Agenda and minutes

It was proposed, seconded, and AGREED that Mr. J. T. Orson CC JP be elected Chairman of the Board for 2016/17.

It was proposed, seconded, and AGREED that Mr. T. J. Pendleton CC be elected Vice-Chairman of the Board for 2016/17.

Mr. T. J. Pendleton CC in the Chair.

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

The new Police and Crime Commissioner Lord Willy Bach was given the opportunity to address the Board. Lord Bach stated that he was in favour of Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) and announced his intention to meet the Chairs of CSPs and the Chief Executives of the associated District Councils as soon as possible. Lord Bach stated that he intended to listen to partners and that his Police and Crime Plan would be informed by attending meetings such as Leicestershire Safer Communities Strategy Board.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2016 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

Victim First update. (minute 74)

Councillor Page informed that she had arranged to visit the offices of Victim First and that there was an open invite for other members of the Board to visit as well.

Matters arising (minute 66)

Gurjit Samra-Rai stated that a report on Sentinel would be brought to a future meeting of the Board when there was some tangible information to update on.

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, presented by Rick Basra, regarding Safer Communities’ Performance for the 2015/16 year. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

With regard to Appendix 1 - Safer Communities Dashboard 2015/16 it was noted that the figures for the number of referrals to domestic abuse support services (adults) had been estimated as the precise figures were not available. It was suggested that it would be helpful if the Safer Communities Dashboard included the national figures for each performance measure so that benchmarking could be carried out. Officers agreed to give consideration to how this could be included in the report in future.

With regard to Appendix 2 – Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence Support Service summary figures it was clarified that the top line of Table 1 labelled ‘Helpline calls received’ concerned new referrals to the service, so these were different people to those referred to in the bottom line of Table 1 labelled ‘Face to face contacts with existing service users’.

In response to a query regarding the validity of Hate Crime data it was acknowledged that Hate Crime was underreported and further work needed to be carried out to improve the accuracy of the data. Sentinel was being looked at with regards to the way Hate Crime was recorded, and a campaign was being undertaken to raise awareness of the importance of reporting Hate Crime. 

RESOLVED:

(a) That the 2015/16 End of Year performance information be noted;

(b) That proposals be brought to a future meeting of the Board regarding monitoring performance trends and in particular hate incidents.

A presentation will be provided by Supt Mark Newcombe - Leicestershire Police.

The Board received a presentation from Supt Mark Newcombe on the Cambridge Harm Index and a change of emphasis by the Police towards prioritising those offences which cause the most harm rather than offences with the highest volume. A copy of the presentation slides is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the presentation the following points were noted:

Leicestershire Police were not going to stop investigating any particular types of crime. Supt Newcombe emphasised that the Cambridge Harm Index was a tool to assist and augment the decision making process and prioritisation decisions would not be solely dictated by the Harm Index. It was noted that Anti-Social Behaviour was a type of offence where if the Harm Index was strictly followed then it would not be prioritised due to the level of sentencing the offence received. Nevertheless, it was still intended to allocate resources to tackle Anti-social behaviour.

Prosecuting and convicting offenders still remained an option to deter people from committing criminal offences, however intervention work was being carried out earlier to decrease the likelihood of an offence being committed.  

It was emphasised that Hate Crime and ASB were two separate types of offences.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the presentation on Volume and Harm be noted.

(b) That a further update be provided on progress of the Harm model of policing at the meeting of the Board in 6 months time.

The Board received a report from James Fox, presented by Chris Thomas, the purpose of which was to outline progress on current Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) and proposed developments of the process for carrying out DHRs in Leicestershire. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that there were two DHRs underway in Leicestershire; one in the Charnwood Borough and one in Hinckley and Bosworth District.

It was noted that with the exception of Charnwood, contributions to the pooled budget were awaited from CSP’s for 2016/17. Leicestershire & Rutland Safeguarding Business Office had requested that the total funding contribution increase to £42,089 and discussion took place regarding whether this was agreeable. Some Board members were of the view that other partners such as providers of probation services and Clinical Commissioning Groups should contribute to the pooled budget, though it was noted that the responsibility for carrying out DHRs lay with CSPs. The Board felt that it needed to be established what were the costs to each organisation when Domestic Homicide took place, and it would be useful to have a report on the benefits and risks. It was agreed that the Senior Officers Group would carry out this work.

