The Government has announced a boost to training for sexual violence response support staff, with the goal of reaching 10,000 workers across the next two years.
Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Karen Chhour says the new training focus will ensure victim-survivors receive best practice support, and will empower staff to safely recognise, refer, and respond to family and sexual violence.
“This training is an important part of our response to family and sexual violence. I am proud of our progress against the second Te Aorerekura Action Plan, it shows the benefits of a multi-agency response and the dedication of government departments to best supporting victim-survivors,” said Minister Chhour.
“The Action Plan sets out a number of key actions to be achieved, including training 10,000 frontline workers in family violence and sexual violence over two years.
“These goals are bold. Achieving them will require strong cross-agency collaboration and re-enforced commitment to this focus area as a priority.
“This boldness is needed to improve the support provided to victim-survivors and will empower these frontline workers to undertake their roles with the greatest care,” she said.
Other progress against the Action Plan includes:
- The Ministry of Justice has delivered training to over 800 members of its court-related workforce. Ongoing training is expected to reach up to 500 people per year;
- The Department of Corrections has given essential-level family violence training to more than 4,700 of its staff;
- In 2024, Police redesigned the course for new recruits to include two weeks’ family violence training. Over 550 Police recruits received training in that first year, and over 850 recruits are expected to receive training by the end of 2025.
