Agenda and minutes

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

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2019 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the meeting on 6 December 2019.

The Board considered the LSCSB Action Log, a copy of which, marked ‘Agenda Item 4’, is filed with these minutes.

With regards to Action no. 1: Use Leicestershire Matters and Social media to publicise car thefts, it was noted that an article relating to car thefts had not been able to be put in the latest edition of Leicestershire Matters due to there being no space because of the amount of Covid-19 related articles. It was intended that there would be an article in the next edition of Leicestershire Matters on car theft. There had been no social media messages disseminated relating to car theft and Rik Basra agreed to find out what progress had been made and report back to the Board. It was suggested that in future every edition of Leicestershire Matters should contain an article highlighting a topical community safety issue.

With regards to Action no. 2: National MARAC figures, it was noted that the proportion of MARAC cases in Leicestershire involving people of Black and Minority Ethnic origin was 18% which was high comparatively. Concerns were also raised that the percentage of repeat MARAC cases in Leicestershire - 47% - was higher than the SafeLives upper threshold (40%) and higher than many other MARACs and this could result in reputational damage for Leicestershire. In response to these concerns it was explained that not all MARACs were set up the same, for example Leicestershire had moved to holding MARACs on a daily basis, therefore meaningful comparisons between MARACs could not always be made. Furthermore, there had been a change in definition nationally for what constituted a repeat MARAC case and the definition now included any further contact from the offender. This new definition was being applied more strictly in Leicestershire than elsewhere in the country which could account for Leicestershire having more repeat MARAC cases than anywhere else. Nevertheless, a member was of the view that 47% repeat MARAC cases was too high regardless of how it compared with other regions. In response it was explained that the MARAC Manager Kevin Wright had been scheduled to take part in the Board meeting on 26 June 2020 and provide an outline of the local processes and procedures but had been called away at short notice. Kevin Wright would be attending the next Board meeting instead to provide some reassurance

RESOLVED:

That the status of the Action Log be noted and new Actions be added as per the comments above.

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. 

This report will be presented by Sabrina Dullah, Change, Strategy and Planning Directorate, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.

The Board considered a report of Sabrina Dullah, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service which provided an update on the development of a new prison at Glen Parva in Leicester. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’ is filed with these minutes. The report was presented by Raj Singh, Principal Project Sponsor – Ministry of Justice, and Rita Patel-Miller, Business and Community Development Manager at Lend Lease.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)          Feedback from the public and stakeholders regarding the proposed design of the prison, and particularly the fencing, had been taken into account and changes had been made to the design as a result.

(ii)         Work was taking place to remove asbestos from the site which had been contained within the previous building.

(iii)       The spread of Covid-19 had had some impact on progress with the prison build however the Government had made the new prison at Glen Parva a priority and taken the necessary steps to ensure that work on the prison could continue in a safe manner.

(iv)       It was expected that the building of the prison would be entirely completed by spring 2023 before the first prisoner was admitted.

(v)        There was a target to spend almost a third of the budget with Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). It had been intended to hold local ‘meet the buyer’ events to promote opportunities for local businesses to submit tenders and although the first of these events had been cancelled due to the Covid-19 lockdown, further events were being arranged. In addition, meetings were taking place with Blaby District Council, Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and Leicester City Council regarding other ways of spreading the message regarding tendering opportunities to local businesses and it was intended that more local advertisements would take place. Cllr. Les Phillimore offered his assistance in his capacity as a representative of the Federation of Small Businesses and it was agreed that his contact details would be passed onto Rita Patel-Miller after the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

Mr. I.D. Ould CC had to leave the meeting due to business of a personal nature therefore a new Chairman was required to be appointed for the remainder of the meeting. There was no Deputy Chairman in place as the previous Deputy Chairman Cllr. M. Rickman was no longer the Harborough District Council representative on the Board.

It was moved, seconded and agreed that Cllr. D. Taylor be appointed Chairman for the remainder of the meeting.

Mr. I.D. Ould CC left the meeting

Cllr. D. Taylor in the Chair.

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

The Board considered a report of Rik Basra, Community Safety Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council, the purpose of which was to update the Board regarding Safer Communities Performance for Quarter 4 2019/20. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

In response to a question regarding Violence with Injury rates and whether any particular weapons were being used regularly, it was agreed that further detail of the data would be obtained and reported back to the Board.

RESOLVED:

That the 2019/20 Quarter 4 performance information be noted.

The Chairman agreed to vary the order of business from that set out in the agenda, taking agenda item 9: Police and Crime Commissioner and Strategic Partnership Board Update ahead of item 8. Covid19 Crime and ASB.

This report will be presented by Victoria Charlton, Relationships & Change Manager, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Board considered a report from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) which provided an outline of the current and planned developments within the OPCC for 2020/21. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

The report was presented by Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Service Design and Implementation, Violence Reduction Network, OPCC.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)          Virtual ‘What Matters To You’ meetings had begun to take place to gain feedback on community safety concerns in communities. In response to a question from a member it was agreed that a report would be brought to the next meeting of the Board regarding the key themes that came out of the ‘What Matters To You’ meetings and the issues that community and faith leaders were concerned about.

(ii)         Virtual meetings and Question and Answer sessions with the PCC had been carried out, in conjunction with the Violence Reduction Network (VRN), amongst youth councils in both the county and city. These were extremely positive and resulted in some good questions being asked by young people relating to knife carrying and why people carried weapons and got involved in gang culture. It was intended that this feedback would be fed into violence prevention strategies and work.

(iii)       The Violence Reduction Network had applied for £880,000 of funding for 2020/21 and this application had been approved and commended by the Home Office. The Violence Reduction Network had recruited a new officer Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy who would be looking at data and monitoring reports.

