Part 2: The Domestic Abuse Commissioner Section 12: Advisory Board
Subsection (1) requires the Commissioner to establish an Advisory Board, which will provide the Commissioner with advice on the exercise of the Commissioner’s functions. Amongst other things, it is expected that such advice would extend to the approach to be taken by the Commissioner in developing their strategic plans (see Section 13).
	The Advisory Board is to have a membership of at least six and not more than ten persons (subsection (2)). Subsection (4) requires the Commissioner to appoint members of the Advisory Board who represent a range of different sectors who have responsibilities for responding to domestic abuse. The requirement to include a representative from the social care sector includes children’s as well as adult social care. They will also be required to have an academic to provide evidence and academic rigour to discussions, as well as someone to represent the interests of victims of domestic abuse. An individual could represent the interests of more than one group (for example, they could represent the interests of victims of domestic abuse, while also representing the interests of specialist charities). In addition to this Board, the framework document is expected to provide for the Commissioner to establish a Victims and Survivors Advisory Group, to ensure that they engage directly with victims and survivors in their work.