Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Harry Stranger and Gordon Norrie. Apologies were also received from the Borough Commander, Dr.Bob Hadley and Mr Alf Kennedy. 

Councillor Kate Lymer declared a personal interest as a Trustee on the Board of Directors of Bromley Youth Music Trust.  

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In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing four working days before the date of the meeting. Therefore please ensure that questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday 26^th February 2014.

There were no questions from Councillors or Members of the Public.

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting of Public Protection and Safety PDS Committee held on 21^st January 2014.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21^st January 2014  be agreed.

Report CSD14038

Members considered matters arising from previous meetings.

With reference to the Bethlem Royal Hospital Update, it was noted that the Chairman, Portfolio Holder and the Director of Environmental Services would be meeting with SLaM on 31^st March 2014. It was anticipated that SLaM would attend the next meeting of the Committee in June 2014. It was intended that the report relating to the escape incident of February 2012 would be available for viewing by Members one hour before the commencement of the meeting.   

RESOLVED that the contents of the Matters Arising report be noted.

The Chairman proposed to Members that the date of the next meeting of the Committee should be revised from July 8^th 2014 to 17^th June 2014. This was accepted by the Committee.

It was also proposed that the date of the subsequent meeting of the Committee be changed to 2^nd September 2014. The Portfolio Holder later asked that this be revised to 9^th September 2014, which will be subject to final confirmation.

The Chairman advised that she had recently visited the Bromley Mentoring Steering Group, and that Boris Johnson had also paid a visit to mentors and mentees, and that Boris Johnson was pleased with what he had seen. The Group is thriving and doing excellent work with large numbers of young people.

The Chairman had also recently attended a meeting concerning the setting up of the new safer Neighbourhood Board. Discussions were undertaken as to how the group would work and how it would be constituted.

The Chairman highlighted how she had attended an “Impact Day” at Charles Darwin School in Biggin Hill. The day consisted of a series of workshops for year eight students that were aimed at keeping them out of trouble. The event was attended by London’s Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson.

The Youth Offending Team also visited, and talks were given on various issues including drugs and gun crime. The young people were given an understanding as to what could happen to them if they embarked upon a life of crime. There had also been a visit by SO19.

A twenty one year old young lady attended who was a former gang member, and she gave a hard hitting account of the dangers of gang membership. The Portfolio Holder indicated that he would like to see such days rolled out all over London. 

The Chairman stated that she had attended the “Best Bar None” awards the previous week, and that on the previous night she had attended a Trustee’s meeting with the Bromley Youth Music Trust.

The Chairman had just attended a meeting to decide on the priorities and a new structure for next year’s Portfolio Plan.

The Chairman noted several future events:

The visit to the Youth Offending Team on the 6^th March

The Department of Education Presentation evening on the 24^th March

The Safer Bromley Awards on 27^th March.

The Chairman was due to attend a meeting at the Maudsley with the Portfolio Holder, the Council Leader and Bromley’s Chief Executive on the 2^nd April 2014 to meet their new Chief Executive as part of a regular update meeting.

The Chairman concluded by noting that she was planning to attend a Youth Council meeting on the 1^st May 2014.

The Police update was provided by the Deputy Borough Commander Jo Oakley, who attended with Carron Schusler-Chief Inspector for Safer Neighbourhoods.

The Deputy Borough Commander made a number of points in her Police Update, including those summarised below.

Residential burglary was down by 2.4% and Non Residential Burglary figures were down by 16.5%.

Theft of motor vehicles was down by 24.7%, and theft from motor vehicles was down by 1.9%.

Business robbery was down by 8.10%, and personal robbery was down by 9.3%.

Overall crime was down by 4.9%.  

The number of violent offences had gone up, but this was as a result of a change in the classification process plus the MET in Bromley already had a low starting point to commence with.

Christmas Eve 2012 there had been a “trolley rage” incident where a female rammed a trolley into a male at Marks and Spencer’s in Bromley; the male victim had subsequently died, and so the female was now being charged with manslaughter.

