Agenda and minutes

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

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2021 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the meeting on 18 June 2021.

With regards to Action no. 3 ‘LSCSB members to forward to Euan Walters Community Safety topics for Communications Team to disseminate to the public’ it was noted that to date no suggestions had been received and members were again encouraged to come up with ideas for communications topics and forward them to Euan Walters in Democratic Services at Leicestershire County Council.

It was noted that most of the other actions on the log would be completed as part of the agenda for the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the status of the Action Log be noted.

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.

Rik Basra, Community Safety Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Rik Basra, Community Safety Coordinator, Leicestershire County Council, which set out a training programme for Board members going forward and the proposed format of the training. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’ is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that training sessions would be held online and be recorded so that members who were not able to take part could view the training at a later date.

A member suggested that a BBC docudrama called ‘Doing Money’ could be shown as part of the training programme. It was also suggested that Child Sexual Exploitation and Child Criminal Exploitation should be covered.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the content of the report be noted and the proposed approach to the training be approved;

(b)  That members be requested to provide ongoing feedback regarding the training programme and make suggestions for subjects which could be covered.

Gurjit Samra-Rai, Leicestershire County Council will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Gurjit Samra-Rai, Leicestershire County Council which presented the amended Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) Strategy Statement for Tackling Hate and the Delivery Plan for approval. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

The report was presented by Anita Chavda, Community Safety Officer (Lead on Hate), Leicestershire County Council.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)          There was representation from District Councils on the Hate Strategic Group in the form of officers from North West Leicestershire District Council and Hinckley and Bosworth District Council. Additional District representatives would be welcomed. There was a representative from Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust that had attended some Hate Strategic Group meetings and consideration needed to be given to whether there should be additional representatives from the wider NHS and if so who those representatives should be.

(ii)         Whilst there had previously been a county wide action plan for Hate, there was now a move towards local areas having more accountability for tackling the issue. The work on Victims Perspective, Performance and Training was seen as being applicable across LLR.

(iii)       It was important to be aware of the distinction between Hate Crimes and Hate Incidents and the definition for each was found at point 2.4 of the draft Strategy Statement for Tackling Hate. Hate Crimes were dealt with by the Police and the Police would decide if there was a criminal element which would warrant further investigation.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the amended LLR Strategy Statement for Tackling Hate be approved;

(b)        That the proposed approach to adopting the Delivery Plan within each Community Safety Partnership be agreed.

Elaine Stevenson, CEO, Warning Zone, will present this report.

The Board considered a report and presentation from Elaine Stevenson, CEO, Warning Zone regarding the work of Warning Zone and how Warning Zone could support the safer communities work. Copies of the report and presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, are filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)          In conjunction with the Leicester Rape Crisis centre Warning Zone taught children about healthy and appropriate relationships with their peers and how to be a good friend. Warning Zone had also joined up with the Violence Reduction Network to work on the bystander approach to sexual violence prevention. Warning Zone encouraged children to think about who their trusted adult was however there was not currently  much emphasis on domestic violence and healthy relationships between adults and this was an area for development.

(ii)         Individual schools booked their pupils in for Warning Zone visits on a first come first served basis. The schools could choose which sections of Warning Zone their children visited according to their own needs and areas of interest. In response to a question from a member regarding how many school children from Blaby District attended Warning Zone it was agreed that the data for individual Districts would be provided after the meeting.

(iii)       In the future Warning Zone would be looking to provide guidance to children on Child Criminal Exploitation and County Lines drug trafficking.

(iv)       Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) could help Warning Zone by referring children with particular issues that Warning Zone could help with. Warning Zone also needed more volunteers to staff the Zones and CSPs could ask community safety professionals to help out at Warning Zone. Warning Zone also welcomed suggestions from CSPs for topics that warning zone could cover to ensure Warning Zone remained up to date and relevant.

(v)        In the past there had been close working between Warning Zone and the Leicestershire Youth Justice Service regarding younger children but further conversations needed to be held regarding 16 and 17 year olds and whether children of that age could be used to mentor younger children.

RESOLVED:

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

(b)        That Warning Zone be requested to provide a further update to the Board in a year’s time.

