Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, and everyone present introduced themselves.  Apologies for absence were reported on behalf of Cllr. Kevin Loydall (Oadby and Wigston Borough Council), Trevor Peel (Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service), and Ket Chudasama (West Leicestershire CCG).

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2014 were circulated and noted.

 

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. 

 

Will Baldet – Prevent Co-ordinator

The Board received a presentation from Will Baldet regarding the work of PREVENT.  A copy of the presentation slides is filed with these notes.

 

Will explained that the PREVENT programme sought to respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat from those who promoted it, prevent people from being drawn into radicalisation and terrorism and ensure that they were given appropriate advice and support, and work with sectors and institutions where there were risks of radicalisation (eg. education and healthcare providers, faith groups, and the wider criminal justice system). He cited a number of groups which presented a risk of terrorism and/or public disorder in Leicestershire. 

 

Will said that a number of priority areas had failed to engage with the programme, hence the Government’s decision to make the requirements statutory.  These included -

 

•           Training of staff, in order that threats could be identified and referrals         made.

 

•           Action Plan – overarching and sat within the ASB Strategy

 

•           There would be an onus on local authorities to ensure that their      premises (eg. libraries, schools) were not being used by any extremist             groups - they needed to ensure that they had processes in place to          prevent this.

 

•           Ofsted would include this element in its inspections (ie. were staff   aware of signs, was support available to pupils to deal with pressures).

 

The PREVENT strategy would become law in February/March 2015.  It had been suggested that a small amount of funding would be made available to support its implementation but no details had been given.

 

The Board noted that Leicestershire had an excellent reputation for PREVENT delivery. 

Education would be a strong area of focus in 2015 and PREVENT was working with schools to raise awareness amongst staff and pupils.  The work linked in to existing initiatives and projects such as ‘equaliteach’ and Hate Incident Monitoring, and the Safeguarding agenda (young people being particularly at risk).

 

Will explained that referrals to PREVENT could be made via a number of routes, including -

 

●Safeguarding Boards

●The National Counter Terrorism hotline

●Crimestoppers

●Police Force PREVENT Officers:

 

            Team leader Bill Knopp – bill.knopp@leicestershire.pnn.police.uk

            Esther Scott – esther.scott@leicestershire.pnn.police.uk (0116         2486726)

            Pete Bumpus – peter.bumpus@leicestershire.pnn.police.uk (0116 2486751)

            Gemma Streather -  Gemma.Streather@leicestershire.pnn.police.uk.cjsm.net        (0116             2486770)

 

Will Baldet added that it was possible that an additional post to support his work in Leicester and Leicestershire could be funded and Jane Moore confirmed that an officer secondment was being considered.   

 

Will Baldet said that he would be pleased  to attend  any CSP or District Council meetings to give the presentation and talk about PREVENT’S work. 

 

NOTED:

 

(a)       That the role of PREVENT would be included in Councillor Induction        training after             the May elections;

 

(b)       That PREVENT would come within the remit of the ASB Strategy    Group, and ASB Strategy would be cited on the PREVENT Action             Plan;

 

(c)        That a link to the presentation would be circulated to the Board.

James Fox – Leicestershire County Council

The Board considered a report from James Fox the purpose of which was to update the Board regarding Safer Communities’ performance from 1 July to 30 September 2014. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

 

AGREED:

 

(a)       That the 2014/15 quarter 2 performance information be noted;

 

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

●Partnership work (pathways, DVPOs, Project 360, DASH

●Commissioning Framework and approaches

 

DCI Jon Brown/James Fox

 

The Board considered a report from DCI Jon Brown on the work of the Domestic Abuse Partnership, a copy of which is filed with these minutes. The following information was highlighted:

 

●The next meetings of the City and County Domestic Violence Delivery Groups would take place on the same day; the City Group would meet in the morning and the County Group in the afternoon, with a joint meeting of the two taking place in between. Aligned to this would be the Sexual Violence Delivery Group which brought together a number of work streams.

●In 2014 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) carried out an inspection of all Forces’ practice with regards to Domestic Abuse, and the results of this were being considered by the Home Secretary.

●Project 360, part funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner, was in operation and was working well with hard to engage victims of Domestic Violence. Due to the short time the trial had been running few statistics were available but the information so far was positive. The Chairman said that the Minister of State for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims Mike Penning had recommended that an application was made to the Police Innovation Fund for help with Project 360.

●A pilot scheme placing Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA) in Accident and Emergency departments on Friday evenings had resulted in several referrals which would not otherwise have been made. A cost-benefit analysis would be carried out. ●Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVA) and IDVAs had been co-located within police buildings for 2 days a week which had improved information sharing and case management.

●The Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) was moving to new premises which would provide a range of services including forensic, therapeutic and a video link to the Courts, enabling victims to give evidence from the premises.

 

James Fox gave an update on Commissioning work which was taking place. A consultation on changes to the specialist domestic violence and sexual violence services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland was underway, led by Leicester City Council: http://consultations.leicester.gov.uk/city-development-and-neighbourhoods/218f2eaf .   This included specific work with District Councils to ascertain what was needed in each area.  James thanked Districts for their work on the risk assessments.

