Agenda and minutes

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

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2015 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

Minute 57

Further to the action from the previous meeting that a report on youth re-offending be brought to a future meeting of the Board, the LSCSB Workplan (Agenda Item 5) proposed that an update on Youth Re-offending come to the Board at its meeting in September 2016.

Minute 59

Further to the action that the conclusions of the Sentinel Task and Finish Group be provided to the Board at its next meeting, this work was still ongoing and therefore not ready to be presented to the Board. A full report on the conclusions would be provided at the meeting of the Board at its meeting in June 2016.

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. 

The Board considered a report from James Fox and Gurjit Samra-Rai the purpose of which was to set out the proposed forward plan for the Board. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were highlighted:

·         The Senior Officer Group (SOG) would continue to sit underneath the LSCSB and meet to identify issues which needed to be considered by the Board. The Chairman thanked the SOG for its work.

·         It was proposed that the LSCSB meet 4 times a year and agreed that this was an appropriate number of meetings. However, it was noted that there may be occasions when an emerging priority needed to be discussed immediately and therefore there was flexibility to add additional meetings to the calendar. The procedure for requesting an additional agenda item or an additional meeting was to contact the Chairman of LSCSB and the Community Safety Team at County Hall and make the request via them.

·         The topic of Reducing Reoffending had not been covered at LSCSB for some time and under the proposed forward plan it would not be on the agenda until the September 2016 meeting. It was therefore agreed that Reducing Reoffending should be moved onto the agenda for the June 2016 meeting of LSCSB.

RESOLVED:

That the Board agreed the proposed meeting plan subject to the item on Reducing Reoffending moving to the meeting of the Board on 8 June 2016.

Oral presentation from DC Mark Brennan – Leicestershire Police.

The Board received a presentation from Detective Constable Mark Brennan of Leicestershire Police regarding managing the demand for Police time and how to focus resources. A copy of the presentation slides is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the presentation the following points were noted:

·         The Police were using past data to predict where future crime would take place, particularly with regard to Domestic Violence. For this tactic to be successful it was essential that the quality of the data was good.

Notwithstanding the use of this tactic the Police still required the input of the community to report crimes and provide intelligence. Therefore there was still a role to play for LSCSB members to pass information received from the general public onto the police. Joint Action Groups (JAGs) would still play an important role as well.

·         Whilst the overall level of crime was decreasing, the level of harm associated with the crime that was taking place was increasing. Therefore the Police were looking to focus on harm in a wider sense rather than just crime focused harm. The Board felt that Members would benefit from an explanation of the definitions of crime and harm and it was agreed that at a future meeting of the Board there would be an agenda item on the Cambridge Crime Harm Index.

The Board considered a report from James Fox the purpose of which was to update the Board regarding Safer Communities’ performance for Quarter 3. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

·         There had been a reduction in the amount of hate incidents reported and the Hate Incident Monitoring Project would be looking at this to try and understand the cause.

·         The data on Integrated Offender Management (IOM) and Youth Offending was not available due to changes in how it was reported. The figures for Youth Offending would be available in June which would tie in well with the item being considered at the Board meeting in June.

AGREED:

(a)       That the 2015/16 Quarter 3 performance information be noted;

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

The Board considered a report from Detective Chief Superintendent David Sandall of Leicestershire Police which provided a briefing on the approach to tackling Serious and Organised Crime across Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes. The Board also received a presentation from Inspector Shane O’Neill which provided further information on the subject.

Arising from the presentation the following points were noted:

·         Tackling Serious and Organised Crime required a partnership approach which included agencies such as HMRC and Trading Standards.

·         The Strategic Partnership Board (SPB) acted as the Serious Organised Crime Board and performed the function of linking the work of partners together. District Councils had two representatives on the SPB. Detective Chief Superintendent Sandall was the named lead on Serious and Organised Crime.

·         There was a Cyber Crime Board which was Police led but required representatives from other organisations. LSCSB members were asked to think about who their representative on the Cyber Crime Board could be.

·         There was a problem in the Melton region with theft of lead from Church roofs. Inspector O’Neill informed that Metal thefts were mapped and owned by a region or a Police Force but he could not provide any specific information regarding how those particular thefts were being dealt with in Melton. Inspector O’Neill stressed the importance of intelligence sharing between the Police and Parish Councils and informed that there would be an Engagement day taking place with the aim of enhancing communication between communities and the Police.

·         Concerns had been raised by elderly people in Leicestershire about the lack of information received from Action Fraud once an incident had been reported. It was noted that Action Fraud had recognised the need for them to improve their customer service. The process was that Action Fraud would assess the lines of inquiry and if appropriate make a referral to Leicestershire Police for them to register the crime and investigate.