There had been a murder in Cambridge Road on the 2^nd March 2012, where a 30 year old had murdered his 71 year old neighbour; the Police were waiting for the outcome of the post mortem. The suspect had been remanded in custody.

Changes to the MPS -Control infrastructure went live on 26/2/14. The resources (duties) and some of the intelligence functions had now moved to a hub based model based at Lewisham.

A new Chief Superintendent had been appointed to Bromley. Chief Superintendent Chris Hafford was due to commence duties on 10^th March 

Carron Schusler was asked about where her officers took refreshments. She confirmed that this was often from the patrol base so that they could take refreshments and input detail onto the computer systems. Travelling to and from the bases is for the benefit of Bromley as a whole.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to the Portfolio Holder must be received in writing four working days before the date of the meeting. Therefore please ensure that questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday 26^th February 2014.

There were no questions from Councillors or Members of the Public.

Report  FSD14023

The report provided an update of the latest budget monitoring position for 2013/14 for the Public Protection and Safety PDS Committee, based on expenditure and activity levels up to 31^st January 2014; this detailed a projected underspend of £19K which was the same as reported at the last meeting.

Appendix 2 was noted which highlighted the budget and expenditure in respect of “Targeted Neighbourhood Activity”. It was noted that there was still a reserve budget available in this fund of £94K. Councillor Fookes enquired what this money was going to be spent on. The response was given by the Portfolio Holder who stated that the money did not have to be spent by the end of any particular time frame, but that the money was available to be rolled over and used as required.

It was further stated by the Portfolio Holder that some of the reserves were likely to be used for a clean-up operation in Cray Valley East.  

RESOLVED that:

(1) the Portfolio Holder endorsed the latest 2013/14 budget projection for the Public Protection and Safety Portfolio;

(2) the Portfolio Holder noted the progress made on the implementation of the targeted Neighbourhood Activity Project;

(3) the PDS Committee noted the allocation of Community Safety expenditure as set out in Appendix 3 of the report.  

Report ES14025

This report was written because  the current arrangements for the provision of Mortuary Services for the London Borough of Bromley had come to an end, and discussions were currently being held with regard to utilising a contract placed by the London Borough of Bexley as an alternative to the re tender process on the open market. Members had requested an update on the current position.

It was noted that utilising a joint contract with Bexley would save around £40k in retendering costs.

It was further noted that the existing Bromley Mortuary Service provided at the Princess Royal University Hospital was budgeted at £99K per annum. It was anticipated that an expected joint contract with LB Bexley would be the same cost.

It was stated that the new joint contract would be for four years, and it was hoped that a joint contract would give Bromley the advantages of Economies of Scale and a stronger negotiating position in the future.

The Committee agreed that it would be prudent to pursue the new joint contract as outlined in the report.

RESOLVED

(1) the contents of the report be noted

(2) the portfolio holder agreed that LBB should utilise the London Borough of Bexley Contract as the basis of service requirement for it’s Mortuary Services. 

Report FSD14020

On 12th February 2014, the Executive received a report summarising the current position on capital expenditure and receipts following the 3rd quarter of 2013/14 and presented for approval the new capital schemes supported by Council Directors in the annual capital review process. The Executive agreed a revised Capital Programme for the five year period 2013/14 to 2017/18. Prior to the Executive meeting, there were no capital schemes for this Portfolio, but this report highlighted the one new scheme approval, £340k to refurbish the CCTV control room.

RESOLVED: that the Portfolio Holder agree to the capital expenditure programme for the new CCTV system agreed by the Executive on 12^th February 2014.

A presentation was given by Mr Keith Miller on behalf of the Bromley Ambulance Service.

The presentation outlined that in Bromley there were:

•  1 Ambulance Operations Manager

•  3  Duty Station Officers

•  7 Team Leaders

•  2 Clinical Tutors

•  132 Paramedic, Emergency Medical Technician staff and Apprentice Paramedics

•  2 Administrators

•  Local mechanics and contract vehicle cleaning and preparation.

