Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence: national advisers annual report 2025 to 2026

The appointment and functions of the National Adviser for Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) are set out in the VAWDASV (Wales) Act 2015. Section 22 of the Act requires the National Adviser to prepare an annual report on how they have exercised their functions during the financial year. The role’s main function is to advise and assist the Welsh Ministers in pursuing the purpose of the Act and related matters.

The annual report must detail the achievements of the National Adviser against the priorities set for the year and any other relevant activities. 

This annual report reviews progress made against the Annual Plan between April 2025 and March 2026. During this time there were two National Advisers in post on a job-share basis before later transitioning to a sole National Adviser role. During the year, work focused on strengthening a whole-system and whole-Wales response to violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, grounded in survivor experience, specialist-sector expertise and the statutory ambitions of the VAWDASV (Wales) Act 2015.

The year saw stronger engagement across health, education, safeguarding, housing, social cohesion, transport, criminal justice and UK policy. There was progress in embedding VAWDASV within wider policy agendas, increasing scrutiny through survivor and specialist-sector structures, and strengthening Welsh representation in UK developments. At the same time, significant challenges remained, including pressure on specialist services, inconsistent local delivery, funding uncertainty, limited national data and the need for clearer accountability across public bodies.

The report concludes that the next phase of work must move from broad commitment to a focused programme of evidence, advice, scrutiny and accountability. The 2026 to 2027 annual plan will build on this learning by reviewing public-body delivery, improving data and evidence, strengthening whole-government alignment and keeping survivor voice and specialist-sector expertise central to future action.

This annual report summarises the work of Yasmin Khan and Johanna Robinson as National Advisers and reports progress against our 2025 to 2026 annual plan. This includes the final 7 months of delivery as joint National Advisers. Following a new appointment process, I, Johanna Robinson started at the sole National Adviser in November 2025. I am hugely grateful to continue in the role and renew my commitment to the elimination of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence in Wales. 

Our focus remained on the effective delivery of the Act and national strategy through a whole-system, whole-Wales response. We worked with Ministers, government departments, public bodies, survivors, specialist services and UK partners to strengthen prevention, protection, support and perpetrator accountability.

Survivor experience and the expertise of the specialist sector remained central. The National Survivor Voice, Scrutiny and Involvement Panel supported scrutiny across Blueprint structures, while the Expert Reference Group provided challenge and a route for partners to raise good practice, service pressures and gaps. The specialist sector remains essential to trusted support, innovation and system improvement, and its participation must be valued and resourced.

The year brought stronger links between VAWDASV and health, education, safeguarding, housing, social cohesion, transport, suicide prevention and criminal justice. However, progress remains uneven. Funding uncertainty continues to affect core services; commissioning and local delivery require greater consistency; national data remain limited; and coordination is needed where devolved services interact with reserved law and policy.

During this year there were some important legislative and policy developments. Legislation will not bring change on its own and we will need to see the implementation to know if the desired changes will happen. As well as attending all relevant Welsh strategic fora, I am a member of the UK Violence against Women and Girls Strategy Advisory Board. I am only one of 2 regular Welsh attendees and work hard to bring Welsh experiences, expertise and needs to the discussions and implementation work. 

UK legislation and policy developments

The Freedom from violence and abuse, cross-government strategy replaced the previous UK Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) framework with a 10-year ambition to halve VAWG, supported by an action plan under three pillars: prevention, pursuit and support. It is relevant to reserved functions, including criminal justice, policing, employment and onlinesafety, and to UK bodies operating in Wales, but does not replace the Welsh VAWDASV strategy. Some UK-wide activity, including the Children Affected by Domestic Abuse (CADA) Fund, moved to England-only delivery through the Department for Education, creating disadvantages for Wales. The strategy is ambitious, but its resourcing remains unclear.

The strategy committed to several legislative changes, additional to those already passed and planned for implementation for this year. 

Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Orders pilot

Piloted in several areas, including North Wales, this tested the new framework across criminal, family and civil routes, informing future implementation and links with specialist services, housing, children’s services and safeguarding. Roll-out across Wales and England is planned.

Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 commencements

Further provisions commenced during the year. Section 17 made confidentiality terms void where they prevent victims, or those who reasonably believe they are victims, from disclosing criminal conduct to police, lawyers or victim-support providers.

Data (use and access) Act 2025

Section 138 added offences to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for intentionally creating, or requesting, a purported intimate image of an adult without consent or reasonable belief in consent, expanding criminal law on AI-enabled intimate-image abuse.

