#EssexUnites
Today, Roger gives an update on the funding secured by his team to organisations in the county who are supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
You can read more about that here: https://bit.ly/DAFunding
He also talks about the re-opening of our high streets and town centres.
Hi, I’m Roger Hirst, your Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.
I just want to talk to you this week a bit about those who have probably been more trapped in a difficult situation during lockdown than those of us who have simply been working from home.
We’ve had the opportunity from the Ministry of Justice to provide some funding for charities across the county that support victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
We put in place a programme for charities across the county to bid for that and I’m really delighted to be able to tell you this week that we’ve secured £717,000 of funding for that. The original allocation to Essex was £620,000 but the bids that we’ve had in from partner organisations and charities across the county have been so good that we’ve been able to obtain better funding than we originally thought which is really good. Our applications have really been very powerful so thanks to everyone who has come forward there and I think we are going to be in a really good position to support the people who are victim and survivor of both domestic abuse and sexual violence. The additional funding is actually going to our Rape Support Fund to support some of the most vulnerable people in our communities which is just great.
Of course protecting vulnerable people from harm is one of the priorities in our Police and Crime Plan, one of the top priorities, and I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone across the county who is and has been working so hard to provide those services, making them available to everyone who needs them. It so important to be able to do that.
Of course, last week we saw a lot of the lockdown restrictions lifted so lots of businesses and attractions are now reopening which is just great. It’s so good to see our high streets and town centres getting back to business and getting back to life so I’d like to thank everyone who has helped do that and thank everyone as well who has acted sensibly while we have. We have looked at the press reports at what’s been going on and almost everybody has been behaving really well so thank you so much.
We do need to sustain this. Let’s keep doing a great job. Let’s observe the social distancing rules. Keep safe, think of others, don’t be a link and don’t pass on the virus. Remember two metres if you can, one metre plus means plus wash your hands, wear a face covering, face away from people if you can. Just take care. Thank you all for doing that and look after yourselves.