 

James said that the commissioning would take some time, in particular because of the procurement process; contract values totalled over £800,000.  There were arguments for streamlining the services; making it easier for the service user to have a single point of contact, but it also needed to be recognised that domestic violence could cover everything from arguments to murder and all the issues involved could not be addressed by a single agency. The idea was to build a Leicester/Leicestershire/Rutland approach for those affected, increasing resilience and flexibility of the service and enabling better identification of repeat referrals - ie. where these were made to different services, not meeting an individual service’s threshold for serious concern.

James undertook to confirm the funding situation (paragraph 22 of the report refers) for the remainder of 2015 and beyond .

 

James also undertook to provide Councillor Bokor with statistics on Domestic Violence for both County and Districts.

 

AGREED:

 

(a) That the work of the Domestic Abuse Partnership be noted;

 

(b) That the key risks with regard to domestic abuse be noted.

James Fox – Leicestershire County Council

The Board considered a report from James Fox regarding the spend on Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), the proposed development of the process for carrying out DHRs, and the plan to disseminate learning from current DHRs in Leicestershire.  A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

 

AGREED:

 

(a) That the expenditure on DHRs be noted;

 

(b)  That £3000 be allocated to the learning event regarding a homicide in 2014 as recommended in paragraph 7 of the report;

 

(c)  The financial contribution for DHRs for 2015-16 set out in paragraphs 11 to 13 of the report be agreed;

 

(d) That a report on the revised DHR process be submitted to a future meeting.

Victor Cook – Leicestershire County Council

The Board considered a report from Victor Cook regarding progress made in responding to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) in Leicestershire and action taken following the publication of the Independent Inquiry into CSE in Rotherham (paragraph 2 of the report refers).  A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

 

Victor Cook said that no concerns had been identified regarding children in Leicestershire being placed in Rotherham or children from Rotherham being placed in Leicestershire.

The local response to CSE was a County Council priority and additional funding to support this had been included in the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy.

 

The Chairman commented on the excellent multi-agency work which was taking place, in particular the joint Police-County operational team which was now looking to include a City Council officer and representative from the health service.

 

NOTED:

 

The actions taken to respond to cases of CSE in Leicestershire.

Grace Strong – Derbyshire Leicestershire Nottinghamshire & Rutland Community Rehabilitation Company

The Board considered a report from The Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland CRC regarding the work of the Reducing Reoffending Board. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

 

Grace Strong explained how the Integrated Offender Management Team had been remodelled, including a new focus on 16-24 year olds who did not benefit from statutory support. It was hoped that YOS-Probation transitions could be improved. A resources website for practitioners and young people was being developed which aimed to cover all relevant services in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland area.  Closer links with the Supporting Leicestershire Families programme were also sought.

 

NOTED:

 

The significant progress being made in the work overseen by the Reducing Reoffending Board.

Grace Strong – Derbyshire Leicestershire Nottinghamshire & Rutland Community Rehabilitation Company

 

The Board considered a report from The Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland CRC on the structural changes which had been made to the Probation Service as part of the Government’s ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ Programme.  A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

 

The report was presented by Grace Strong and she highlighted the following:

● The Reducing Reoffending Partnership (RRP) was the new owner of the Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland Community Rehabilitation Company and formal ownership would transfer on 1 February 2015. Further information would be provided after that date but so far the reports were positive.

●The Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 would come into force on 1 February 2015. Adult offenders would be released from prison with a minimum of one year supervision.

● From 1 May 2015 Community Rehabilitation Companies would provide ‘through the gate’ resettlement services. Offenders would be required to work on a Resettlement Plan 12 weeks prior to release from custody

 

NOTED:

 

The changes that had occurred since the last meeting.

 

ACC Phil Kay

The Board received a presentation from ACC Phil Kay which set out the number and nature of incidents dealt with during a typical day and highlighted the opportunities for organisations represented at the Board to work together. The slides from the presentation can be viewed on at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5QxESYlRVA

 

Members noted the opportunities for savings and more coordinated and effective savings presented by joint working.  Phil Kay drew the Board’s attention to the fact that on an average day the Police dealt with more referrals of vulnerable people than arrests, suggesting that they were often involved unnecessarily. 

 

AGREED:

 

That a further report be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.

●Meeting at Warning Zone

●Neighbourhood watch Chair

(a)       Warning Zone

 

The Chairman referred to an invitation from the Chief Executive, Vimme Rathour, to hold a meeting at the Warning Zone premises.  The Board agreed that this could be declined but that Mr Rathour would be welcome to attend the next meeting and perhaps could be asked to speak about the scheme.

 

AGREED:

 

That Mr Rathour be invited to attend the next meeting of the Board.

 

(b)       Neighbourhood Watch

 

The Chairman said that the Chairman of the Leicestershire Neighbourhood Watch Association, Eric Tindall,  had been invited to give a presentation on its work to the next Board meeting.

 

(c)        Councillor David Snartt

 

It was noted that Cllr. Snartt, having resigned from the Cabinet at Charnwood Borough Council, would no longer be attending the Board on its behalf.  Members joined with the Chairman in expressing their thanks for Cllr. Snartt’s huge contribution to the Board’s work.

 

AGREED:

 

That the Chairman would send a letter of thanks to Cllr. Snartt on behalf of the Board.

The next meeting of the Board is scheduled to take place on Thursday 19 March at 10.00am.

 

The Board noted that the next meeting was due to take place on Thursday 19 March 2015 at 10:00 am at County Hall.