·         There was a desire for banks to engage with communities more in regard to tackling fraud. Banks engaged on a national level but not locally.

·         Leicester City Council was leading on CCTV and Leicestershire Police was leading on Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). It was suggested that further work could be undertaken with regard to mapping areas in the region which were covered by CCTV and identifying those areas which were not. District Councils could play a role in this task but a cost analysis would need to be conducted.

RESOLVED:

(a) The Board noted the partnership approach to Serious and Organised Crime and the new governance arrangements.

(b) The Board would give consideration to the best mechanisms for CSPs to engage in tackling Serious and Organised Crime across the partnership.

The Board considered a report from Detective Chief Inspector Johnny Starbuck of Leicestershire Police which provided an update on the work of the Sexual Violence Delivery Group. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

·         Recent developments included the opening of a new Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Leicester and the launch of the United Against Violence and Abuse (UAVA) scheme. The SARC was available for victims to attend and use the services even if they did not wish to involve the Police. The user satisfaction survey was being expanded to cover those people that did not wish a prosecution to take place.

·         Reports of sexual violence had increased and it was suspected that this was due to recent high profile cases being reported in the media. The rape conviction rate for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland was higher than the national rate and that for the East Midlands. This was believed to be due to the strength of cases which were going to Court in the region.

·         An initiative was underway to encourage greater reporting of rapes in the first week after the offence occurred as the likelihood of collecting good evidence was higher during that period, however it was important not to discourage people from reporting rapes after that time period.

RESOLVED:

(a) The Board noted the update from the Sexual Violence Delivery Group.

(b) The Board noted the forward plans and challenges regarding sexual violence.

The Board considered a report from Gurjit Samra-Rai which provided an update on the partnership approach to preventing extremism and work relating to Hate Incidents. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

·         The amount of Hate Reports, both to the Police and the Hate Incident Monitoring Project, had decreased. Work was underway to ascertain the cause and if Hate crime was being underreported, increase the amount of reports.

·         Alter Ego, who created the theatre production Chelsea’s Choice, were developing a new production on the topic of extremism. The Board praised Alter Ego for the Chelsea’s Choice production and requested for members to see the new production on extremism before it was shown at schools in the region.

·         The Board questioned whether the £10,000 received from the Government for Prevent work was a one off payment or whether further funding would be provided. Consideration was given to what the strategy would be should there be no additional funding for Prevent. The Board was reassured that as the WRAP (Workshop to raise Awareness of Prevent) training involved training the trainers then this work could continue in the absence of the Prevent Officer. A log had been kept of who had been given the training and monitoring would take place as a rolling programme.

·         The Chairman expressed concern that whilst the City of Leicester was a priority area for tackling extremism, the County of Leicestershire was not.

RESOLVED:

The Board noted the contents of the report.

Oral presentation from Paul Kiggel – Victim First

The Board received a presentation from Paul Kiggel, Head of Victim First, which provided an update on the service. A copy of the presentation slides is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the presentation the following points were noted:

·         Victim First’s services included 12 caseworkers who offered emotional support, and 3 Restorative Justice practitioners. In addition Victim First catered for the wider needs of Victims such as providing the taxi fare for a visit to a more specialised counselling service.

·         Victim First worked closely with the Witness Service to make sure there was no duplication of services.

·         There was scope for Victim First to work more closely with other partners such as District Councils. Work was underway to strengthen these links for example in April 2016 Victim First would be visiting Blaby District Council.

·         A new Case Management database had been developed which would enable Victim First to not only track a victim through the process but provide in depth statistics.

·         So far Victim First had offered support to 3,712 victims and witnesses and provided support to 246 of those. Those that had not been provided support had either declined assistance or had not been able to be contacted. Victim First normally made 3 attempts to contact a victim by telephone and one attempt to contact by letter before a decision was made to take no further action.

·         With regard to the sustainability of funding for Victim First the contract was in place until October 2017 and further funding after that date would be dependent on the wishes of the new Police and Crime Commissioner. Paul Kiggel stated that Victim First were keen to continue to deliver the service beyond October 2017.

The Board considered a report from Andy Sharp which provided an update on the work in respect of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) and Leicestershire & Rutland Safeguarding Adults Board (LRSAB) Business Plan priorities for 2016/17. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Board noted the draft priorities of the LSCB and LRSAB.

It was agreed that a report would be drafted summarising the priorities of the LSCSB to be forwarded to the new Police and Crime Commissioner to assist with the formulation of the next Police and Crime Plan. It was noted that some of this feedback already took place at SPB meetings.

The next meeting of the Board will take place on 8 June 2016 at 10:00am.

The Board noted that the next meeting was due to take place on Thursday 8 June 2016 at 10:00 am at County Hall.