Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, and everyone present introduced themselves.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2014 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record, subject to the first sentence of Minute. 69 being amended to read as follows:

“Sir Clive thanked all the CSP Chairs for their time and contributions. He introduced the report, explaining that the Public Affairs Select Committee had concluded that numerical targets encouraged bad recording, although he would dispute that this was in fact the case of Leicestershire.”

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 January 2015 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

Minutes of 25 September 2014

67. Anti Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 Update

Gurjit Samra-Rai informed the Board that, whilst the ASB Case Management Task and Finish Group had touched upon Sentinel in their work, a full review of Sentinel would take place in the coming months.

Minutes of 28 January 2015  

82. Domestic Abuse Partnership Update

James Fox informed the Board that the first joint meeting of the City and County Domestic Violence Delivery Groups had taken place and positive benefits of the joint approach had been reported.

James also stated that for the remainder of 2015 and beyond there would be less funding. The reduction was still to be confirmed however it was thought that it would be in the order of £75,000 less.

84. The Response to Child Sexual Exploitation in Leicestershire

On Monday 23 March 2015 the Police and Crime Commissioner would be making an announcement on his response to the issue of Child Sexual Exploitation in Leicestershire following a review of cases conducted in the last 20 years.

87. “Working Together” Presentation

Cllr Greenwood stated that he felt that this had been an excellent presentation and recommended it to all partners.

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

It was noted that all members who were also members of a District or Borough (or Parish or Town) Councils would have personal interests in issues which related to areas covered by those authorities.

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

Gurjit Samra-Rai, Leicestershire County Council

The Board considered a report from Gurjit Samra-Rai providing an update on progress regarding the work of the Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy Group. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’ is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that a review of Sentinel would take place and workshops were being held in May 2015 to establish what kind of database was required and whether Sentinel could be adapted to fulfil this purpose. Members of the Board hoped that Sentinel could evolve to suit current needs rather than be discontinued. Once the review had been completed, proposals for the way forward would be brought to the Board however there were no timescales for this yet.

With regard to the halting of the ICSB (inter-agency community safety bureau), members stressed the importance of statistical analysis and the need for outcomes. It was requested that an update on progress on a resolution to this issue be brought to the Board. 

It was confirmed that the ASB Strategy Group had links to safeguarding Boards.

AGREED:

(a)       That the work of the ASB Strategy Group be noted;

(b)       That a further report be submitted to the Board on the outcomes of the workshops;

(c)       That the recommendations of the ASB Task and Finish Group and the work going forward be noted.

(d)       That the Board supported Prevent and Hate being included within the work of the Strategy Group.

James Fox, Leicestershire County Council

The Board considered a report from James Fox, updating the Board regarding Safer Communities’ performance for Quarter 3. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’ is filed with these minutes.

With regard to paragraph 13 of the report it was noted that reoffending rates for young people receiving First-tier penalties were higher when the offenders were not supported by the Youth Offending Service (YOS). The Board noted that it was proposed that some joint working would take place with the Courts to ensure that young offenders were signposted to the YOS in order to reduce the likelihood of them reoffending.

The amount of support for troubled families had increased and it was hoped that this would result in a decrease in crime figures relating to those families.

Clarification was given regarding the figures in the Appendix to the report entitled Safer Communities Performance Dashboard 2014/15 Q3. The figure for Rate of re-offending by young offenders for 2013/14 was 1.04 which related to the whole year. The latest data for the Rate of re-offending by young offenders was 0.79 and this figure related to half a year.

AGREED:

(a)       That the 2014/15 Quarter 3 performance information be noted;

(b)       That the Board continues to monitor performance trends.

Oral Update - Jane Moore, Leicestershire County Council

The Board received an oral update from Jane Moore regarding the Strategic Partnership Board (SPB). A meeting of the SPB had taken place on 11 February 2015 at which discussions had taken place regarding clarifying and redefining the role of the Board. As a result new Terms of Reference had been drafted. A map had been drawn showing how the SPB linked in with other groups.

The Police and Crime Commissioner had announced that £2 million of funding would be ring-fenced towards tackling crimes such as Child Sexual Exploitation, online grooming, and cyber bullying.

As a result of Councillor David Snarrt stepping down from the SPB a new District representative was required. It was felt that it would be appropriate to make this appointment following the May district council elections.

NOTED:

The update on the work of the Strategic Partnership Board.

Oral Update - Eric Tindall, Leicestershire Police

The Board received a presentation from Eric Tindall regarding the work of Leicestershire Neighbourhood Watch. Eric Tindall informed the Board that in October 2014 he had been elected as Chairman of the Leicestershire Neighbourhood Watch Association and he was in the process of recruiting additional personnel at all levels of the organisation. In particular he was looking for co-ordinators for groups of streets, and people on Parish and Town Councils to link in with local Neighbourhood Watch teams. There was also a need to recruit people to help Neighbourhood Watch with social media work.

Eric Tindall informed the Board that Neighbourhood Watch signs could be purchased in bulk for a reduced cost of £17 each and advised anybody interested in purchasing signs to go through The North Area Partnership Manager, Chris Woodward. His contact details were:

Phone: 0116 222 2222 ext 2542

Eric Tindall advised the Board that the Leicestershire Neighbourhood Watch Association were looking into the following initiatives:

·         Signs which informed that ‘cold-calling’ was not welcome in particular streets/areas.

·         Stickers for Council vehicles endorsing support for the Neighbourhood Watch scheme.

·         Using literature which contained ethnic minority languages.

·         Working with Loughborough College to get students involved in Neighbourhood Watch and help deliver information.

·         Using Neighbourhood Watch personnel to raise awareness of environmental issues such as flood alerts.

Eric Tindall informed the Board that there was a shortage of money for items such as paper and stationary, and also travel costs. However, all he asked from Councils was the use of rooms for meetings.

It was suggested that Neighbourhood Watch schemes could play a role in making referrals to Safeguarding teams and it was agreed that Eric Tindall would look into this further.

Members were of the view that Neighbourhood Watch should be careful about  heightening fear of crime amongst communities and should instead highlight  positive news and play a role in promoting public confidence. Eric Tindall agreed that the community work of the police should receive more publicity and Neighbourhood Watch could spread the message.

Some members expressed an interest in receiving this presentation from Eric at Community Safety Partnership meetings. It was suggested that anyone wishing to have Eric present at their meeting contact him via email at: nhw_leics@btinternet.com

Force Change Programme – Update.

The Board received an oral update from Superintendent Adam Streets regarding the Force Change Programme. Superintendent Streets stated that the new policing model went live on 9 February 2015 and the early signs were that it was working well. He informed the Board of the following:

·         Early data modelling suggested that under the new model there was increased community contact time for officers.

·         Response times had not been detrimentally effected under the new model.

·         The Managed Appointment Unit was working well.

·         There would be a Peer Review and a 6 monthly review of the new policing model. The Police and Crime Panel would be receiving an update on progress following 6 months of operation of the new model.

Superintendent Streets stated that £10.2 million of savings would be made by the 2017/18 period, however another £16 million of savings were required in 2019/20.  

The next meeting of the Board is scheduled to take place on 18 June at 2.00pm.

The Board noted that the next meeting was due to take place on Thursday 18 June at 2.00pm.