Agenda and minutes

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

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 2016 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

Substance Misuse (Minute 89)

It was reported that at the meeting of the LSCSB Senior Officer Group on 18 August 2016 a presentation had been given regarding Turning Point’s progress in providing the specialist substance misuse services. Turning Point had been invited to the next Senior Officer Group meeting to provide further statistics and they would also attend a future meeting of LSCSB.

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. 

An update from the Police and Crime Commissioner Lord Bach.

Lord Willy Bach provided a verbal update on his progress since taking on the role of Police and Crime Commissioner. Lord Bach reported that he had been involved in partnership working including visiting Community Safety Partnerships which he found very helpful. Lord Bach thanked partners in Blaby for their assistance in tackling anti-social behaviour in Countesthorpe. He also reported that he had spent a productive day with North West Leicestershire District Council, and had also attended an event at Groby College that aimed to raise awareness of hate incidents and hate crime among young people and Sylvia Lancaster OBE was present at this event.

Lord Bach provided an update with regard to his Police and Crime Plan which was required to be published by 31 March 2017. The Plan was to have four strategic areas which were as follows:

·         Putting victims first;

·         Protecting the vulnerable from harm;

·         Connecting with people and neighbourhoods;

·         Value for money.

A public consultation was taking place via telephone and email regarding the public’s views on policing and the results would feed into the Police and Crime Plan.  Lord Bach asked those at the meeting to persuade as many people as possible to respond to the consultation. 600 responses had been received during the first 8 days of the consultation.

A further update on the Police and Crime Plan would be provided at the meeting of the Police and Crime Panel on 5 December 2016.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

The Board considered a report from Paul Weston - Area Manager Community Safety and Response, which provided an update on Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS). A copy of the report is filed with these minutes. The report was presented by Matt Cane who had recently taken on a new role as Head of Community Safety at LFRS.

It was clarified that Market Harborough Fire Station would upgrade to wholetime day crew and on-call at night fire engines on 28 September 2016, and Lutterworth Fire Station would have the same upgrade in December 2016. Procurement was underway for the new Tactical Response Vehicles (TRVs) and it was aimed that the second on-call fire engines at Coalville, Melton, Market Harborough and Loughborough Stations would be replaced by 1 April 2017. The second on-call fire engine at Oakham Fire Station had already been temporarily replaced with a trial TRV borrowed from Yorkshire Fire Service however as the specifications of this appliance were not ideal for its required purpose the new TRVs to be procured by LFRS would be built differently.

The Community Safety Partnership Strategy Group Chair for Harborough requested to be provided with a briefing statement on the changes to Fire Services in Market Harborough in advance of the changes taking place. Matt Cane agreed to provide a briefing statement for Harborough and also for the other Community Safety Partnerships which were to see changes to their local Fire Services. It was confirmed that no changes would take place to Fire Services in Hinckley.

Matt Cane reported that partners had been involved with carrying out Home Fire Safety Checks in Leicestershire, in addition to those conducted by LFRS, and it was aimed to increase the amount of checks carried out by partners in future. It was intended to target vulnerable people in particular for checks.

A further Fire Service initiative was the setting up of a fishing club in Braunstone which enabled youngsters to be spoken to about general issues such as safety, security and health, whilst they were participating in fishing activities.

Further information was given on the ‘Braunstone Blues’ project which aimed to reduce demand for 999 services in the Braunstone area of Leicester. It was reported that whilst the demand for Police and Fire Services had reduced slightly in Braunstone over the last year, East Midlands Ambulance Service had not seen the same rate of reduction in demand. This was consistent with an overall increase in demand for ambulance services in the region.

Braunstone Blues was a 2 year project and as the funding would cease at the end of that period the aim was to train specialist volunteers to deliver the service in future. Given the lack of funding, the Braunstone Blues model would not be expanded out to other areas of Leicestershire, so instead the work would be conducted by local fire stations. Questions were raised by Members as to how the good work and learning from the Braunstone Blues project could be passed onto other areas of Leicestershire. It was noted that the issue linked in with the troubled families agenda and that a report regarding LFRS would be going to the Strategic Partnership Board -Executive Group and it was proposed that a similar report be brought to a future meeting of the LSCSB.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board considered a report from Rick Basra regarding Safer Communities’ Performance 2016/17 Quarter 1. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that most performance indicators were showing an improvement however hate crime was still a concern. Lord Bach stated that an announcement would be made soon regarding funding the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner would be providing for tackling hate crime.

