Agenda and minutes

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

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2018 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interests in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

No formal declarations were made. However, the Chairman stated that he had recently become Chairman of the Regional Migration Board for the East Midlands which had work streams that linked into the work of the Leicestershire Safer Communities Strategy Board and if future agendas had items where there was a conflict of interest he would excuse himself from the discussion.

The report will be presented by Rik Basra, Community Safety Coordinator, Leicestershire County Council.

The Board considered a report of Rik Basra, Community Safety Coordinator at Leicestershire County Council, the purpose of which was to update the Board regarding Safer Communities Performance for Quarter 1 of 2018/19. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 5’, is filed with these minutes.

In presenting the report the performance figures were put in the context that overall crime was up by 14% with approximately 61 crimes per 1,000 population against a regional average of 72.

In relation to reoffending it was noted that one of the key performance indicators utilised Integrated Offender Management (IOM) data for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR). With the data being collated annually and across the whole of LLR it was questioned whether the figures reflected the true picture locally. Rik Basra agreed to explore new ways to get meaningful data and supplement the data from Integrated Offender Management.

With regard to the decrease in the number of referrals to United Against Violence and Abuse (UAVA) it was questioned why this was the case and whether service users were satisfied or whether they had lost confidence and no longer reported incidents. A discussion took place outlining governance arrangements which were in place to monitor service delivery.

RESOLVED:

That the 2018/19 Quarter 1 performance information be noted.

The report will be presented by Rik Basra, Community Safety Coordinator, Leicestershire County Council.

The Board considered a report of Rik Basra which presented a draft Leicestershire County Community Safety Agreement. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

Board members were complementary about the format of the Agreement and the hyperlinks to relevant documents.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the contents of the report be noted;

(b)       That continued work to develop the Community Safety Agreement be approved.

The report will be presented by Anita Chavda, Community Safety Officer (Lead on Hate and Prevent SPOC), Community Safety Team.

The Board considered a report of Anita Chavda which presented the LLR Strategy Statement for Tackling Hate, and the LLR Hate Crime Communication Strategy. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

Reassurance was given that an information pack was being circulated to partners to assist them with preparing for National Hate Crime Awareness Week which was taking place from 13 October to 21 October and the Community Safety Team at the County Council was liaising with district councils to ensure they were ready.

Discussion took place regarding whether legally constituted groups such as those relating to countryside sports for example fox hunting should be added to the Hate Crime categories. It was explained that in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland an additional category was used for ‘any other perceived difference’, and involvement in countryside sports would come under this category. Reassurance was given that countryside sports were covered by the Hunting and Rural Crime Strategy and records were kept of incidents and statistics could be produced. It was suggested that if there were serious concerns about hate crime legislation and categories then wider discussion could take place at the Senior Officers Group.

It was clarified that other police forces also used hate crime categories in addition to those set out in the Home Office guidance and the reason why Leicestershire had added the other category was because communities were made up of different groups of people in different areas of the country and also hate crimes and incidents could evolve in the future and the categories needed to be able to reflect new types of hate crimes and incidents.

Board Members were of the view that the Strategy Statement for Tackling Hate did not make it clear that there was an additional hate crime/incident category in use in LLR and the Strategy Statement should be aligned with the Communications Strategy. It was requested that the documents be amended in line with these comments.

It was questioned whether the vision set out in the Strategy Statement for Tackling Hate was sufficiently ambitious and whether it should set out aims along the lines of creating a tolerant society where differences are accepted and valued. Members agreed that the Statement would benefit from being strengthened in this area.

It was requested that clarification be given on the legal status of the Strategy Statement and whether there were any binding implications on partners.

RESOLVED:

That the Strategy Statement for Tackling Hate Crimes and Incidents be amended in line with the comments now made and a report be brought to the next meeting of the Board for approval of the amended strategy, and the report to include legal guidance on the Strategy Statement.

The report will be presented by Gurjit Samra-Rai, Community Safety Team Manager, Children and Family Services, Leicestershire County Council.

The Board considered a report of Gurjit Samra-Rai which provided an update on the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence service. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

Whilst the UAVA Performance Data for Quarter 1 was attached as an appendix to the report, members were advised that the figures should be viewed with caution as it had been identified that some UAVA staff were not always recording the data correctly. For example, investigation had taken place into the data for the Harborough area with regard to the amount of time victims were waiting and it had been established that victims were not waiting as long as the data indicated. The Improvement Board were working to ensure the data was correct in future, the provider of the database was being liaised with, and UAVA staff were receiving additional training on data recording.

The Chairman suggested that local MPs could be asked to support the bid to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government bid for refuge provision for victims of Domestic Abuse. Discussion took place regarding whether the Chairman should write to each local MP on behalf of the Board or whether each Community Safety Partnership should write to their own MP.

