Agenda and minutes

The Chairman Mr. C. Pugsley CC introduced himself as the new Cabinet Lead Member for Community Safety at Leicestershire County Council and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 March 2025 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 LRSCSB Action Log, a copy of which, marked ‘Agenda Item 4’, is filed with these minutes.

RESOLVED:

That the status of the Actions on the 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. 

Sajan Devshi, Performance and Assurance Officer, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire, will present this report.

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

It was noted that the Home Secretary had sent a letter (‘Keeping Town Centres Safe This Summer’) urging areas to collaborate to tackle specific crimes during the summer period between 30th June to end of September 2025. The focus was primarily on 3 crime types such as retail crime, street crime and Anti-social Behaviour (ASB). Districts in Leicestershire had been preparing for this initiative and partners were thanked for being accommodating and providing their contributions quickly. Areas in Leicestershire that were not currently involved in the scheme but wished to help had queried how they could get involved. They were advised to contact the Head of Communications Stephen Powell via his email address stephen.powell@leics.pcc.police.uk

It was also noted that a further letter had been received from the Home Office confirming the metrics that the Keeping Town Centres Safe work would be judged against. The metrics were shared with attendees during the Board meeting. A member raised concerns that focusing on these 3 crime types could lead to other types of crime increasing. The member questioned whether the displacement of crime would be monitored. In response it was explained that there would be no monitoring of displacement specifically in relation to this scheme, but crime trends generally were always kept under observation by Community Safety Partnerships.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

Gurjit Samra-Rai will provide a verbal update further to the update provided at the previous Board meeting:

https://democracy.leics.gov.uk/documents/s189638/SPB%20ASB%200325.pdf

The Board received a verbal update from Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council, regarding the new anti-social behaviour recording system known as ECINS.

Arising from the update the following points were noted:

(i)           The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Partnership had agreed to the procurement of a new ASB Case Management system after a business case produced by Leicestershire County Council (LCC) was presented to chief officers from across the Partnership, including SPB Executive. The new ASB Case Management System known as ECINS was being used by 11 partnership organisations.

(ii)         Records from the old database Sentinel had been migrated to ECINS however unfortunately some data had migrated that should instead have been deleted. Some of the data required cleansing as it was not good quality. Meetings were taking place with ECINS to resolve the problems. Sentinel was no longer in use in Leicestershire.

(iii)        Data Protection Agreements and a Memorandum of Understanding had now been signed by partners.

(iv)       ‘Train the trainer’ training had been delivered across the partnership and recap training was also taking place.

(v)         The Project Team and Charnwood Borough Council were thanked for the work they had carried out

(vi)       Some partners had already been using ECINS prior to the agreement that it would be used across the whole of LLR. Unfortunately, those partners had been using it in a different way to the way that had been agreed by the LLR partnership and were continuing to use it in that way which meant that the way the data was being recorded was inconsistent. In response to concerns raised by a member that it appeared the system was too flexible in the way the system could be used and data could be recorded, some reassurance was given that the system did not have different ways of recording the data but it was clarified that the districts that had the system longer were using it in a different way and this was of concern. Whilst it was understandable that those districts would wish to continue using the system in the way they were familiar with, partners were asked to ensure that they used the system in the way that had been agreed by the Partnership to ensure data capture and intelligence was reliable.

(vii)      A lessons learnt report regarding the implementation of ECINS was being compiled and would be brought to a future Board meeting.

RESOLVED:

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

(b)        That further updates regarding the implementation of ECINS be brought to future Board meetings.

Inspector William Prince, Leicestershire Police, will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Inspector William Prince, Leicestershire Police, regarding an online hate crime resource known as the Speak out Space. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

It was emphasised that the Speak out Space needed to be continually publicised over the coming years, not just when it first went live. The website also needed regular updating to keep it relevant.

It was noted that consideration was being given nationally to revising the guidance around retaining personal data in relation to non-crime hate incidents. Currently the Leicestershire data was being kept in-line with College of Policing guidance.

A member suggested that under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach social media providers might be willing to pay for the website rather than the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner paying for it as was the current situation.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

·        Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council, will give an update on the Home Office Sub Threshold Pilot.

·        Anita Chavda, Projects and Planning Officer, Community Safety Team, Leicestershire County Council, will give a presentation on Benchmark Assurance.

The Board received a presentation from Anita Chavda, Projects and Planning Officer, Community Safety Team, Leicestershire County Council, regarding the Prevent assurance process and the benchmarking against other local authorities which took place. A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

As part of the presentation it was confirmed that Police led Counter Terrorism Local Profile training had been delivered to district and borough councillors in Leicestershire which was well received and the training would also be offered to county councillors.

The Board also received a verbal update from Gurjit Samra-Rai, Head of Community Safety, Leicestershire County Council, regarding the Home Office Sub Threshold Pilot. This pilot had arisen as a result of the Southport attack in July 2024 where the perpetrator had been referred to Prevent prior to the attack but did not qualify for the programme as he did not have any ideology, though he was obsessed with violence. The pilot was running for six months and individuals could be referred into the scheme. Referrals had already been received which demonstrated that there was a need for it. A report providing further details on the pilot would be brought to the next Board meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the update regarding Prevent be noted.

Carly Turner, Youth and Justice Service Manager, Leicestershire County Council, will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Carly Turner, Youth and Justice Service Manager, Leicestershire County Council, regarding children who were engaged with the Youth Justice Service through a voluntary prevention offer or through statutory work directed by the Out of Court Disposal Panel or through Court. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 10’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)           There was often a victim/perpetrator overlap and approximately 50% of children engaged in youth justice had reported being a victim of either bullying or other offences. With girls in particular they often experienced violence from others and then turned to violence themselves. A child victim pathway was being developed to try and stop victims going onto commit crimes themselves.

(ii)         The peak age of children becoming involved in criminal justice was now 16-17 when previously it was 13-14. Concerns were raised that the plans in place were not adequate for 16-17 year olds. In response it was explained that it was more an issue of the way the system worked rather than the plans. When children entered the criminal justice system at a later stage of their childhood this often meant they had missed out on engagement at a younger age. 16-17 year olds were less likely to have been involved in education and training, had not accessed mental health services, nor had any help with communication and understanding their needs. Nevertheless, it was believed that the good partnership working taking place was delaying children from entering the criminal justice system. A member raised concerns that some of the children had missed out on interventions due to the covid-19 pandemic and this could be why they had not been known previously.

(iii)        Black and mixed heritage boys were over-represented within Youth Justice in Leicestershire. They formed a larger population within the cohort of YJS children than they did in the population of Leicestershire children. Girls were also over-represented. In response to a question from a member as to whether this over-representation for girls and black and mixed heritage boys was seen in other parts of England, it was explained that a comparison would need to be made with the data from a similar size local authority. That data was not available at the moment, but checks would be made to see if it could be obtained.

(iv)       Concerns were also raised that children with neurodiversity were over-represented in the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, specific data on this was not available due to the Youth and Justice Service having problems with a recent move from one database to another. It was agreed that the next time a report came to the Board regarding Youth Justice it would contain data on neurodiversity.

(v)         In response to concerns raised that children that witnessed domestic violence could have a distorted understanding of relationships and violence, reassurance was given that whilst the Youth and Justice Service would address this issue, it was also a matter for safeguarding and Early Help teams in the wider Children and Families department and there was confidence that the appropriate prevention services were in place.

RESOLVED:

That the Youth Justice update be noted.

Anita Chavda, Projects and Planning Officer, Community Safety Team, Leicestershire County Council, will present this report.

The Board considered a report of Anita Chavda, Projects and Planning Officer, Community Safety Team, Leicestershire County Council regarding Safer Communities performance for 2024/25 Quarter 4. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

With regards to the arrows on the performance dashboard it was explained that the direction of the arrow showed whether the current value had gone up or down (compared to the previous value) against that Performance Indicator.

The colour of the arrow showed whether this was good or bad (improving or deteriorating).

It was noted that the Performance Indicator regarding MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) repeat referrals had been discontinued due to no longer being used by SafeLives therefore a replacement Indicator was required.

A member stated that he found Moving Average Trend (MAT) the most helpful way to present data and ascertain trends.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the 2024/25 Quarter 4 performance dashboard be noted;

(b)        That officers be requested to agree a replacement MARAC Performance Indicator for future use. 

·        In-person Board meetings.

In-person meetings

The Chairman Mr. C. Pugsley CC suggested that one Board meeting a year could take place in person at County Hall, Glenfield, as this would enable the meetings to operate more effectively and promote better partnership working. As no objections were received to this proposal, it was agreed that Euan Walters, Senior Democratic Services Officer, would look into the matter and confirm with Board attendees which meetings would be held in-person.

The next meeting of the Board is scheduled to take place on Thursday 25 September 2025 at 10.00am.

RESOLVED:

That the next meeting of the Board takes place on Thursday 25 September 2025 at 10.00am.