Operation encompass statutory guidance

Statutory guidance formalised the police duty in England and Wales to notify a child’s education setting after attending a domestic-abuse incident at the child’s home. This was already established in Welsh force areas.

Employment Rights Act 2025

The Act contains provisions requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment. It also addresses third-party harassment, protects disclosures about sexual harassment and limits contractual confidentiality in harassment or discrimination cases. The Welsh Government and Blueprint team organised a series of leadership conferences to support improved practice and protection. 

Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023

Created an offence of intentional harassment, alarm or distress based on a person’s sex or presumed sex.

Welsh policy developments

Relevant Welsh developments were policy and implementation changes rather than new statutory duties.

Medr began consultations on a new regulatory approach for tertiary education in Wales, including registration and funding conditions linked to welfare and equality of opportunity. I responded, seeking requirements on data, support and reporting in relation to harassment, misconduct and sexual violence.

Welsh Government consulted on statutory guidance for local VAWDASV strategies, replacing the 2018 non-statutory guidance with section 15 guidance under the VAWDASV (Wales) Act 2015. Proposals included clearer accountability, stronger partnership roles, improved data sharing and needs assessment, and greater specialist-sector and survivor involvement.

Welsh Government published the National strategy for preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in Wales 2026 to 2036 and delivery plan for 2026 to 2029. The strategy sets a long-term, evidence-informed and trauma-informed approach to prevention, early intervention, professional capability, support for children and young people, and support for adult survivors, with clear relevance to sexual-violence policy, safeguarding and specialist services.

Our aim for 2025 to 2026 was:

• To work with all stakeholders to ensure the most effective delivery of the Act and Strategy so that we have a whole system and whole of Wales response working towards the elimination of Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence in Wales.

To ensure the achievement of this aim, we identified the following priorities:

• Support the delivery of the ambition and the work required across Welsh Government ensuring that there is well informed cross government action.
• Engage with all stakeholders and continue to work with Welsh Government and Ministers and the Blueprint delivery team to improve victim and survivor experience and highlight gaps and poor experience in services.
• Work with the specialist sector in Wales to highlight their work, the areas of emerging practice and the challenges experienced as critical services for survivors and advocate for enhanced and sustainable funding.
• Continue to reinforce the need to ensure that a whole system response includes prevention, perpetration and survivor-led services. 
• Continue to engage with survivors and specialist services to inform our representation, advice and advocacy is based in expert experience and understanding of current delivery. We will make particular effort to ensure we adopt an intersectional approach, and we reflect the experiences and additional challenges for minoritised survivors. 
• Undertake research and work to inform our advice for Ministers, Welsh Government officials/departments and public services with regards to their responsibilities the Act for the prevention, protection and support of victims and survivors. 
• Provide representation with the UK government, ensuring that Welsh perspectives and experiences are included in policy and planning, particularly where we can demonstrate better outcomes for victims and survivors. An example of this includes our work to exercise our Single Unified Safeguarding Review process which will be delivered through a pan Wales approach.
• Support the need to expand capacity and develop innovative service delivery models that meet the diverse needs of survivors across Wales.

We undertook the following activity to make progress against our aim and priorities.

Cross-government leadership and public services

The National Advisers continued to press for a whole-government response. A “Conversation with National Advisers” event engaged civil servants, particularly leaders, while presentations at workplace-harassment conferences and the Public Leaders’ Summit reinforced the responsibility of public bodies to address VAWDASV as a workforce, service and public-protection issue. 

Health, safeguarding and children

Work continued on the Women’s Health Plan to push for progress on the VAWDASV actions. Links were developed between VAWDASV, suicide and self-harm following consideration of suspected-suicide surveillance and learning from domestic homicide reviews. The Advisers also remained engaged in the Single Unified Safeguarding Review and advocated for VAWDASV within wider safeguarding governance. Alignment was promoted between the VAWDASV and child sexual abuse strategies, alongside work with early-years and childcare teams. 

Education, tertiary regulation and Medr

Sustained engagement with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, policy officials and Medr supported the inclusion of VAWDASV within the developing Welsh tertiary-education regulatory system. The National Adviser contributed through consultations, meetings and position papers and worked with Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and student-services leaders on a VAWDASV framework and assessment toolkit. This framework offers an opportunity for providers to assess and improve their arrangements. I will continue to work with Medr in the next year to monitor the developments and support improvements as needed. 