In response to a question from a Member it was explained that if the bid was successful the project would be run by the Domestic Abuse co-ordinator who would visit the District councils and work with their housing departments. The resources from the bid would enable support to victims to be delivered across Districts and Boroughs. 

It was noted that the Children's Independent Domestic Violence Advisor for Oadby and Wigston Borough, KIDVA, supported children below the age of 13.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted

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

Gurjit Samra-Rai gave an oral update on the work of the Strategic Partnership Board (SPB). She informed that new Terms of Reference had been drafted for the SPB and the Governance structure had been reviewed. It was intended that in future greater efforts would be made to share reports and minutes from the SPB with partners. The SPB had also reviewed how partners related with each other and whether this could be improved. The findings would be brought to the LSCSB Senior Officers Group for consideration before being reported to the full Board.

One of the main areas of work the SPB was focusing on was the People Zones in Coalville, Loughborough and the New Parks area of Leicester. An Information Sharing Agreement had been created for partners working in the Zones. There were four sub groups for the People Zones focusing on different topics relating to the People Zones. Work was ongoing with regards to the Vulnerability sub group and the People and Place sub group.

In response to a question from the Chairman it was explained that the County Lines initiative which tackled drug dealing networks connecting urban and rural areas across the UK, was part of the national Serious Organised Crime Strategy and would not come under the Governance of the Strategic Partnership Board.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the oral update be noted.

The report will be presented by Matt Cane, Group Manager, Safer Communities, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service.

The Board considered a report of Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service which provided an update on their work. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 10’, is filed with these minutes.

In an update to the figures provided in the report the Board was advised that in the last year 8000 home visits had been conducted by the Fire and Rescue Service.

The PCC Lord Bach thanked the Fire and Rescue Service for their support with the People Zones project.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

The report will be presented by Sally Johnson, Community Safety Team Manager, Leicestershire County Council.

The Board considered a report of Leicestershire County Council Community Safety Team which provided an update regarding developments in the management of Anti-Social Behaviour across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

With regard to the possible introduction of a Sentinel Project Officer it was clarified that this post was intended to be a resource to support the work of partners that used Sentinel and would not be scrutinising the work of partners. The intention was for the administration of Sentinel to pass to a different Authority each year. The post was necessary to ensure partners were compliant with information sharing regulations. Discussions had taken place at the Senior Officers Group regarding how the Project Officer post would be funded across the partnership and a report would be taken to the Strategic Partnership Board and District Chief Executive meetings. Discussions were also taking place regarding the ability of Sentinel to interact with other databases.

As an update to paragraph 5 of the report it was explained that the Police had confirmed that non-police users of the Sentinel database would need to be vetted to Non Police Personnel Vetting Level 1, and an enhanced DBS check would no longer be sufficient.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

A presentation will be provided by CI 4232 Sian Walls, Leicestershire Police.

The Board received a presentation from Superintendent Shane O’Neill regarding the Serious Harm Reduction Unit and Community Safety. A copy of the presentation slides is filed with these minutes.

In presenting the report it was explained that the Serious Harm Reduction Unit had not received any additional resources; the strategy involved realigning existing resources to best tackle the threats. The work relating to Community Safety involved horizon scanning for future threats.

In response to a question from a member reassurance was given that Leicestershire Police were aware of threats that emanated from other counties and the Force Intelligence Bureau provided information on this. Police Forces did contact each other to inform of threats moving across county boundaries though not always as quickly as was desirable. It was a challenge and information sharing could still be improved.

The Chief Executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner endorsed the use of a strategic approach involving the 4Ps: PREVENT, PROTECT, PREPARE AND PURSUE for all crime not just terrorism.

The Police and Crime Commissioner Lord Bach thanked Community Safety Partnerships for their proactive response to the issue of drug supply across county lines and he stated that the issue was a priority for him. 

The Chairman noted that the structures of partnership organisations did not always align with each and in particular the boundaries of Community Safety Partnerships created problems with inclusion and partnership working. He offered to give this issue further consideration before the next Board meeting.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the contents of the report be noted;

(b)       That officers be requested to bring a report to the December 2018 meeting of the board on knife, gun homicides and drug supply through county lines.

Future meetings of the Board will take place on the following dates:

10 December 2018 at 1:00pm

22 March 2019 at 10:00am

14 June 2019 at 10:00am

20 September 2019 at 10:00am

6 December 2019 at 10:00am

RESOLVED:

That future meetings of the Board would take place on the following dates:

10 December 2018 at 1:00pm

22 March 2019 at 10:00am

14 June 2019 at 10:00am

20 September 2019 at 10:00am

6 December 2019 at 10:00am