RESOLVED:

a)        That the update on Domestic Homicide Reviews in Leicestershire be noted;

b)        That the allocation to the safeguarding Board Business Office be increased to £42,089 for 2016/17;

c)         A more detailed review be undertaken, considering:

            - Revised costs for the management of the process and cost of each review;

  - Basing the budget on a lower average number of cases;

            -Revised contributions across partners;

            - Improving the timeliness of reviews;

            -The process for action plan monitoring and follow up of impact of   reviews.

The Board considered a report from Chris Thomas the purpose of which was to provide a summary of Youth Offending Service performance. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that as part of the restructure of Neighbourhood Policing there had been a change in approach from Neighbourhood Police Officers who were engaging with youths rather than just moving them on and this approach was commended by the Board.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board received a presentation from Bob Bearne and Detective Inspector Mick Fletcher which gave an introduction to Integrated Offender Management (IOM) and the IOM Performance Report 2015/16. A copy of the relevant paperwork which was tabled at the meeting is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that IOM was a co-located team comprised of staff from the Police, Probation Services and Substance Misuse workers. Mick Fletcher had been promoted within Leicestershire Police and was therefore moving out of offender management.

In response to a question it was explained that Smart Tagging was voluntary and tracked an offender 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, enabling the police to know the offender’s whereabouts at any point in time. It was useful as a rehabilitation tool because it helped Young Offenders to stay away from criminal groups and gave them an excuse to stay indoors. It also meant that the police could check whether an offender was in the vicinity of an offence that had been committed and save arresting them unnecessarily. Leicestershire would be taking part in a national trial of statutory GPS Tagging.

It was noted that a lack of accommodation was a major contributory factor towards offending and questioned what was being done about this problem. Bob Bearne stated that there was a large amount of work being done on this issue however the amount of accommodation available was limited and offenders were not always popular tenants. The Reducing Reoffending Board and MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement) were tasked with assisting offenders with their accommodation needs. It was highlighted that in addition to providing accommodation a support package needed to be provided as well.

RESOLVED:

That the presentation on Integrated Offender Management be noted.

The Board considered a report from Debra Cunningham which gave an update on the work being undertaken to tackle substance misuse in Leicestershire. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

Concern was raised by a Member of the Board that the substance misuse work was in a silo and did not involve partners such as District Councils and other community organisations. It was felt that there could be greater information sharing particularly in relation to providing District Councils with the details of people receiving substance misuse treatment. It was suggested that this information sharing could take place at Joint Action Groups. Debra Cunningham acknowledged that since the substance misuse work had moved within the Public Health department there had been less partnership working. However, she stated that once Turning Point had begun providing the specialist substance misuse services on 1 July it would be looked at how partnership working could be enhanced. Debra Cunningham stated that with regard to information sharing Data Protection was an issue which had to be overcome but she believed that this problem could be resolved.

Members of the Board stated that the quality of reporting to Community Safety Partnerships had been mixed; in some cases satisfactory and in some cases not so. Debra Cunningham explained that reporting had previously been provided on a quarterly basis by the former DAAT (Drug + Alcohol Action Team) but unfortunately as responsibility for the work had moved into the Public Health department there was no longer the capacity to do this. 

In response to a question it was confirmed that tackling the use of Legal Highs was a priority for Turning Point, however the difficulty was that users of Legal Highs did not see themselves as having a substance misuse problem so innovative ways needed to be used to encourage users of Legal Highs to engage with Turning Point.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the report and in particular the key issues for partners be noted.

(b) That it be recommended that the Senior Officer Group review current arrangements for ‘responsible authority’ partner contributions to licensing statements and applications, and the reporting arrangements to Community Safety Partnerships.

The Board considered a report from Victor Cook (Strategic Lead CSE and Complex Abuse), presented by Jane Moore, which provided an update on the work of the Children Board’s Joint CSE, Trafficking and Missing Subgroup. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

Jane Moore asked all Board attendees to encourage their organisations to be aware of the CEASE (Commitment to Eradicate Abuse and Sexual Exploitation) campaign.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the report and progress to date be noted.

(b) That the approach to continue to increase and widen partner involvement in the agenda be noted.

(c) That the proposals to strengthen local governance arrangements be noted.

It was noted that James Fox had moved onto a new role within Leicestershire County Council so would no longer be attending Board meetings. James was thanked for his contribution to the Board since it was established.

The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 8 September 2016 at 10:00am.

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