Title and Reference – PCC/D/028
Subject: Domestic Abuse Services for Eastern European Women in Bedfordshire
Report of: Police and Crime Commissioner
Date: 19/10/2024

Summary:

During the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office’s quarter one monitoring meetings, many of the current providers raised the issue of a lack of support in Bedfordshire for domestic abuse victims from an Eastern European background, particularly those from Albanian and Romanian communities as they are newly developed communities in the UK.

Following these statements and trends being recognised, the Commissioning Team completed a needs assessment to uncover any gaps in service provision across Bedfordshire, in terms of ethnicity, religion, and cultural identity.

The Commissioning Team make a recommendation to procure a service to provide practical and emotional support for Eastern European females, including Romanian, Albanian and Polish Women in Bedfordshire on the basis of this research. We propose to run a ‘mini competition’ following advice sought from 7 Force Commercial Services, awarding funding to the bidding organisation that are deemed most appropriately placed to provide this support. The ‘mini competition’ will give smaller organisations that are unknown to the Commissioning Team an equal opportunity to bid for this funding and will ensure all organisations that wish to offer this service are considered. Additionally, this pilot project will enable the PCCO to explore the needs within the Eastern European community and discover if support is most needed in specific areas.
The recommendation is to fund the winning bidder for an initial period of 6-months to embed a pilot into Bedfordshire, with a view to extending the grant agreement after the 6-month period, with a potential extension for a further two sets of 12-months.

Extension would be accepted only on the basis that the service continues to be fit for purpose as per demand and need analysis and continues to align to the PCC Plan.

It is recommended that the Chief executive on behalf of the PCC supports the decision to run a ‘mini competition’ and awarding funding to the bidding organisation that are deemed most appropriately placed to provide this support and to fund the winning bidder for an initial period of 6-months to embed a pilot into Bedfordshire, with a view to extending the grant agreement after the 6-month period, with a potential extension for a further two sets of 12-months. Extension would be accepted only on the basis that the service continues to be fit for purpose as per demand and need analysis and continues to align to the PCC Plan.

Recommendation:
To note decision
Bedfordshire Acting Chief Executive Wayne Humberstone
I hereby approve the recommendations above.