Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Colin Maclean, Director of Bromley Community Links. The substitute member was Alison Navarro.

Apologies were also received from James Cleverly (Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley, and Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority). 

There were no matters arising.

It was AGREED that the minutes of the meeting held on June 27^th 2013 be approved.

The Chairman advised the Partnership that funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime had now been agreed for 2013/14 and totalled £298,000 for Bromley.  Projects would be delivered across a range of areas including the Safer Bromley Van, the mentoring programme and domestic violence. Funding had been reduced by 20k for all Local Authorities across London as a contribution to rape crisis centres. It was also confirmed that a reorganisation had taken place of Community Safety. Rob Vale, Head of Trading Standards was now also the lead officer for Community Safety.

The Summer Activity Programme had been a great success. Activities had commenced for 36 days from 20^th July 2013 with 11,293 recorded attendees against a target of 6,451.  This was in part due to work with Governing Bodies of local schools and the use of social media to promote the event. The Chairman was particularly pleased to note the high participation by the Somali community in Penge and thanked the Police for the support of the Police cadets.

Key areas to be addressed in next year’s programme included more activities to be aimed at older teenagers and for more partners to be engaged in the events. The Chairman also noted that the Health Services Van had proved popular at the events it had attended.  Paula Morrison (Assistant Director of Public Health) confirmed that the Health Services Van provided health checks for those aged 40+ years. If the Van were to be required for the 2014/15 activities programme, then there was need to make arrangements now. 

Councillor Kate Lymer also highlighted the potential to promote improved levels of immunisation across all communities.

The Chairman asked the Borough Commander if any data was available in terms of youth crime in the summer holidays. The Borough Commander confirmed that this data was not currently available. Andy Holcombe, Borough Fire Commander stated that the number of low level fires had dropped dramatically over the same holiday period.   

The Local Authority was in discussions with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime around the development of a Safer Neighbourhood Board for Bromley. A model for the Safer Bromley Board would be developed in consultation with stakeholders by the end of July 2013.  The membership of this Board would comprise a wide range of stakeholders, including the emergency services, public health, victims of crime and representatives of Community Payback, and would have a key role in engaging with communities across the Borough and identifying crime prevention projects and work in communities. 

The Chairman advised the Partnership that the Safer Bromley Board would need to be introduced in the near future. A briefing note from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime would be published in October 2013.  This note would provide more guidance around the requirements for Safer Neighbourhood Boards. The next meeting of Safer Bromley Partnership might be brought forward to accommodate discussions on developing a Safer Neighbourhood Board for Bromley. 

The need for clarity from MOPAC was underlined by Commander Roberts from the Metropolitan Police. The Chairman praised the excellent working relationship that currently existed between the Safer Bromley Partnership, and the Police. 

Stephanie Roberts, Borough Police Commander, advised the Partnership that the Borough was on target to achieve a reduction of 7.6% in MOPAC crime targets, which exceeded the target of 5.3%.

There was an increase in personal theft offences in certain demographic areas, notably in the Penge area which would continue to be targeted. The profile of victims was primarily females under 30 or over 60 years.

There had been a marked rise in the number of domestic violence cases reported over the summer period, and the cause of this was not clear.

The new Local Policing Model had been introduced on 16^th September 2013 and was making reasonable progress. It was noted that Bromley Police Station would be shut on 28^th September 2013 for 24 hours due to essential electrical works, but services would continue to be supported, with custody services being delivered at Catford.

Bromley Police Service was set to open its doors to the public for a grand scale public engagement event on 22^nd September 2013.

This event would give members of the public a rare and behind-the-scenes glimpse at what goes on inside a police station and see some of the specialist units, equipment and resources that the MPS has at its disposal.

With regard to the forthcoming Fire Brigade Industrial Dispute, DCI Kevin Clarke stated that the police were working closely with the Fire Service in this regard. There would be 27 fire vehicles that would be operated by a private company during this period. These would be supported by the police, as would other facilities; the Police would take robust action against any fire operatives who were found to be engaging in criminal activities during this period. 

Borough Fire Commander Andy Holcombe confirmed that the strike was a national strike, relating to pensions only; the strike excluded Scotland. The strike was scheduled for 25^th September 2013, between 12.00 and 16.00 and as the matter was relating to pensions, it was not affecting all personnel, and some staff may still work as normal. The private company that had been called in to manage fire vehicles if and when required was “Capital Guard”.

Consideration was given to the performance monitoring report for Quarter 1 2013/14.

Performance Indicator One:  Reduction in the Numbers of Violent Crimes in Bromley

The Partnership heard that violent crimes represented 22% of the total notifiable offences in the period of quarter one this year. The Partnership also heard that during the second quarter of 2013 there were a total of 1018 violent offences reported to Police which was an increase of 4% compared to the same period last year.

Performance Indicator Two: Reduction in the Numbers of Property Crimes in Bromley

The Partnership heard that property crimes represented 67% of total notifiable offences in Quarter One of 2013. During the second quarter of 2013, 3115 property offences had been reported to the Police, which was a 5% reduction on the same period last year. It was noted that the overall reduction in Property Crimes was a positive one.

Performance Indicator Three: Reduction in Levels of Recorded Anti Social Behaviour

The Partnership heard that during the last financial year, reported ASB incidents dropped by 21%. During the second quarter of 2013, Noise and Nuisance ASB dropped by 14%. During the last financial year, there was an increase in Fly Tipping ASB of 74 incidents. The Partnership further heard that during the last financial year, there was a reduction of Graffiti ASB by 704 incidents.

Performance Indicator Four: Increased confidence in the fact that Bromley is a safe place

The Partnership heard that there was no data available to report on this Indicator.