Survivors, specialist services and access to support

The National Survivor Voice, Scrutiny and Involvement Panel has 10 members with varying experiences and expertise. Members were supported to participate in Blueprint meetings and raise questions about prevention and fully resourced services. Wider engagement included family-court experiences and barriers affecting Black and minoritised survivors and staff. Specialist providers raised service and commissioning concerns through the Expert Reference Group and focused discussions on Housing Support Grant, Ar Trac, CADA and the Wales Sexual Assault Services Programme. I attended conferences, workshops and events organised by specialist sector partners who show case their work, raise the profile of issues in the community and bring significant community collaboration opportunities to make our common goals reality. 

Sexual-assault services

Concerns about governance changes affecting the Wales Sexual Assault Services Programme were raised with Ministers, officials and the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee to maintain survivor focus and programme scope. This has now been an area of significant risk for a number of years. This remains a concern and priority.

Housing, communities and public space

Closer work with housing, substance use, family justice, early-years and childcare teams contributed to continued Ar Trac funding, amendments to Housing Support Grant guidance and Flying Start access guidance for the specialist sector. VAWDASV representation was secured within social-cohesion work, with gender-specific issues reflected in final recommendations. Collaboration with Transport for Wales included safety planning, guidance on active travel and women’s safety, and a walk-through workshop at Cardiff bus terminal. 

Wider engagement and partnership

Representation and involvement of VAWDASV is critical as National Adviser. Improving the relationship with the Future Generations, Children’s Commissioner and the Older People’s Commissioner helps to ensure joint priorities are worked on collaboratively. Also attendance at roundtable events, networks and conferences on areas such as the Inspire Conference for Leaders in the Justice System can bring relevance and ideas for people working in spaces where abuse is experienced but may not be the central focus of work. 

UK and wider representation 

Welsh perspectives were represented through the UK VAWG Strategy Advisory Board, meetings with Ministers and officials, quarterly engagement with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and commissioner discussions focused on criminal justice. 

Developing National Indicators remained difficult because suitable, consistent data is limited. A minimum dataset for VAWDASV needs assessments and local strategies is needed, combining prevalence, demand, access, outcomes, geography, protected characteristics and social determinants with survivor and specialist-sector evidence. Work was commissioned to contribute to this but did not deliver the full requirements. I made representation for this work and suggestions for inclusion. This is work that must be improved upon as a matter of concern.

The year reinforced that progress depends on sustained leadership, consistent public-body delivery and specialist services that are able to meet demand. The commitment of partners is evident, but implementation remains uneven across Wales. Survivors continue to encounter barriers to safety, justice and recovery, particularly where services are fragmented, pathways are unclear or provision is not available at the point of need.

This report also highlights the need for a stronger evidence base. Without more consistent national and local data, it is difficult to assess whether policy commitments are improving outcomes for survivors, reducing harm or changing perpetrator behaviour. Future work must therefore combine quantitative data with survivor testimony, specialist-sector intelligence and learning from reviews, scrutiny and practice.

The 2026 to 2027 annual plan will respond to the challenges identified in this report by focusing on evidence, advice, scrutiny and accountability. It will support a clearer understanding of delivery across Welsh Government and public bodies, improve alignment with relevant policy areas and strengthen the information available to Ministers, public services and partners.

The next phase of work will also maintain a clear focus on survivor voice, specialist-sector expertise and intersectional practice. This includes challenging gaps in local delivery, commissioning, prevention, perpetrator accountability and access to support, while continuing to advocate for a whole-system response capable of making measurable progress towards the ambitions of the VAWDASV Act.

This year has shown both the strength and the challenge of Wales’s response to VAWDASV. There is clearer alignment across policy areas, stronger engagement with UK developments and continued commitment from survivors, specialist services and public bodies. However, the scale of need, pressure on services and unevenness of delivery show that ambition alone is not enough.

The new Welsh Government, formed in May 2026, provides an important opportunity to renew political leadership and whole-government commitment to the ambitions of the VAWDASV Act. Its commitment to a whole-system, society-wide and survivor-centred approach aligns with the learning from this report and with the continued need to ensure that prevention, protection, support and perpetrator accountability are embedded across government, public services and communities. The 2026 to 2027 annual plan responds directly to these challenges by moving from broad commitment to a more focused programme of evidence, advice, scrutiny and accountability. The next actions will further progress the ambitions of the Act by strengthening whole-government and whole-system delivery, reviewing how public bodies are meeting their duties, improving alignment with health, education, safeguarding and other strategic partners, and developing better data and thematic advice to inform policy and practice.

As sole National Adviser, I will continue to use independent judgement to amplify survivor voice, challenge gaps in provision and support a whole-system response capable of making measurable progress towards the elimination of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence in Wales.