The Intervention, Evaluation and Opportunities (IEO) Working Group is a Sub-Group of the Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton (HIPS) Strategic Violence Reduction Partnership (SVRP).   

The agreed vision of the SVRP is for HIPS to be a place where people can live their lives free from violence and the fear of violence.   

The agreed mission is to prevent violence by building a collaborative, courageous and sustainable partnership which will drive the change required to successfully address the causes and consequences of violence.   

Collaborative working 

The IEO Working Group consists of multi-agency partners drawn together by the SVRP to ensure that interventions respond to local need. The group will draw on its collective experience and expertise to identify opportunities for synergy and collaborative working. This approach will maximise the impact of interventions and grow the influence and understanding of partnerships. We can then map gaps in provision to help co-ordinate innovative and targeted responses to serious violence. 

There are limited public funds to tackle the root causes of violence, the IEO Working Group will champion spending on interventions with a track record of success in communities where the need is greatest.  

Public Health Approach 

The IEO Working Group will adopt a Public Health Approach to commissioning interventions, which is with and for communities. The group is committed to taking a trauma-informed approach in understanding and defining the problem of violence in our communities.  The IEO Working Group will focus on stage 3 and 4 of the Public Health Approach set out here. 

Public Health Approach to reducing violence: 

1. Define and monitor the problem: Define the violence problem through systematic data collection
2. Identify the risk factors and protective factors: Conduct research to find out why violence occurs and who it affects
3. Develop and test prevention strategies: Design, implement and evaluate interventions to see what works 
4. Ensure widespread adoption of effective strategies: Scale up effective and promising interventions and evaluate their impact and cost-effectiveness 

What works? 

There are several organisations in the VRP that commission services. The IEO Working Group will advocate strongly for future commissioning decisions to will focus on an evidence base of ‘what works’ by utilizing resources such as College of Policing, Youth Endowment Fund Toolkit as well as results of existing intervention evaluation data.  

Linking in with the SVRP 

The IEO Working Group responds to the identified needs within the VRP SNA as well as understanding where gaps in provision exist. The Group will also work with the Data Analysis Working Group (DAWG) to help define the scale and nature of serious violence within communities across the HIPS area.  

The group will report back to the SVRP with proposed solutions to identified gaps in provision as well as evaluation data relating to existing interventions. 

The IEO Group will help inform the SVRP Response Strategy and any interventions which have been implemented will be evaluated and performance reviewed within the SVRP Annual Review. This approach means that the Hampshire and IOW VRP contribute to the National and International evidence base of ‘what works’. 

The Strategic Leads for the IEO Working Group are Eleanor Snookes and Lawrence Goodall please contact us if you are a partner and wish to join the group on behalf of your organization. 

To view the terms of reference and membership of the group please click the button at the bottom of the page.