It was noted by the Chairman that although there had been an increase in levels of wounding and grievous bodily harm, this was partly due to a change to reporting rules which reclassified incidences of domestic violence to a higher level. The Chairman was concerned at the increase in domestic violence and requested that this be considered at a future meeting of Public Protection and Safety Scrutiny Committee. Nigel Davies, Director of Environment and Community Services highlighted the fall in Graffiti crime as a positive.   

It was AGREED that the Performance Review Report 2013/2014 (Q1) be endorsed. 

Andy Holcombe, Borough Fire Commander confirmed that on 12th September 2013 London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority voted to approve the final version of the fifth London Safety Plan (LSP5), which was the Authority’s Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) as required by the government’s national framework for the fire and rescue service.

This plan incorporated a proposal to build a new Fire Station at Orpington,

and for a temporary fire station (to avoid loss of service to residents) to be built whilst construction work was taking place. There was a further proposal to add a second fire engine at Orpington.

The Plan also included details of how savings of £29m will be made across London:

·  The closure of 10 fire stations 

·  Reducing the number of fire engines (pumping appliances) by 14 

·  Reducing the number of fire rescue units (specialist rescue vehicles) from 16 to14 

·  Reducing minimum crewing levels on fire rescue units from 5 firefighters to 4 

·  Reducing the number of firefighter posts by 552

·  Introducing alternate crewing arrangements at some stations 

·  Reducing the number of station and group managers to a total of 256, and then ultimately a further reduction to 200.

Under the proposals, the Brigade would maintain its existing London wide attendance target of getting a first fire engine to an emergency within an average six minutes and the second fire engine, if needed, within eight minutes. This was amongst the fastest target response time of any emergency service in the country and almost twice as fast as some other fire brigades.

It was AGREED that the update be noted.

Peter Sibley, Head of Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) provided an update on the ASB Hotspots Initiatives to the Partnership.  Following analysis of information held by the Police and Local Authority, a number of geographic areas had been identified as ‘hotspots’ for ASB.

Individual Plans were now being developed for each ‘hotspot’, and a number of planning meetings had been scheduled which would include key partners.

The Chairman noted that there was a need to involve ward councillors in the development of the ASB plans. 

It was AGREED that the update be noted

Consideration was given to the Residential Burglary Analysis by members of the Partnership.  Levels of burglary across the Borough continued to decrease but remained a priority for the Police.

The most ‘at risk’ areas of the Borough had been identified and would continue to be targeted.

The Chairman highlighted the need to look at environmental factors, such as improved street lighting, which could help reduce levels of burglary, as well as consider how partners could best work together to tackle this issue.

The Chairman expressed thanks to Susie Clark for producing a “Safer Bromley Partnership Handbook” for residents which included messages about securing your home. 

It was AGREED that the report be endorsed by the Partnership 

(Substance Misuse Board, Youth Offending Service, Bromley Community Engagement Forum, Arson Sub-Group, Borough Resilience Forum and Operational Tasking) – (Verbal reports)

Youth Offending Service – Paul King reported that the numbers of first time entrants to the criminal justice system continued to decrease, and that the number of first time entrants in Bromley had decreased from 481 in 2007 to 108 in 2013. Workforce development was being undertaken to target an increase in the level of re-offending, and young offenders continued to be supported into employment, education or training and encouraged to access the mentoring programme.

A thematic inspection would be undertaken of the Youth Offending Service shortly, which would focus on case inspection and would involve examination of case files and work with practitioners.

Bromley Community Engagement Forum – Amanda Evans confirmed that the next public meeting of the Bromley Community Engagement Forum would be at 7.00pm on 24^th September 2013. An Outreach Day was being held in October, and the Specialist Youth Conference would be held on 7^th March 2014 for pupils at the three special schools in the Borough.

Arson Sub Group – Andy Holcombe reported that the Fire Brigade continued to successfully target arson and that levels of arson continued to decrease. There had been a further fire at the Waste 4 Fuel site on 7^th September 2013. More waste was being removed from the site than brought in, and the Fire Brigade had enforced fire breaks. 

Borough Resilience Forum – Stephen Lewis reported that a Review was underway in respect of the Bromley Borough Risk Register which completes its first draft at the December meeting.  This register would form the basis for future work by the group in a multi agency context, and would highlight the major threats and hazards that may give risk to an emergency in Bromley, Pan-London or country-wide.

The LBB Generic Recovery Management Plan was also being updated and was based on the London Protocols—“London Recovery Management Protocols v.3.  It aimed to ensure that there would be a multi agency approach to the recovery stage of a major incident, outlining the roles and responsibilities of each organisation, and encompassing the key impacts that potentially could affect individuals and communities.

Operational Tasking – This had been covered in the Borough Commander’s Police Report.

Community Links Bromley –  Alison Navarro confirmed that the Disability Hate Crime conference held on 17^th July 2013 had been very successful with 75 people in attendance.  Workshops, had been set up involving Mencap, Mind and Victim support and a Disability Crime DVD had been produced which would be provided to partners.

A Training Programme was being developed to assist the Police.  Work would continue to be done with schools, the Police, and disability organisations to tackle disability hate crime.

Community Payback:

Nino Gomez confirmed that Community Payback was running. There were still a number of concerns around the request for the Local Authority to fund supervisors for Community Payback and a future meeting would be arranged to discuss this.

It was AGREED that the updates be noted.

It was confirmed that the Crime Summit would be held on 28th September 2013.

Diversity Day would be held on 15^th October 2013 in the Great Hall at Bromley Civic Centre.

The Chairman led the Partnership in thanking Mr Andy Holcombe, Borough Fire Commander, for his excellent work as part of the Safer Bromley Partnership for many years.

10.00am, Thursday 5^th December 2013

10.00am, Thursday 13^th March 2014

The next meeting is scheduled for 5^th December 2013 at 10.00am