Rik Basra, Community Safety Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Rik Basra, Community Safety Coordinator, Leicestershire County Council which provided an update regarding Safer Communities performance for 2021/22 Quarter 1. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

Concerns were raised by members that the data in the report did not always reflect the position in some districts particularly with regards to Anti-social Behaviour which was on a downward trend countywide but in some districts was increasing. There had also been a spike in Domestic Abuse which was not reflected in the figures and could be a result of underreporting.

It was noted that the way the figures for rate of reoffending by adults were presented in the dashboard gave a misleading impression due to the scale that was used.

The dashboard was updated on a quarterly basis but Rik Basra agreed to liaise with the statisticians to see if it could be updated more frequently.

RESOLVED:

That the 2021/22 Quarter 1 performance information be noted.

Gurjit Samra-Rai, Leicestershire County Council, will provide a verbal update.

The Board received a verbal update from Lillie Green, Healthy Homes Officer, Public Health, regarding the work that was ongoing in Leicestershire as a result of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and the funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to provide support to victims of Domestic Abuse.

Arising from the update the following points were noted:

(i)          A mental health service for children and young people was being procured and tendered.

(ii)         In conjunction with the Turning Point substance misuse service a substance misuse and domestic abuse specialist was being procured. An officer had also been recruited in the Community Safety Department at Leicestershire County Council to specialise in Domestic Abuse.

(iii)       The current accommodation for victims of Domestic Abuse was not suitable for people with disabilities and those with carers. Therefore a dispersed accommodation model was being considered which would provide more suitable accommodation for those people.

(iv)       A Domestic Abuse Strategy was being drafted and the draft was required to be published by 26 October 2021 and the deadline for the final version was 5 January 2022.

(v)        A reciprocal housing model was being implemented so that victims of Domestic Abuse could obtain accommodation in a different District to that which they had previously resided in so that they could be kept safe from harm. Leicester City Council had not yet agreed to take part in this scheme. Talks were taking place to see if the model could be expanded regionally to Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. 

(vi)       Engagement was taking place with primary and secondary school children regarding healthy relationships. The work was tailored to the different age groups.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the update be noted.

Rik Basra, Community Safety Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council will present this report on behalf of the Probation Service.

The Board considered a report of Bob Bearne, Head of Probation Delivery Unit, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland which provided an update on the transition of probation services to one organisation. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes. The report was presented by Rik Basra, Community Safety Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council on behalf of the Probation Service.

It was noted that it had been a challenging period for the probation services but in the main they had been able to carry out services as usual however one area which had been affected was community payback where offenders carried out unpaid work on projects to pay back to the community for their crimes. The Probation Service were confident that in due course this work would resume as before the merger.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

Nick Dann, Ministry of Justice, will provide an update.

The Board considered a newsletter and received an update from Nick Dann, Ministry of Justice regarding the Glen Parva Prison Project. A copy of the newsletter, marked ‘Agenda Item 12’, is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that construction of the prison was progressing well and was on target for completion in January 2023. A decision on which organisation would operate the prison was expected to be made in December 2021 and an update would be provided to the Board once this decision was made.

Nick Dann re-iterated his previous offer for LSCSB members to visit the prison site.

In response to a question regarding the number of organisations attending the Meet the Buyer event on 28 September 2021 it was agreed that this information would be provided after the meeting.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the update regarding the Glen Parva Prison project be noted;

(b)        That officers be requested to arrange a visit to the Glen Parva Prison site for LSCSB members.

It was suggested inviting a representative from schools/academies to attend a LSCSB meeting to help liaison between schools and those partner organisations that wished to visit schools and engage with the children.

It was also suggested inviting an expert on Modern Slavery to a LSCSB meeting to explain to members what signs to look out for and how prevalent the problem was in Leicestershire.

Future meetings are scheduled to take place on the following dates:

Friday 10 December 2021 at 10.00am;

Friday 18 March 2022 at 10.00am;

Friday 17 March 2022 at 10.00am;

Friday 23 September 2022 at 10.00am;

Friday 9 December 2022 at 10.00am.

RESOLVED:

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

Friday 10 December 2021 at 10.00am;

Friday 18 March 2022 at 10.00am;

Friday 17 June 2022 at 10.00am;

Friday 23 September 2022 at 10.00am;

Friday 9 December 2022 at 10.00am.