It was noted that the main reason for emergency ambulance call outs in Bromley were actually falls.

The following information was given in respect to response times:

The National Standard response time to a Category A call was 75% within 8 minutes, and to get to 95% of calls within 19 minutes.

In this regard, Bromley was ahead of target in that the Bromley Ambulance Service successfully responded to 77% of Category A calls within 8 minutes,  and responded to 98% of calls within 19 minutes.

Mr Miller outlined the concept of “Appropriate Care Pathways”.

•  Taking Less Patients To Hospital & Referring More To Appropriate Care Pathways

•  Conveying Appropriate Patients Into Specialist Hospital Units  Major Trauma Centres, Hyper Acute Stroke Units, Heart Attack Centres

•  Developing New ACP’s In Conjunction With Patient Specific Needs & Services.

The following were areas of strategic planning for the year ahead:

•  Modernisation  - Time for Change

•  111

•  Winter Preparedness

•  Patient Handover

•  Private Ambulances

•  Hospital Reconfiguration

•  Cardiac Care

•  Performance

•  Strategic Goals

Councillor Auld raised the matter of ambulances queuing outside the PRUH waiting to offload patients, and enquired what progress had been made in dealing with this problem.

Mr Miller stated that some progress had been made, but that there may be times when this problem was unavoidable due to varied demands on the ambulance service, particularly in times of crisis such as the recent floods and bad weather. Mr Miller stated that there was now a process in place called “Intelligent Conveyancing” which aimed to alleviate this problem.  

Councillor Fookes asked what the protocol was for dealing with patients who may call up with panic attacks or other mental health issues, and asked for more clarification on the use of private ambulances.

Mr Miller responded that there were mental health guidelines and protocols in place, and that there was an agreed referral pathway with OXLEAS. It was noted that private ambulances were only used to target the “non acute workload” after being properly triaged.

Report ES13095 recommended an increase in action to tackle enviro crime and to combat the irresponsible and anti-social behaviour of a minority number of individuals.

The activities proposed to cover a coordinated effort to catch and prosecute those acting in an anti-social way or committing enviro crime and to subsequently publicise the actions, individuals, and their punishments. The following were updates on actions taken to date and planned with an indication of costs as outlined to the Committee by Mr Jim McGowan:

Activities:

Six multi agency clean ups have been programmed, fitting in with the MET Policing Plan and the LBB Safer Neighbourhood aims:

Four have taken place so far:

Two were on the Groves Estate, Anerley

One on the Kimmeridge Estate in Mottingham

One on the Riverbirds Estate, Cray Valley East 

·  7 tonnes of fly tipped waste was removed

·  45sq/m of graffiti was removed

·  20 vehicles were stopped

·  1Fixed Penalty Notice was issued for an unlawful waste carrier

·  8 weapons sweeps

·  4 untaxed vehicles identified and actioned

The total cost for this was £1100.00

Surveillance of Fly Tip Hot Spots—Various Locations:

These had taken place at various locations across the borough:

·  84 investigations carried out

·  54 FPNS issued

·  5 prosecutions

·  11 Formal cautions

·  17 Formal warnings

·  2 Additional mobile cameras

The total cost to date was £2300.00

Dog Fouling:

Several patrols had been carried out on Hotspots.

No fixed penalty notices had been issued as no persons were actually witnessed committing the offence. It was felt that the patrols were acting as a deterrent. The cost to date of this was £2000.00

Targeted Stop and Check Vehicle Operations:

Four were planned, but two were cancelled as the Police were pulled off to attend other operations.

One targeted stop and search exercise was carried out in November 2013:

·  60 vehicles were inspected

·  1 had no insurance

·  2 resulted in further investigations

Envirocrime Reward Scheme:

This is a scheme that rewards people for reporting envirocrime.

