During her election campaign and since taking office, Merseyside's Police Commissioner, Emily Spurrell, has vowed to work with partners to tackle the epidemic of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG).
Launched in November 2022, the 'Working in partnership to tackle Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Delivery Plan' sets out a clear ambition to protect women and girls who live, work and visit Merseyside, prevent violence, pursue offenders and ensure tackling VAWG is prioritised and treated with urgency.
The strategy, which has been agreed by all political leaders and has been contributed to by nearly 50 partners across the region, sets out a series of straight-forward and achievable actions which all agencies can deliver to help eradicate VAWG.
The VAWG Delivery Plan is the result of extensive consultation with professional partners, including frontline community groups and voluntary organisations, and brave women and girls from all across all five boroughs of Merseyside who came forward to share their lived experiences.
Each of the 57 actions it contains, will be driven forward by a dedicated group who will be responsible for ensuring progress and achieving key milestones, overseen and reviewed by the Police’s Commissioner oversight board, the Merseyside Strategic Policing and Partnerships Board (MSPPB).
3 years later...
Since the launch of the Delivery Plan, the Commissioner has released a progress report each year detailing the successes and work that's ongoing to tackle Violence against Women and Girls, with her latest report published in November 2025.
Key achievements from the last 3 years include:
- 2,900 officers and staff and more than 5,101 partners have received the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership’s trauma informed training to improve their response to victims and better safeguard vulnerable people.
- A further 1,800 frontline officers have had domestic abuse training, with 150 dedicated champions in force now, and further specialist training on stalking being delivered with the support of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
- Launched the first Femicide Oversight Group to examine why women continue to lose their lives to male violence in our region – and what more can be done to stop it from happening.
- 3,782 primary school pupils have been helped to identify inappropriate behaviour through Send me a Selfie programme.
- Domestic Abuse Workplace Champion scheme has been refreshed, and 145 new Champions have been trained to better safeguard victims.
- New specialist support service for victims of stalking and harassment has been launched.
- New regional lead to drive work to tackle Child to Adult or Parent Violence or Abuse.
- Increase in positive outcomes in domestic abuse cases & quicker, more effective charging decisions.
- Night-time bus returns to the region aimed at making women and girls feel safer when travelling at night.
- Domestic abuse refresher training for all lawyers and specialist training for all Rape and Serious Sexual Offence prosecutors.
To support these outcomes, the Crime Commissioner has:
- Relaunched the Modern Slavery Network bringing partners and agencies together to redouble efforts to tackle the issue of slavery and trafficking and improve the support provided to victims.
- Secured an additional £100,000 funding for the Safer Streets Merseyside campaign making it clear there is No Excuse for sexual violence.
- Pledged a five-year funding package to ensure access to specialist harmful practices support.
- Launched ‘safe spaces’ at each of the bus stations for anyone who feels vulnerable within travel centres and needs support.
- Launched a region-wide strategy to tackle Modern Slavery and exploitation and improve the support provided to victims.
- Offered support to more than 131,534 victims of crime through the Victim Care Merseyside hub.
- Launched a partnership campaign #TakingAction with Merseyside Police putting the voices of women and girls first - highlighting the red flags of domestic abuse and ripping apart the lies that are used to excuse sexual violence.
- Secured £2.2m in uplift funding for domestic abuse and sexual violence services across Merseyside to provide a range of community-based support for victim-survivors.
- Commissioned a research study to better understand the true demand on domestic abuse services and how they are funded - sets out 20 recommendations.
- Hosted yearly lived experience workshops to learn from victim-survivors.
Previous progress reports
Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable have pledged their 100% commitment to ending Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) as they launch a hard-hitting new campaign recognising the fears and concerns of women and girls in our region.
