Agenda item

Crime & Disorder Partnership Scrutiny Update Report

Meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Board, Monday 21st March 2016 6.00 p.m. (Item 117/15)

Minutes:

The Community Safety Manager presented an update on the work of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership (NWCSP) in 2015/16. During the delivery of this presentation the following matters were highlighted for Members’ consideration:

· The NWCSP was the statutory partnership for Bromsgrove, Redditch and Wyre Forest.

· There was a separate Community Safety Partnership (CSP) representing the south of the county.

· In September 2015 the Safer Communities Board (SCB) had commissioned a review of countywide community safety structures.

· The findings of this review had recently been presented for the consideration of the partnership.

· Key proposals in the report for the CSPs included the suggestion that there needed to be more joined up working between the partnerships in Worcestershire. This could include working together on areas such as commissioning.

· The report had also recommended that there should be a skills audit of members of both CSPs.

· Recommendations had also been made directly to the SCB.

· This included a proposal that the number of Board meetings per year should be increased from 2 to 4.

· As with the partnerships the report authors had also suggested that a skills audit of the Board’s members and a proper induction process would be useful.

· It had been suggested that links between the SCB and the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) could be strengthened.

· Proposals had also been made on the subject of communications as it had been felt that more could be done to promote the work of the SCB and its sub-groups as well as to promote national and regional campaigns at the local level.

· A number of actions had been taken locally to address community safety issues.

· This included the launch of the Bromsgrove Safe Place Scheme, to provide people with a safe environment to turn to. Originally the scheme had been designed for people with learning disabilities, though it had been extended to provide a safe haven to anybody who felt vulnerable.

· The partnership was in the process of negotiating future funding with the office of the PCC. Information received to date indicated that the settlement in 2016/17 was likely to be similar to that for 2015/16.

· In future years the funding arrangements for CSPs would be changing to a commissioning model which would focus on meeting local needs.

Following the presentation Members discussed a number of points in further detail:

· The action taken to monitor the impact of local projects and to assess whether this represented value for money. Officers explained that a member of the Community Safety Team took a lead role in monitoring the effectiveness of local projects.

· The approach in the county to providing services to address substance abuse. Local initiatives to address this included drugs and alcohol workshops in schools.

· The Integrated Offender Management Programme in Worcestershire and the focus at the local level on supporting the most vulnerable. Officers advised that Bromsgrove had one of the smallest cohorts in the programme.

· The sustainability of services, particularly projects tackling domestic abuse, in challenging economic circumstances. The Board was informed that the PCC’s new commissioning model was designed to enhance the sustainability of projects by allocating funding over a 3 year period rather than for a single year.

· The complexity of local CSP structures and the benefits of an induction process for both the CSPs and the SCB to ensure that participants understood their roles and the purpose of the meeting.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

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