(iv)       The Hospital based service where specially trained workers engaged with people who were treated in the Leicester Royal Infirmary Emergency Department for stabbing type injuries had been put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic, however consideration was being given to resuming the scheme with a more scaled back service and only one officer attending the Emergency Department.  Other referral pathways and methods of engaging with the same cohort were also being considered.

(v)        The Ministry of Justice had a fund of £76 million nationally for victims of Domestic Abuse, and a Leicestershire partnership involving Leicestershire Womens Aid and Living Without Abuse had been awarded £445,000 out of the total fund. 

(vi)       The Home office had recently advised that the Leicestershire OPCC were being awarded £75,000 to allocate to small community voluntary sector organisations with a turnover of less than £100,000 over 3 years to support vulnerable people during the Covid-19 pandemic. Board members were asked to help spread the news of this funding that was available.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

This report will be presented by Superintendent Adam Slonecki, Leicestershire Police.

The Board considered a report of Superintendent Adam Slonecki, Counties Superintendent and Operational Policing Lead, Leicestershire Police, which provided a summary of the operational work and response that Leicestershire Police had undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic within Leicestershire. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)          Special Constables had carried out 10,000 additional policing hours and had been able to take on grade 3 and 4 types of response actions such as policing Covid-19 restrictions and breaches as well as more serious tasks such as arresting burglars. The Board thanked Leicestershire Police officers, staff and Special Constables for their work in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.

(ii)         Twenty one police staff had tested positive for Covid-19 however many of these had been able to continue working from home whilst isolating by carrying out desk based inquiries.

(iii)       Reports of drug dealing were usually classified as drug offences rather than Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) though it would depend on the precise nature of the incident that was reported. The ASB figures more commonly related to noise and disputes between neighbours.

(iv)       There had been a significant increase in Assaults on Emergency Workers (AEW) and this included spitting and biting. In order to evade arrest criminals were claiming to have contracted Covid-19 and threatening to spit at police officers. Nevertheless, these individuals were still being dealt with robustly by the police and Magistrates were referring some of these offenders to the Crown Court to receive sterner sentences.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the Board notes:

(i)         The update provided in the report;

(ii)       The implementation of Operation INTEGRATE and the approach being taken by Leicestershire Police to begin to plan for and implement the recovery phase of the COVID-19 lockdown;

(b)        That Leicestershire Police be requested to provide a report to a future meeting of the Board regarding lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and how the Force will operate in future.

This report will be presented by Kevin Wright, MARAC Manager, Leicestershire Police.

The MARAC Manager Kevin Wright was no longer able to take part in the meeting due to other commitments so it was decided to defer this agenda item to the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the report on Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC) be deferred for consideration by the Board on 25 September 2020.

The Board considered a report which provided an update on the Children and Family Wellbeing Service at Leicestershire County Council. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

The report was presented by Ellie Lowe, Service Manager, Children and Family Services.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

This report will be presented by Detective Inspector Peter Flynn, Digital Hub,

Leicestershire Police.

The Board considered a report of Detective Inspector Peter Flynn, Digital Hub, Leicestershire Police, which provided an update on the ongoing work to tackle cyber-crime in Leicestershire. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 12’, is filed with these minutes, as is the presentation slides which were shown during the meeting.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)          Incidents of fraud could either be reported to Action Fraud via the Action Fraud website or phone number, or by calling Leicestershire Police on 101. Generally the service provided by Action Fraud was for incidents which were not live whereas 101 was for more urgent matters, but 101 could be used to report any type of fraud incident if that was the reporting method the victim felt most comfortable with.

(ii)         The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) Fraud and CyberCrime dashboard which contained a variety of data around numbers of offences and the locations was now publicly available and the weblink to it would be circulated to Board members after the meeting.

(iii)       In response to a request it was agreed that Peter Flynn would forward some cyber protect advice and awareness raising documents to the Board so that the Board could circulate to contacts within Leicestershire.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the adoption of Cybercrime as a strategic priority across all local authorities be supported;

(b)        That the setup, advertisement and successful utilisation of a Cybercrime Prevent referral process across Leicestershire be supported;

(c)        That Board members be requested to ensure staff within all stakeholder organisations receive Cybercrime prevention advice in order to keep themselves safe online.

(d)        That membership of the Cybercrime Strategic Oversight group be encouraged to help ensure effective information sharing and collaborative working of all parties involved.

This report will be presented by Dr Joshna Mavji, Public Health, Leicestershire County Council.

The Board considered a report of the Public Health department at Leicestershire County Council which provided an update on the progress and plans in relation to the re-procurement of domestic and sexual violence and abuse services (DSVA) for Leicestershire. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 13’, is filed with these minutes.

The report was presented by Joshna Mavji, Consultant in Public Health, Leicestershire County Council.

In response to a question it was clarified that the specification for the Safe Accommodation/Refuge service was being expanded to also provide accommodation for males.

RESOLVED:

That the work being undertaken to recommission the domestic and sexual violence and abuse services for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland be noted.

It was noted that Mr. I. D. Ould CC was standing down as Leicestershire County Council Cabinet Lead Member for Children, Young People and Community Safety as of 8 July 2020 and would therefore no longer be attending Leicestershire Safer Communities Strategy Board meetings.

The Board thanked Mr Ould CC for his Chairmanship over the previous two years of the Board. It was reported that Cllr. Kevin Loydall also gave his thanks to Mr Ould CC for the way he had Chaired the Board.

Mr Ould CC thanked Euan Walters, Senior Democratic Services Officer, Leicestershire County Council and Rik Basra, Community Safety Coordinator, Leicestershire County Council for their support to him as Chair.

The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 25 September 2020 at 10:00am.

RESOLVED:

That the next meeting of the Board take place on 25 September 2020 at 10:00am.