Some members of the Board requested clarification on the definition of a hate crime. An explanation was given which emphasised that a hate crime comprised of a criminal offence such as criminal damage or assault which had a hate element to it, whereas a hate incident did not involve a criminal offence but related to the perception of the victim. The Community Safety Partnership Strategy Group Chair for Oadby and Wigston Borough Council drew Board Members attention to a document entitled “Action Against Hate – The UK Government’s plan for tackling hate crime” which the Police based their forward plans on. This document gave a definition of hate crime. It was suggested that LSCSB members sign up to this document and it was agreed that this proposal would be considered at a future meeting of the Senior Officers Group.

It was noted that at the last meeting of the Senior Officer Group there had been an agenda item on hate crime and it was agreed to consider hate crime at a future meeting of LSCSB.

It was confirmed that in the Safer Communities Performance Dashboard, which was appended to the report, where it referred to the Supporting Indicators ‘Reported hate incidents (per 1,000 population)’ this referred to all hate crime not just those relating to terrorism. However, it was agreed that officers would look at this and provide further clarification.

It was reported that MARAC referrals were on the increase. The Domestic Violence Delivery Group was looking at ways of increasing the capacity of MARAC to deal with referrals.

RESOLVED

(a)  That the 2016/17 Quarter 1 performance Information be noted.

(b)  That hate crime be an agenda item for a future meeting of the LSCSB.

The Board considered a report from Rik Basra which introduced the ASB Case Management Review.

In response to a question from the Chair regarding timescales for implementing the recommendations of the Review, it was reported that some recommendations had already been actioned whereas others such as technical fixes would take longer. A full update would be provided to the Board at its next quarterly meeting.

The Community Safety Partnership Chairs requested to receive reports of the findings relating to their individual districts so they could probe further into areas of concern. Rik Basra agreed to provide this information to them. It was emphasised by Rik Basra that there had been some very good practice identified with regard to ASB Case Management as well as areas for improvement, and therefore it was suggested that the report could be updated to include areas of good practice so that this information could be shared across the various CSPs.

With regard to the concerns identified in the report about the use of Sentinel it was noted that these issues were picked up through the ASB Delivery Group and the ASB Strategy Group, and a training package for the use of Sentinel was being devised.  Sentinel was created by a software development company called Vantage and whereas previously the way the system worked was dictated by Vantage, now Vantage were being told what the requirements of Leicestershire were and asked to develop the system accordingly. A further update on Sentinel would be provided at the next meeting of LSCSB.

A query was raised regarding management information reports from Sentinel which had been previously received by CSPs but were no longer. It was noted that since the Sentinel Group merged with the ASB Strategy Group the management information was now received by the ASB Strategy Group. It was agreed that the membership of the ASB Strategy Group would be checked to make sure that this information was being fed back to the correct person at CSPs.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

The Board considered a report and presentation from Detective Chief Inspector Jonny Starbuck on the Domestic Violence Delivery Group (DVDG). Copies of the report and presentation slides are filed with these minutes.

In answer to a question from the Chairman it was confirmed that the DVDG dealt with all forms of domestic abuse not just violence.

Reassurance was given that sufficient resources were being put into tackling domestic violence. Every domestic incident was assessed using the DASH (Domestic Abuse Stalking and Honour Based Violence) system and given a rating of either ‘Standard’, ‘Medium’ or ‘High’, however resources were allocated to an incident regardless of the rating because whilst the level of criminality for an incident may be low the harm caused may still be high.

In answer to a question regarding storage of information/intelligence relating to domestic incidents it was stated that the DASH system recorded a number of different indicators relating to domestic abuse. Any incident given a High rating would be referred to the MARAC (Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference). Any information regarding children would be referred to the Children’s Social Care department. Use of the DASH system began in 2009 so information recorded on it only went back that far, however the Police National Computer database went back tens of years and other databases such as NICHE and CIS went back as far as 1997.  DCI Starbuck emphasised that the extent that databases were searched to find information had to be proportionate as it could take many hours and resources to search for information on the databases.

RESOLVED

That the update on the Domestic Violence Delivery Group be noted.

A verbal update will be provided by Gurjit Samra-Rai – Community Safety Team Manager, Leicestershire County Council.

