Domestic violence campaign cash fears

on government feedback and how much money materialises.

Areas earmarked for funding include providing support for children affected by domestic abuse, and refuge accommodation.

Mr Bhuta said: “Irrespective of whether Kirklees is successful we have had some contingency-based conversations over should we not get the full amount of funding, what can we do as an alternative? Those conversations continue.”

He added: “Resources are stretched.”

The council intends to “refresh” its existing three-year Domestic Abuse Strategy, which was created in 2015, to run until 2021.

Its priorities include safeguarding victims and children and support perpetrators of violence to enable them to address their behaviour.

The “robust” action plan will be put out for consultation before hoped-for adoption in April next year.

In his report Mr Bhuta said the strategy would also look at “specific areas of concern” including potential under reporting, “hidden victims”, such as LGBT and male victims, as well as demographic and geographical trends.

In addition the council intends to “proactively” share data and intelligence to combat the issue, which Mr Bhuta said is “massive” in Kirklees.

Councillors on the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee said more should be done to encourage businesses to accept training on how to spot the signs of domestic abuse among their staff, and for schools to give a speedy response to evidence of domestic abuse.

There were also concerns that insufficient information was available online via the council’s website.