Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 December 2023 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

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

With regard to item 3 on the Action Log - Provide attendance figures for 2-year pilot Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Early Intervention Service - Rik Basra undertook to follow this up with Public Health.

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. 

The Chairman sought and obtained the consent of the Board to vary the order of business from that set out on the agenda for the meeting.

Sajan Devshi, Performance and Assurance Officer, OPCC will present this report.

The Board considered a report from Sajan Devshi, Performance and Assurance Officer at the OPCC, regarding developments and challenges in community safety work. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the report and subsequent discussion the following points were noted -

·       Whilst the reduction in Home Office funding for ‘Safer Streets’ was disappointing, the OPCC had been able to adjust its bid, for example by dispensing with the target hardening provider and instead working with the Police locally and bringing logistics and delivery in-house.  Sourcing equipment directly from suppliers and installing it was often quite straightforward. It was even able to over-deliver; for example, in the Oadby and Wigston area it had been planned to target harden around 400 homes using Year 1 and Year 2 funding but, using another procurement framework, Year 1 funding alone had enabled around 700 homes to be covered. 

·       The CSP underspend for the current year was around £130,000 (collated from all the budget streams across the LLR area).  This would shortly be made available for all the CSPs to bid into; the OPCC wanted first to identify a suitable theme for the spend, based on data for each local area.  This would of course be in addition to the renewal of the contracts the following year.

·       The bidding process, introduced for the first time for the current year, had been reviewed and CSPs had indicated that they were content with the procedure.  The Board agreed that it was not an onerous requirement on CSPs and it was reasonable to expect spending to be accounted for.  Quarterly feedback on progress also gave a good picture of work being done across the area and local priorities and how these corresponded with the PCC’s Police and Crime Plan.

Sajan highlighted the importance of the continued support from the councils and local police in the work. Members said that they had been pleased to work with the OPCC directly and commended the quality of the equipment provided.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Detective Sergeant Chris Perry, Leicestershire Police, will give a presentation.

The Board received a presentation from Detective Sergeant Chris Perry, Leicestershire Police, regarding modern slavery and human trafficking, exploitation, and organised immigration crime.  A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the report and subsequent discussion the following points were noted -

·       It was disappointing that, given the rising incidence of trafficking and exploitation, very few people were charged with offences (this reflected the challenges in doing this, and was not a criticism of the Police).

·       It was often the case that those being exploited, particularly children and young people, did not see themselves as victims and did not trust Police, social workers etc.  Bringing them into contact with people who had lived experience of exploitation was key in helping them realise that they were being abused. It was noted also that the Violence Reduction Network did a lot of peer-to-peer work.

·       Reporting was often online and, overall, tended to be done by professionals and agencies; the public was generally much less aware of the issues and how to identify them.  Consideration would be given as to how best to amplify the message without unduly alarming residents.  Publicity (via PCSOs and the Police’s corporate communications) tended to be targeted at areas where such crimes were known or likely to be taking place. 

RESOLVED:

That the presentation be noted.

An officer from the Community Safety Team, Leicestershire County Council, will present this report.

The Board considered a report from Rik Basra, Community Safety Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council, regarding work to tackle anti-social behaviour in line with the Government ASB Action Plan (March 2023).  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that it had been decided to move away from the Sentinel recording system and procure another and that progress with this would be reported to the Board.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Bob Bearne, LLR Probation Delivery Unit Head, will present this report.

The Board noted that Bob Bearne, Head of the Probation Delivery Unit, had been unable to attend the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the report would be considered at the next meeting of the Board.

Carly Turner, Head of Youth Justice, Leicestershire County Council will give a presentation.

The Board considered a presentation from Carly Turner, Head of Youth Justice Service, Leicestershire County Council, regarding Health and Wellbeing Needs Assessment which was undertaken to understand the health needs of young people in contact with Leicestershire Youth Justice Service to inform future service provision.  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 10’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the report and subsequent discussion the following points were noted -

·       Evidence showed that children and young people involved with the Youth Justice System faced significant difficulties in their lives, for instance -

o    there was a high incidence of parental disfunction, substance misuse, neuro-disability, identified Special Educational Needs (SEN), and mental health conditions,

o    notably, around a third of the substance misuse was self-medication,

o    a high proportion were not in education, employment or training and had poor literacy and numeracy and, as well as those identified with SEN, around 30% were considered to have undiagnosed needs,

o    a large number - 70% - had experienced a close bereavement.

·       The Youth Justice Board had set education/SEN provision as a key performance indicator.  More detailed data was being produced, for example, as to what proportion of the young people with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) were in the correct setting and how many were still awaiting support, and the reasons why many were not in education, employment or training (some, for instance were over statutory school age but their needs had not been addressed prior to their involvement with the youth justice system). Further information would be brought to future meetings of the Board.

Carly explained that work was being carried out by the Youth Justice Management Board and its partners to address the issues, for instance via Public Health.  The CSPs might also consider how these young people could be better supported.

RESOLVED:

a)    That the presentation be noted;

b)    That the presentation slides be circulated to the lead officers for each CSP for consideration in relation to local strategies.

Ash Hajat, LFRS, will present this report.

The Board considered a report from Ash Hajat, Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service Update, regarding community safety work being undertaken by the Service.  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the report and subsequent discussion the following points were noted -

·       Improving home safety was a key area; over 14,000 home safety checks had been competed since April 2023, exceeding the annual target (and putting the Service in the top quartile of the national league table for this, despite being one of the lowest funded).  Repeat visits helped ensure that advice was acted on.

·       A domestic fire risk training package was now being offered to partners.

·       A more detailed breakdown of data in relation to road traffic collisions was being produced. 

·       Issues in relation to recent heavy flooding were being examined with the Local Resilience Forum.  

·       There had been a number of issues with e-bikes and e-scooter battery fires, including one fatality.  These tended to occur where a bike or scooter had been given a DIY conversion.  The Service was producing literature and comms to highlight the dangers. The amount of battery powered vehicles and devices would increase.  This also needed to be considered in the context of waste collection and disposal.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Rik Basra, Community Safety Coordinator, Leicestershire County Council, will present this report.

The Board considered a report from Rik Basra, Community Safety Coordinator, Leicestershire County Council, regarding the latest performance reporting.  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 12’, is filed with these minutes.

The Board noted that the detailed data underpinning the report was available via the interactive online dashboard at the link given, and that whilst the report gave some commentary on the data there would be local variations.

Rik advised that in general performance had followed recent trends, with little movement on key indicators.  He highlighted an increase in the repeat Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC) referral rate and said that the MARAC manager had been contacted to check that the processes and procedures used did not require adjusting.  The situation would be monitored and the Board updated at its next meeting in June.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The next meeting of the Board is scheduled for Friday 28 June 2024 at 10.00am.

RESOLVED:

That the next meeting of the Board take place on Friday 28 June 2024 at 10.00am.