Mayor's Safer Communities Fund. The money is now being used to deliver an innovative arts-based scheme which is giving secondary school pupils the tools to build healthy, equal relationships and to recognise the signs of domestic and sexual abuse.
- Timeline of work 2021
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May 2021
Tracy Brabin is elected as the Mayor of West Yorkshire with a key pledge to put the safety of women and girls at the heart of her policing plan.
July 2021
Over £2m allocated to the Mayoral Combined Authority to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisers and Independent Domestic Violence Advisers. It saw the creation of over 25 full time equivalent roles across West Yorkshire, with a commitment from the Ministry of Justice until 2023. They will work to provide tailored and specialist assistance for those who have experienced domestic abuse and sexual violence. Domestic abuse and sexual violence support services in the county also receiving just over £350,000 of additional funding to help increase their capacity and respond to victim’s needs.
August 2021
Mayor of West Yorkshire secures £390,000 to tackle domestic abuse.
September 2021
#TellTracy launches, a large scale consultation to inform the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan.
October 2021
The Mayor and Community Safety Partners are successful in a bid to the Safer Streets Fund for £655,000. The funding went to two ambitious and wide-reaching projects. The first, improving the safety and use of parks by women and girls, and a second initiative to develop a higher/further education package to support womens’ safety and generate behaviour change in men.
November 2021
Tackling Domestic Abuse Together - Annual Third Sector Conference Takes Place.
Mayor and Community Safety Partners secure £215,000 from the Safety of Women at Night Fund. Projects include the introduction of a bus safety reporting tool, active upstander training for night-time economy staff, and a pan-West Yorkshire Ask for Angela’ campaign.
December 2021
West Yorkshire Police starts recording instances of misogyny.