Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and the list of apologies was noted.

To note that the Terms of Reference of the Board state that the Chair will be the Leicestershire County Council Cabinet Lead Member for Safer Communities, who for 2024/25 is Mrs. D. Taylor CC.

RESOLVED:

That it be noted that Mrs. D. Taylor CC remains the Cabinet Lead Member for Community Safety at Leicestershire County Council and therefore according to the Terms of Reference she is appointed Chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland Safer Communities Strategy Board for the 2024/25 year.

To note that the Terms of Reference of the Board state that the Vice-Chair will be the Rutland County Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Safer Communities, who for 2024/25 is Cllr. C. Wise.

RESOLVED:

That it be noted that Cllr. C. Wise is the Cabinet Lead Member for Community Safety at Rutland County Council and therefore according to the Terms of Reference she is appointed Vice Chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland Safe Communities Strategy Board for the 2024/25 year.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2024 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Board considered the LRSCSB Action Log, a copy of which, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

RESOLVED:

That the status of the Action Log be noted.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interests in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations were made. 

Sajan Devshi, Performance and Assurance Officer, OPCC will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Sajan Devshi, Performance and Assurance Officer, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), which provided an update on the work of the OPCC. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)           The OPCC had put together a Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel comprising of 8 individuals who would meet 4 times a year to scrutinise hate crime cases dealt with by Leicestershire Police. In response to a request, it was agreed that the details of the 8 individuals would be provided after the meeting.

(ii)         There had been a £140,705.06 underspend of Community Safety Partnership (CSP) funding for 2023/24, and £97,905.55 of that money was being added to CSP funding for 2024/25. This meant that for 2024/25 CSPs were being given more funding than ever before. The Chair suggested that if there were any further underspends it should be spent on particular themes that affected all CSPs. For example, Leicestershire Police had requested funding for a Hate Crime Hub and this was the type of initiative that would benefit all parts of LLR. In response to the Chair’s suggestion it was noted that the Police and Crime Commissioner had the final decision on CSP funding and it was possible that he could have other plans for the money.

(iii)        People Zone Grant Funding opened on Friday 5 July 2024 and Board attendees were asked to help publicise this.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

Jamie Osborne, Anti-social Behaviour System Governance & Co-ordination Officer, Leicestershire County Council will give a verbal update.

The Board received a verbal update from Jamie Osborne, Anti-social Behaviour System Governance & Co-ordination Officer, Leicestershire County Council regarding the Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) recording and management system for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR).

As part of the update and discussions the following points were noted:

(i)           The Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) recording and management system known as Sentinel was used by all the Councils in LLR. Work was taking place to delete old records held on Sentinel as their retention was not compliant with data protection legislation. Minimum recording standards were also being introduced to ensure that all parties using the system were recording ASB in the same way.

(ii)         Procurement of a new ASB recording and management system for LLR was taking place led by Leicestershire County Council. A business case had been agreed by partners, though further discussions needed to take place regarding exactly how the database would work.

(iii)        The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner had obtained Home Office funding which would be used to pay for a consultant to lead on the new ASB system. Sarita Adams had been recruited for this role as she led the same project for Derbyshire and her experience would enable timescales to be adhered to. The funding had to be spent by March 2025.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the contents of the verbal update be noted.

(b)        That a further update on the ASB recording and management system be brought to the next meeting of the Board

The Chairman sought and obtained the consent of the Board to vary the order of business from that set out on the agenda for the meeting.

Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Rik Basra, Community Safety Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council, regarding a review which had taken place of the Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) process in Leicestershire and Rutland and presented the new DHR Management Local Procedural Responsibilities Document for approval. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

The report was presented by Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)           The updated DHR Management Local Procedural Responsibilities Document underlined DHR stakeholder responsibilities under local delegated arrangements ensuring statutory compliance. It also outlined potential ramifications for a failure to follow the agreed process. Rik Basra had been delivering training on DHRs to Community Safety Partnership Chairs and officers which was going well.

(ii)         NHS England were changing their processes with regards to DHRs and now required a new template to be completed. Checks needed to be made regarding how well the NHS England processes dovetailed with the local processes in Leicestershire and Rutland. Wendy Hope, Integrated Care Board, would action this.

(iii)        Whilst the DHR Management Local Procedural Responsibilities Document referred to District Councils, no mention was made of Rutland County Council which could have different structures and processes. It was requested that the document be amended to include Rutland.

(iv)       One of the issues with the current DHR process was implementing actions and learning arising from DHRs. Where the actions applied to a single organisation they were being implemented well, but where the actions related to more than one partner or the partnership as a whole they were not being implemented as effectively. The Safeguarding Board was working on this issue.

(v)         DHRs did take into account any recommendations made by Coroners.

(vi)       In response to a question as to whether there were any consistent themes arising from DHRs in Leicestershire and Rutland it was explained that the cases were all different in nature and demographics and therefore no particular themes had been identified. However, monitoring would continue to take place to see if there were any trends.

(vii)      The numbers of DHRs in Leicestershire and Rutland had historically been low but there had been a recent increase. In response to a suggestion that this could be due to an increase of Domestic Abuse cases it was clarified that there had not been a particular increase in Domestic Abuse Homicides. Therefore, the cause of the increase was unclear.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the contents of the report be noted;

(b)        That the DHR Management Local Procedure Responsibilities document be approved.

Bob Bearne, Head of the Probation Delivery Unit, will give a presentation.

The Board received a presentation from Bob Bearne, Head of the Probation Delivery Unit, regarding the Probation Reset and the End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme. A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 10’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the presentation and discussions the following points were noted:

ECSL Scheme

(i)           There were strong concerns about prison capacity nationally, the situation was reaching crisis point and was only expected to get worse. In order to manage the problem the ECSL Scheme had been put in place which enabled eligible (male) prisoners to be released up to 70 days in advance of their Conditional Release Date.