The Board received a verbal update from Gurjit Samra-Rai, Community Safety Team Manager on the work of the Prevent Officer, and ongoing work taking place to tackle hate crime in Leicestershire. The following points were highlighted:

·         Over 130 WRAP (Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent) sessions had been delivered across Leicestershire and Rutland, with approximately 2650 people trained since the Prevent Officer took up post in October 2015.  Many of these sessions had been delivered in schools; the Schools Annual Safeguarding Survey stated that compliance with the new Prevent Duty was high across Leicestershire County.

·         The Prevent Officer had delivered a WRAP session to Early Years Childcare Providers; City and County childcare providers were represented.  Feedback on the session was positive and as a result it was decided that this would be rolled out into a training programme which would be delivered from 19^th September 2016.

·         Relevant contacts had been made within Leicestershire County Council in order to plan the delivery of WRAP sessions to Foster Carers and Parents and Carers of people with Learning Disabilities. 

·         Links had been established with the Suffolk Hate Crime project delivered by Suffolk County Council who had developed a successful Prevent workshop for people with learning disabilities. A bid had been submitted to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire to enable the procurement of the Suffolk Prevent product for residents of Leicestershire and Rutland with learning disabilities.

·         Work was ongoing with District and Borough Councils in order to support them in their local Prevent Duty with advice, guidance, updates and best practice. 

·         The 5^th National Hate Crime Awareness Week was taking place between 8^th and15^th October 2016. The plan for this year was to raise awareness and build community cohesion using food, culminating in a recipe book.

·         Work was being undertaken regionally to establish a Prevent Officer network along with colleagues from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. It was noted that both areas were keen to work with Leicestershire in relation to the community cohesion project focussed around food. The Chairman endorsed this regional collaboration.

·         Work was underway with a training and development organisation that was developing a Prevent workshop for primary aged children.  Funding was being sought and if this bid was successful, the project would be delivered as a pilot training programme to 20 schools in Charnwood and Northwest Leicestershire.

·         Quarterly Prevent updates were being taken to the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Executive (the joint adult and children’s meeting); and a Prevent session was to be delivered at the Joint City and County Safeguarding event in October 2016.

·         Ongoing work was taking place around threats from extreme far right groups in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It was important to note that post the EU referendum a rise in hate crime had been seen nationally, which could lead to a possible fracture in communities and possible increases in vulnerabilities in people in Leicestershire.

·         The Prevent Officer was closely liaising with the Hate Project Co-ordinator; they were working with a federation of schools within the County to deliver specialised training around hate crime and extremism and looking at community cohesion work.

As a result of a query raised at the Police and Crime Panel by the Community Safety Partnership Strategy Group Chair – Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, copies of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Strategy Statement for Tackling hate Crime were circulated at the meeting and a copy is filed with these minutes.

The Board considered a report from Gurjit Samra-Rai which provided an update on the Joint Commissioning Assurance Board and its oversight of the United Against Violence and Abuse contract. A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

A presentation will be provided by Mike Hughes, Executive Director, Twenty Twenty.

The Board received a presentation from Mike Hughes, founder and Chief Executive of Twenty Twenty on the work of the organisation. A copy of the presentation slides is filed with these minutes.

Mike Hughes explained how the organisation dealt with young people who were not in school, college or work and aimed to provide them direction in their life and help them set meaningful goals. Part of the service provided by Twenty Twenty was mentoring by volunteers. The mentors were careful matched with the mentees on the basis of similar interests, where they resided and compatible personalities.

Referrals to Twenty Twenty came from various organisations such as the police, Social Services and families.

It was confirmed that in the past year 206 young people in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland had been engaged with by Twenty Twenty and out of those 114 were no longer receiving assistance from the organisation. 85% of that 114 had moved onto further education, an apprenticeship or a job. Checks were conducted every 3 months to ascertain whether an individual had remained with the Twenty Twenty programme and it was planned to track people over a year to ascertain their progress.

Future meetings of Leicestershire Safer Communities Strategy Board will take place at 10:00am on the following dates:

8 December 2016;

23 February 2017;

2 June 2017;

4 September 2017;

1 December 2017.

It was agreed that future meetings of the Board would take place at County Hall at 10:00am on the following dates:-

8 December 2016;

23 February 2017;

2 June 2017;

4 September 2017;

1 December 2017.