A NEW strategy is to be launched in Wirral aiming to stem the tide of violence in the home.

Police figures show officers responded to 6,863 calls of domestic abuse in the borough in 2014, and there have been five domestic abuse murders in Wirral since 2012.

Last August, a new borough-wide unit was established, creating for the first time a single body to tackle the problem in all its forms.

Now, after a series of preparatory meetings, the Domestic Abuse Committee says it will be ready to publicly launch its far-reaching proposals this March.

The group includes experts from Wirral Safeguarding Board, Merseyside Police, Wirral Zero Centre, council officers, Wirral Hospital Trust, local schools and the probation service, among others.

Their aim is to “break the cycle of domestic abuse within families; reduce incidents of abuse and support victims and pursue perpetrators.”

A pressing priority will be to address the short and long-term effects domestic abuse has on children.

Part of this will be to identify and respond to incidents at the earliest possible opportunity.

Their report contains some alarming statistics:

Nationally, one-in-four women are affected by domestic abuse at some point in their lives and two are killed each week.

As many as 963,000 children and young people in the UK could be living with the effects of domestic abuse.

Domestic violence has a higher rate of repeat victims than any other crime.

Every minute police in the UK receive a domestic assistance call – yet only 35% of domestic violence incidents are reported.

It acknowledges domestic abuse takes many forms, including forced marriage, honour-based violence and female genital mutilation.

There are also male victims in Wirral who equally deserve a quality service response.

The strategy has these main principles at its core:

■ Ensure domestic abuse is a strategic priority for everyone in Wirral.

■ Improve early identification and prevention of all forms of domestic abuse through high-quality training.

■ Develop multi-agency understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on children and adults.

■ Change the acceptance of domestic Abuse.

■ Ensure victims and their children are adequately protected and supported.

■ Hold perpetrators accountable through effective and early interventions.

Bernard Walker, chairman of Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board and Wirral Safeguarding Children Board said: "There were a total of 6,863 domestic abuse call outs made to the police in Wirral last year.

"This figure covers many kinds of abuse, from individual incidents to patterns of behaviour which can be coercive, threatening or controlling.

"Domestic abuse can take a variety of forms, be it physical, psychological, sexual, financial or emotional. Incidents of reported abuse involve many different agencies in Wirral, and demand a coordinated response.

“I welcome this draft strategy, which brings together the work of the Wirral Safeguarding Children Board, Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board, teams from Wirral Council, Merseyside Police, Wirral Community NHS Trust, schools and other public and community agencies to agree on a comprehensive, partnership approach to tackling abuse.

“This strategy aims to ensure that abuse is identified and responded to at the earliest possible opportunity.

"It also aims to provide a framework to deal with the longer–term effects that domestic abuse can have on children and families.

"It is intended that a finalised strategy will be published in March 2015.”

 The draft was presented to meeting of Wirral children's trust board at Wallasey Town Hall yesterday.