Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2024 were taken as read and confirmed as a correct record.

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

It was noted that there was an outstanding Action on the Log for an update on the Probation Service Reset to be given to the Board. It had been hoped that this update would be given at the Board meetings on 27 September 2024 or 13 December 2024 but Bob Bearne, Head of the Probation Delivery Unit, Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland, had been unable to attend either meeting and his Deputies had been in Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) meetings at the same time. An offer had been made to Bob Bearne to move the date of a future Board meeting to enable him to attend but this did not appear to be necessary. Checks had been made whether the 2025 Board meetings coincided with MAPPA meetings but there did not appear to be any clashes for 2025 and it was hoped that Bob Bearne would be able to attend one of the existing Board dates for 2025 and provide the update.

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. 

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

The Board considered a report of Sajan Devshi, Performance and Assurance Officer, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), which gave an update on the work of the OPCC. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)           Anti-burglary cocooning packs had been delivered to 1100 homes. They were usually given to homes that were near houses that had been burgled. The packs contained items such as window and door alarms, segment timers which allowed electrical items to be automatically turned on and off at certain times, and markers to enable property that had been stolen to be identified. The OPCC also provided target hardening packs for homes which contained similar items to the cocooning packs but usually at a higher grade such as CCTV cameras and video doorbells.

(ii)         Instead of providing data packs, the OPCC would be providing Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) with ‘Problem Profiles’ which would identify the main areas of concern for each CSP based on crime data. There would be an expectation that a percentage of CSP funding would be used against these identified priorities but it was not expected that the funding would be spent immediately on the issues identified in the Problem Profile.  

(iii)        With regards to funding held by the OPCC that Community Safety Partnerships were able to bid for, there was currently £180,000 unspent and not bid for by any CSP. CSPs were asked to submit bids for that funding as soon as possible to give the OPCC an idea of how much funding would be left for 2024/25 and what could be carried over to the following financial year. A decision had not yet been made by the OPCC on whether the underspend would be offered to CSPs in the 2025/26 year or whether the OPCC would spend it elsewhere. In response to a suggestion that the underspend could be spent on projects that were of benefit across the whole of Leicestershire and not just for a particular district, it was explained that this would require authorisation from senior management within the OPCC and it could cause some difficulties with internal accounting processes. It was agreed that further discussion about this would take place outside of the meeting and an update would be brought to the next meeting of the Board.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the update be noted.

Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council will give a presentation.

The Board received a presentation from Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council, regarding the procurement of a new Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) Case Management System for Leicestershire. A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the presentation the following points were noted:

(i)           The new ASB Case Management System would be procured through the government’s cloud-based procurement tool, the G-Cloud framework. The existing provider Vantage were not on the G-Cloud framework and therefore would not be able to tender for the system. They had been informed of the situation.

(ii)         Leicestershire County Council was leading on the procurement of the new ASB Case Management System and partners were being asked to confirm in writing that they agreed with the proposed way forward.

(iii)        There were known risks with regards to the migration of data onto the new system. It was likely that the data would have to be input onto the new system manually which would be resource intensive. Conversations were taking place with regards to how this problem could be addressed.

RESOLVED:

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

(b)        That officers be requested to provide further updates to the Board on the procurement of the ASB Case Management System when there is further information to report.

Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council, which presented the Safer Communities Performance for 2024/25 – Quarter 2. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that SafeLives had carried out a review of the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) processes in Leicestershire and work was now taking place to strengthen the MARAC work. There were funding challenges relating to the Police which were being addressed.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

Bethany Grewcock, Serious Violence Partnership Analyst, will give a presentation.

The Board received a presentation from Bethany Grewcock, Serious Violence Partnership Analyst, about the work of the Violence Reduction Network. A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the presentation the following points were noted:

(i)           The Violence Reduction Network was funded through an annual grant provided by the Home Office to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and the current funding was until the end of March 2025. The Home Office had not yet given any indications on whether this funding would be extended. However, the Police and Crime Commissioner had given the Violence Reduction Network staff permanent contracts so the main issue was whether the interventions could be funded without the Home Office funding.

(ii)         As a result of the Serious Violence Duty which came into force in 2023 the local definition of serious violence had been extended to include sexual violence and serious violence within the context of domestic settings. Conversations needed to take place with partners about how the data relating to this was recorded and the Violence Reduction Network would need to link in with the Domestic Abuse Needs Assessment work.

RESOLVED:

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

(b)        That the Board welcomes the work of the Violence Reduction Network.

Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council, regarding proposed improvements to the Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) process in Leicestershire including the appointment on a trial basis of a DHR Partnership Support Officer. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 10’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)           Interviews had taken place for the role of DHR Partnership Support Officer and a candidate had been appointed who would be introduced at the next meeting of the Board.

(ii)         In response to a question it was confirmed that the DHR Partnership Support Officer could also help implement locally the results of national Domestic Homicide Reviews.

(iii)        The governance of the recommendations arising from DHRs was the responsibility of the LLR Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Board which sat under the Strategic Partnership Board.

RESOLVED:

That the Board notes the steps taken to address the issues identified within the review of the Domestic Homicide Review process, including the appointment on a trial basis to the post of DHR Partnership Support Officer.

Supt Dwight Barker, Leicestershire Police, will give a presentation.

The Board received a presentation from Superintendent Dwight Barker, Leicestershire Police, regarding the Right Care Right Person approach being used by Leicestershire Police. A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that in the past there had been concerns about the performance of the Leicestershire Police non-emergency telephone line (101) and the speed with which those calls were answered, though there had been recent improvements with performance. It was questioned whether there were problems with recruiting call handlers or whether there were other issues affecting performance. In response it was explained that some of the issues related to staffing and retention of staff continued to be a problem. Work was taking place to ensure that the public used the most appropriate method to report incidents such as online which would help ease pressure on the 101 telephone service.

It was noted that the Police and Crime Panel regularly held the Police and Crime Commissioner to account for Leicestershire Police’s performance with regards to non-emergency calls.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the presentation be noted.

Andrea Knowles, Turning Point, will give a presentation.

The Board had been due to receive a presentation from Andrea Knowles, Turning Point, regarding the Mental Health Treatment Requirement. A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 12’, is filed with these minutes. However, Andrew Knowles was unable to attend the Board meeting therefore the presentation was unable to take place.

RESOLVED:

That officers be requested to re-arrange the presentation on the Mental Health Treatment Requirement for a future meeting of the Board.

The next meeting of the Board will take place on Friday 28 March 2025 at 10.00am.

RESOLVED:

That the next meeting of the Board take place on Friday 28 March 2025 at 10.00am.