Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2015 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

Victim First – (minute 35)

Sue Haslett provided an update regarding the scrutiny arrangements for Victim First. Scrutiny would be given to the scheme by the Victim and Witness Partnership which reported to the Strategic Partnership Board. A performance matrix had been constructed which would assist the scrutiny process. In addition, two customer satisfaction surveys would be conducted, one of which would be independent.

Domestic Homicide Reviews – (minute 39)

James Fox stated that he was looking to hold a short briefing with CSP Chairs on Domestic Homicide Reviews and the role of CSP Chairs within those reviews, either before or after the next LSCSB meeting in December. James would contact CSP Chairs with further details in due course.

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. 

Sue Haslett provided an update with regard to the commissioning process for the 2016/17 period. A refresh of the Commissioning Framework would be published on 18 September 2015 and consultation would take place until 16 October 2015. Members of the Board would receive a copy of the version that was being consulted upon. The new Framework would come into operation at the end of October 2015.

The Board considered a report from James Fox, updating the Board regarding Safer Communities’ performance for Quarter 1. The Board was also provided with 2 graphs showing the data for Disability Hate Incidents trends.  Copies of the report and graphs are filed with these minutes.

With regard to Disability Hate Incidents Chief Constable Simon Cole informed the Board that this was a greatly underreported area. He stated that whilst approximately 2000 Disability Hate Incidents had been reported to the police for the previous year, the crime survey indicated that approximately 60,000 Disability Hate Incidents had actually taken place during that period.

AGREED:

(a) That the Board noted the 2015/16 Quarter 1 performance information;

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

The Board considered a report from Gurjit Samra-Rai providing an update on the work of Prevent in Leicestershire. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

With regard to the £10,000 one-off payment from the Home Office which had been allocated to District and Borough Councils, Gurjit informed the Board that it was proposed that 50% of that sum for each Council would be earmarked for the new Prevent Officer post to enable the post to continue beyond the 1 year it currently had funding for.

Chief Constable Simon Cole informed the Board that contrary to popular belief, the majority of the issues in Leicestershire in relation to terrorism had arisen in the Districts and Boroughs rather than the City. Furthermore, 30% of the work of Prevent related to tackling right wing extremism.

In response to a question regarding the communication links in Leicestershire and a joined up approach, Gurjit Samra-Rai confirmed that Prevent was discussed at the ASB Strategy Group which every District/Borough Council had representation on. In addition Gurjit reminded the Board that she sat on the Prevent Steering Group. Gurjit also stated that it would be part of the role of the new Prevent Officer to provide support to organisations in Leicestershire and strengthen communication links regarding terrorism awareness.

In response to a further question Gurjit stated that work was undergoing with colleagues in Safeguarding teams to ensure that they were promoting awareness of Prevent issues particularly in schools and amongst young people.

AGREED:

(a) That the Board noted the funding allocated by the Home Office towards implementation of the new prevent Duty;

(b) That the Board agreed to allocate funding towards the Prevent Officer Post.

The Board considered a report of James Fox providing an update regarding domestic abuse including the work of the Domestic Violence Delivery Group. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman stated that he had been pleased to note the positive performance of Project 360 and invited the authors of the Project 360: Preliminary Report from the University of Leicester to give a presentation to the Board on this work at a future meeting.

With regard to paragraph 20 of the report the Chairman requested that the Board be provided with regular updates on the commissioning arrangements and the potential disruption to services. The Chairman offered to hold an emergency meeting of the Board if necessary.

AGREED:

(a) That the Board noted the progress of commissioning regarding domestic abuse.

(b) The Board noted the Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence Delivery Groups action plans and updates on delivery;

(c) The Board noted the key risks with regard to domestic abuse at the time.

Superintendent Mark Newcombe – Leicestershire Police.

Supt Mark Newcombe and PC Matt Rowlett gave a presentation on ‘legal highs’ and Operation Nitrox which was a Leicestershire Police initiative to tackle the issue in Leicestershire. A copy of the presentation slides is filed with these minutes.

The Board were informed that the presentation was available to be given to various sections of the community and could be tailored to suit them. A version of the presentation slides would be forwarded to CSP Chairs so that it could be shared with partners.

A key point from the presentation was that it was difficult to tackle the problem of legal highs due to the complexity of the science involved and the ability of chemists to alter the molecular structure of a substance so that the substance was technically no longer prohibited by law. However, the Psychoactive Substances Bill which was anticipated to come into Force in April 2016 would change the law so that all psychoactive substances would become illegal unless they were on the exempt list therefore making it easier for the Police to tackle legal highs and prosecute those involved in the trade. Nevertheless there were still concerns about how effective the new legislation would be particular given the lack of successful prosecutions in Ireland after a similar change to their legislation was introduced in that country. Sir Clive Loader reminded the Board that it was possible to form pressure groups to lobby the Government to take further action on the issue.

In answer to a question PC Matt Rowlett stated that no laboratories for making legal highs had been discovered in Leicestershire. However, supply chains were firmly established.

Chief Constable Simon Cole stated that there were other more indirect ways of tackling the problem for example the shops where the substances were sold could be subject to licencing restrictions and Councils could play a role there.  

Members of the Board emphasised the importance of raising awareness of the dangers of using legal highs and putting preventative measures in place. It was agreed that a report on the prevention work in Leicestershire would be brought to a future meeting of the Board.

Verbal update from Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Dharmista Dave gave an oral update on Victim First which would go live on 1 October 2015. The purpose of the scheme was to provide support to victims of crime, and referrals would be received from the police and other organisations.

A launch event was taking place on 28 September 2015 at the King Power Stadium and all members of the Board were invited.

Scenario testing would take place prior to the launch and Dharmista Dave invited people to call the Victim First phone line with fictitious scenarios to test the system.  The dates for the scenario testing were 22^nd and 23^rd September between 8am and 12:00 and the phone number was 0800 953 9595.

10 December 2015

The next meeting of the Board would be 10 December 2015 at 14:00hrs.