Kwik Fit illegally felled a tree on Cray Avenue, and this was reported by a local resident. The information led to an investigation by an LBB officer and led to an out of court settlement for £2000.00. The award of £500.00 was paid to a local resident.

Covert Operation:

There was also a covert operation in progress, and the results of this would be incorporated into a future report.  

Report ES14024

This report was brought to the Committee to provide an update on the current position with the Community Payback Scheme.

It was highlighted in section 3.4 of the report that there had been problems regarding the costs to LBB since Serco had been responsible for assuming control of the Community Payback Scheme; there had also been a reduced service because of this. The main use of the scheme recently had been to improve the efficiency with which cardboard and wood were being recycled at the transfer waste station. It was also noted that the Cudham Village Hall had been refurbished, and that some other work had been carried out at local schools. 

It was highlighted that a meeting had recently taken place with the Payback Manager (Nino Gomez) and that these talks had been encouraging. It was hoped therefore that there would be an increase in LBB’s use of the Community Payback Scheme, particularly with respect to Operation Crystal.

The issue was raised relating to offenders engaging in the scheme, it was mentioned that a minibus was used for transportation, and that a strategy was required to encourage involvement. Councillor Auld felt that just being involved in a recycling process was not particularly stimulating or engaging, and that other areas of work should be explored such as working in a park environment.

It was hoped that Nino Gomez from Serco could attend a future meeting of the Committee. 

RESOLVED that the contents of the update report be noted.

Report ES14026

This report was written to provide an update regarding the perpetrator programme for quarters one to three of 2013/14, and to outline the future delivery plans.

The following questions were raised by Members:

1-Was there any information available pertaining to post programme outcomes? In other words, were perpetrators that had been through the scheme reoffending or had they been successfully rehabilitated?

2-The Programme had been subject to MOPAC funding on the basis of agreed outcomes. Was the Programme delivering the agreed objectives/outcomes so that funding would continue?

3-What were the consequences of failing to engage?

4-If there were currently no real penalties for failing to engage, could this be changed?    

RESOLVED:

(1) that the contents of the report be noted

(2) that the report author would report back at the next Committee meeting in June 2014 to provide a response to the questions raised by Members.

Report CSD14048

This report was drafted by Mr Paul King to provide an update on the work of the Borough’s Youth Services for the calendar year 2013.

It was provided in the form of an information briefing and Mr King attended to answer any questions that may have arisen from the contents of the briefing.

No questions were raised.

The committee were very pleased with the report and with the work undertaken by the Youth Service.

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted. 

Report CSD14039

This report was drafted so that Members could review the Committee’s Work Programme, and consider the contracts summary for the Public Protection and Safety Portfolio.

It was decided by the Committee that the date of the next meeting be brought forward from July 2014 to 17^th June 2014. Democratic Services and all relevant parties have been informed.

It was further proposed that the date of the October 2014 meeting also be brought forward. The proposed date (subject to final confirmation) is 9^th September 2014.

It was noted that the proposed visit by SLaM had now been confirmed for the June meeting.

It was proposed that the update on the Perpetrator Programme be provided as part of the MOPAC update in June.

It was decided that the report on the Stray and Abandoned Dogs contract be moved to the September meeting.

It was decided that an update report on Community Payback be provided for the September meeting, and that Nino Gomez from Serco would be invited to attend.

It was proposed that Trading Standards provide a report to the September Committee with respect to the new Consumer Bill, and that this report would also incorporate a section relating to Letting Agencies.        

RESOLVED that:

(1) the Work Programme be noted, subject to the above variations/amendments

(2) the contracts register for the Public Protection and Safety PDS Committee was noted

It was noted that the proposed visit to the MET Police Crime Museum had to be abandoned, as the MET were now using this facility as a training centre, and members of the public were denied access.

It was noted that the visit to the Bromley Youth Offending Team was going ahead as planned for March 6^th at 11.30am.

It was noted that a visit to the MET Police Command and Control Centre in Lambeth was still going ahead in the near future.