Agenda item

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner regarding how he was fulfilling his responsibilities under the Serious Violence Duty. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

The Panel welcomed to the meeting for this item Grace Strong, Director, Violence Reduction Network, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)           When it was first set up the Violence Reduction Network (VRN) initially received funding from the Home Office on a yearly basis for the first two years, before being given a 3 year settlement. The VRN was now in the third year of this settlement. It was not known whether and to what extent any future government would fund the Violence Reduction Network. The current VRN staff were included in the OPCC budget for 2024/25. The additional funding that came with the Serious Violence Duty was also due to end in March 2025 so there was uncertainty around that as well. The PCC promised to continue to lobby government for funding to tackle serious violence.

(ii)         In Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) 62.6% of serious violence occurred in a dwelling, 4.6% in hospitality settings and 2.7% in education settings. In response to a request for the percentage of serious violence that occurred in public/open spaces it was agreed that this information would be provided after the meeting.

(iii)        The Violence Reduction Network had originally focused on violence in public places involving people under the age of 25, but its remit had now broadened to include sexual violence and violence in dwellings. Two sets of performance data were therefore being collected; one in relation to the original definition of its remit and one in relation to the new definition. Baseline data for the second definition was now available and could be tracked over the years going forward.

(iv)       The Home Office had prescribed three success measures for local areas to monitor in additional to any locally agreed performance measures. These were:

i. A reduction in hospital admissions for assaults with knife or sharp

object;

ii. A reduction in knife and sharp object enabled serious violence

recorded by the Police;

iii. A reduction in homicides recorded by the Police.

(v)         In response to concerns raised by a member about threats of violence on social media it was explained that this issue was covered in the Preventing Serious Violence Strategy for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Funding was being received from the Youth Endowment Fund to tackle the problem and consideration was being given to what interventions could be made in LLR.

(vi)       The majority of the serious violence in LLR took place in Leicester City and therefore it was felt to be right to focus the VRN’s time and resources on tackling serious violence in Leicester City. Whilst the VRN had a universal offer which covered the whole of LLR, targeted work took place in the City.

(vii)      In 2022 there had been riots in the East Leicester area. Not all of the violence that took place during those riots would be included in the data collected by the Violence Reduction Network as the VRN only collected the data of incidents that fell within a specific definition. At the time the VRN had been focusing on violence involving people under the age of 25. However, a member pointed out that most of the violence during the riots had involved younger people. Reassurance was given that the VRN did not ignore any types of violence and aimed to tackle violence of all types across LLR. Reassurance was also given that regardless of the limitations and speed of the Criminal Justice System, the VRN could make interventions at any time.

(viii)    In response to a question from a Panel member as to what liaison the VRN undertook with the Magistrates at Youth Courts, it was confirmed that Youth Justice Teams (YJTs) were part of the Violence Reduction Network and engagement with Magistrates took part through the work with YJTs.

(ix)       Work took place in schools regarding serious violence and the Chair requested that details of this work be circulated to Panel members after the meeting.

(x)         In response to concerns raised by a member regarding joint criminal enterprises, reassurance was given that the work of the VRN did not just focus on individuals but took into consideration all the factors around violent events, and interventions took into account group dynamics.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.