(ii)         The Probation Service did have the power to request permission from the Gold Command Group that an eligible prisoner not be released early but it would have to be demonstrated that it was an exceptional case. It was also possible that a prisoner could be released early but not the full 70 days.

(iii)        All the prisoners released under the scheme would have been released anyway without the scheme being in place, just at a slightly later date.

Probation Reset

(iv)       Due to a lack of Probation Service resources to cover demand, a ‘Probation Reset’ was going to take place on 1 July 2024 which was intended to relieve work pressures. The Reset would mean that the Probation Service would have less contact with certain types of offenders after a certain point in their sentence. The Probation Reset had been mandated by the Ministry of Justice and individual probation teams had little input on its implementation. If an offender fell within the criteria then Probation Service contact had to stop. Accountability for the policy lay with the Ministry of Justice not individual Probation Officers and so Officers would not be under pressure to make the decisions on ceasing contact.

(v)         MAPPA (Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements) cases would not be eligible for having their contact suspended.

(vi)       Whilst it was a positive that the high Probation Service workload was being recognised by the Ministry of Justice, the Probation Service was disappointed that it was unable to undertake work it wanted to carry out with offenders.

(vii)      The Probation Service was required to undertake a certain amount of Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) days with offenders which involved identifying and addressing an offender’s needs in order to reduce the risk of them offending in the future. In response to concerns raised that the Probation Reset would mean that all the required RAR days would not take place, reassurance was given that they would take place but within a shorter timescale and it was only the contact after the RAR period that would be affected. 

(viii)    In the future more technology would be used to monitor offenders without human contact being required such as using GPS.

After the presentation Board members raised concerns about both the prisoners being released early and the Probation Service having less contact with some offenders, and members sought reassurances regarding the safety of the general public. In response the concerns were acknowledged, but it was pointed out that Probation Service contact with offenders would have ended at some point regardless and they would have been referred onto other services anyway. Members were cautioned not to over-sensationalise the proposals and reminded that there was always some level of risk when managing and releasing offenders.

Members also raised concerns regarding the lack of an impact assessment being carried out locally before the proposals were put in place. It was noted that if the Probation Service were having less involvement with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Rik Basra, Community Safety Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council, which provided an update regarding Safer Communities Performance for 2023/24 – Quarter 4. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes. The report was presented by Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council.

It was noted that Rutland was now included on the Safer Communities Dashboard.

The Chair welcomed the reduction in First Time Entrants to the Criminal Justice System.

RESOLVED:

That the 2023/24 Quarter 4 Safer Communities performance update be noted.

Kevin Wright, MARAC Manager, will give a presentation.

The Board received a presentation from Kevin Wright, MARAC Manager, regarding repeat Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs). A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 13’, is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that in Rutland, of 23 MARAC referrals 11 were repeats which was a relatively high percentage (47%) compared to Leicester City and Leicestershire. This was partly explained by the small overall numbers of referrals in Rutland which meant that any repeat cases had a greater impact on the percentage. However, there had also been some cases of stalking in Rutland which had led to repeat MARACs because every time the offender made contact with the victim a new referral had to be generated.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the presentation be noted.

Anita Chavda, Community Safety Projects & Planning Officer, Leicestershire County Council, will give a presentation.

The Board received a presentation from Anita Chavda, Community Safety Projects and Planning Officer, Leicestershire County Council regarding the Annual Prevent Duty Assurance Process 2023/24. A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 14’, is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that one of the key recommendations arising out of the Assurance Process was that Prevent training should be made mandatory for all local authority staff. This included Councillors. The training had already been taking place in Leicestershire.

There was currently a vacancy for a Regional Prevent Advisor – East Midlands and it was not yet known when this vacancy would be filled.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the presentation be noted.

Sally Vallance, Head of Service, Public Health, Leicestershire County Council, will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Sally Vallance, Head of Service, Public Health, Leicestershire County Council regarding a proposal to decommission the Probation Health Trainer Service. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 15’, is filed with these minutes.

It was explained that NHS England had recently launched the RECONNECT service which provided ‘care after custody’ for individuals leaving prison with an identified health need. There were similarities between this service and the Probation Health Trainers service therefore it could be argued that the health needs of the relevant population would still be met if the Probation Health Trainer service was decommissioned. However, Bob Bearne, Head of Probation Delivery Unit, emphasised that whilst the aims of both services were similar, there were differences in the way they were delivered, for example one of the positives of the Probation Health Trainers Service was the amount of one-to-one sessions that took place, whereas there were less of those with the RECONNECT service. In response reassurance was given that conversations would be had with RECONNECT about enhancing the one-to-one aspects of their service. Other areas of learning from the Probation Health Trainers Service would also be passed onto RECONNECT.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

Attendees were informed that the Cruyff Foundation were planning on constructing a 5-aside football pitch in Leicestershire aimed at diverting young people from getting involved with Anti-social Behaviour. The Cruyff Foundation were looking for a location and recommendations from partners were welcomed. Places such as Charnwood and Hinckley where ASB was high were thought to be the best.

Future meetings of the Board will take place on the following dates all at 10.00am:

Friday 27 September 2024

Friday 13 December 2024

Friday 28 March 2025;

Friday 20 June 2025;

Thursday 25 September 2025;

Friday 21 November 2025.

RESOLVED

That future meetings of the Board take place on the following dates all at 10.00am:

Friday 27 September 2024

Friday 13 December 2024

Friday 28 March 2025;

Friday 20 June 2025;

Thursday 25 September 2025;

Friday 21 November 2025.