To receive and consider the report of the Community Safety Partnership Co-ordinator.
Minutes:
· Report of the Community Safety Partnership Co-ordinator.
Issues Discussed:
· Wales Safer Communities Board and Network. This commenced in 2016 following an Audit Wales review which made a number of recommendations. Subsequently there was a multi agency review led by Welsh Government which proposed a number of recommendations in 2017 including establishing the Safer Communities Programme.
· This multi agency programme has been operating since 2017 and concluded in September 2020 and was replaced by the Safer Communities Board. A network was also developed which has been in place for six months. The Board reviewed the programme and developed five key ambitions.
· An update was provided on the Community Safety Partnership priorities, including crime, road safety, substance misuse, reducing re-offending and community cohesion.
· Questions:
Where is the information from the Safer Communities Board disseminated. Does it integrate with the Public Service Board (PSB) as this is integral to their role. Will Councillors be involved in this Board.
Comment: It is disappointing where the Safer Communities Board reports to. The gap is that the Safer Communities Board is about what's happening on the ground whilst the PSB is very strategic. |
This Board reports occasionally to the Co-ordinator. It is not known whether it reports to the Public Service Board (PSB). The Community Safety Partnership does not have links to the PSB, however the police are invited to the PSB. The Corporate Director advised that there is no direct regular report from the Community Safety Partnership to the PSB. The PSB sets its own agenda and that could be reviewed in the future. If the Committee is of the view that the profile of the Community Safety Partnership should be raised with PSB then it could make that recommendation. The Probation Service is not represented on the PSB. |
Active travel and road safety. From 2023 all towns centres will have 20 mph speed limits imposed. How is this progressing in Powys and do we know where designated areas will be. There were ten pilots across Wales, none of which were in Powys.
Comment: Can an update be provided to a future meeting. Could the Co-ordinator raise this at the board to ensure the Board is updated. |
Not aware of locations as yet. This was raised at the road safety partnership. It will be taken forward by officers within the highway authority. It will be of interest to the road safety partnership rather than a piece of work it would be undertaking. The Corporate director indicated that Powys did bid for a pilot site but was unsuccessful. The detail of the scheme will be a matter for the Highways Service. The first series of all Wales meetings have been convened. Information on progress could be made available to the Committee. The delay in the project has been to sort out the detail. 20 mph speed limits will be the norm but there will be exceptions. |
Can we have a list of the Boards, who is on them and their aims and objectives. We are promoting active travel with cyclists. There has been an increasing number of potential accidents as cyclists are dressing inappropriately and they cannot be seen as they are dressed in black. There is a need for a safety campaign. |
The Co-ordinator agreed to try and produce a list of Boards for the Committee. The issue of cyclist safety has been raised previously. The Co-ordinator agreed to raise it again with the road safety partnership. |
Is the Community Safety Partnership undertaking any work on cold calling. |
Work is undertaken by Trading Standards and there is a banking protocol in place. A great deal of messaging has been issued on social media especially in 2020 warning about scams and fraud. From the Council's point of view the first point of contact would be Trading Standards and work has also been undertaken by Community Cohesion. |
Substance Misuse Strategy. The Area Planning Board needs to establish a new strategy from 2022 onwards, has there been learning from the current provision and what was the scope provided to the consultants for the needs assessment.
Comment: Can the Committee be advised when the assessment will be completed. |
As the needs assessment is currently being undertaken which will help develop the new strategy, it is difficult to know how much the strategy will change. The needs assessment criteria can be provided as well. |
Methods to stop reoffending. How are we meeting the statutory duty to reduce reoffending Is it working. Should we be doing things differently. In particular with VAWDASV are we working with perpetrators to change behaviours and reduce reoffending. |
Powys was one of the first to pilot a perpetrators programme which is continuing as it was deemed to be successful and is being rolled out.
Information on the success of the reoffending strategy could be provided to the Committee. |
Community Safety Partnership - who sets the priorities, how are they informed and how are they resourced. |
Some of the priorities are statutory such as reoffending and substance misuse. There are some Powys specific priorities. There is a requirement in the legislation for an annual strategic assessment but data from agencies has become scarce over the past few years. Therefore, the Co-ordinator reviewed plans and strategic assessments from other agencies and amalgamated those together into the priorities. The need for a strategic assessment is currently under review at an all Wales basis. Some authorities have not produced a strategic assessment for years. The Co-ordinator through various meetings obtains and understanding of the general trends in Powys, which the Community Safety Partnership agreed. However, the priorities are usually the same such as road safety which is a priority for Powys. |
The nature of crime is that it is a changing industry and agencies need to react to this. If someone complains about a noise issue, how is this dealt with. |
If it relates to a local authority tenant, the Housing Service takes the lead. If it is a private owner this would be dealt with by the Environmental Health Service as long as its a statutory noise issue. Much of the rise in noise complaints last year was because of increased noise levels around people's homes as people were working at home, as were school children. However, this is not anti-social behaviour. However, following noise levels decreasing, when lockdown eased noise levels increased and there were complaints due to perceived anti-social behaviour which was as people were out and about again. Anti-social behaviour reporting has now returned to more usual levels as lockdown restrictions have eased. The Head of Service advised that Environmental Health officers deal with noise complaint and they contact a complainant within three days to discuss the complaint and what actions are possible to resolve the problem. There is resource in Environmental health to deal with these issues. |
Is the Portfolio Holder confident that the Community Safety Partnership is meeting the needs of communities in Powys. |
Overall, the team is doing a really good job. As everywhere else in the Council the team could do with more resources. Team are working hard to deal with issues as they are coming in. |
There are questions about resources to deliver comprehensive services. There is also a lack of information in the report about whether the Council is meeting its statutory targets. |
The Portfolio Holder indicated that as yet she did not understand all of the Boards which the Co-ordinator attends. She was happy that the Council was meeting its objectives but would be happy to be challenged. It was recognised that there is a need to make more data available to scrutiny about how the team was achieving its objectives and priorities e.g. anti-social behaviour.
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The Committee will be reviewing this matter again in November, In the interim could it receive data on reoffending and the substance misuse strategy that would assist the Committee. |
The Portfolio Holder indicated that the information requests she had noted related to: · Reoffending statistics and perpetrator programme. · List of boards. · 20mph limits · Active travel – cyclist safety · Trading Standards and Noise |
There is a lack of detail in some of the information provided. The Boards are only as good as the people delivering it and there have been examples of where expectations have not been delivered such as the Manchester Arena bombing. |
The Manchester Arena bombing scenario sits under the Contest Board and there is a significant amount of work progressing in relation to Contest. The Wales governance structure has been reviewed with the establishment of Contest Cymru together with regional boards and local Contest Boards. A new framework is being developed and work in relation to Contest Ambassadors. WRAP training (counter terrorism) has been undertaken in 2021 involving all departments.
The Committee was requested that if there were any areas that it wished to identify for consideration at the next meeting that the Co-ordinator be advised so that it can be included in the next report.
The Head of Service indicated that as part of the Integrated Business Plan for the Service area, performance measures for Community Safety are due to be reported by September and this information can be reported to the Committee in November.
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Outcomes:
· The Portfolio Holder was requested to consider that there is a need for the various Boards under Community Safety to link back to the Public Service Board.
· The Committee to receive information on the following:
· Reoffending statistics and perpetrator programme.
· List of boards.
· 20mph limits
· Active travel – cyclist safety
· Trading Standards and Noise
· Substance Misuse Strategy – assessment criteria
· That the performance measures for Community Safety be reported to the next meeting in November, 2021.
Supporting documents: