Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Laurie Grasty and Anne Ball. As Ms Ball was leaving MOPAC, the Chairman stated that he would be writing a letter of thanks to Ms Ball, for her services rendered to the Partnership. 

Apologies were received from Cllr Kate Lymer—Councillor Chris Pierce attended as alternate. 

Apologies were also received from Janet Bailey, Joanna Davidson and Dan Jones. 

Apologies were received from the Borough Fire Commander, and Peter Sibley attended in his absence.

It was AGREED that the minutes of the meeting held on 6^th July 2017 be approved.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to the Safer Bromley Partnership Strategic Group must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting. Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5.00pm on October 10^th 2017.

No questions had been received.

CSD 17154

The Group reviewed matters arising from previous meetings.

It was noted that the Bromley Resilience Forum would meet next in November 2017, and that the minutes of this meeting would be disseminated to the Group.

The Group was pleased to learn that progress had been made in contacting Lucien Spencer from the CRC (Croydon Rehabilitation Company).

The Group was also pleased to note that progress had been made in obtaining representation from Oxleas at IOM Panel meetings.

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising report be noted.

The Chairman updated the Group as follows:

The Bromley Crime Summit was held on September 30^th 2017.

Sessions included:

·  Tackling Gangs Campaign - Bromley Youth Council.

·  Borough Police Update - Deputy Borough Commander Trevor Lawry.

·  Police Front Counters Provision Consultation - Representative from MOPAC

·  Cyber Fraud & Scams - Matthew Bowler from City of London Police who were the National Policing Lead for Cyber Crime.

The Chairman updated on the development of BCUs (Basic Command Units) and on public access offices. The Group heard that the number of police officers in the MET was currently 32,400, but this figure was likely to reduce to 30,000. The final decision around BCUs would be made in December. It was likely that there would be 12 BCUs and not 32. It was probable that Bromley would be aligned with Sutton and Croydon. The Pathfinder Sites were still being evaluated. Two shadow BCU Commanders were now in post. The Group was sad to hear that the current Deputy Borough Commander (Trevor Lawry) was being posted to a Commander’s Team, and would be leaving Bromley on 20^th October 2017. Mr Lawry would be replaced by Detective Superintendent Paul Warnett. 

Mr Vale expressed his thanks to DS Lawry, especially for his contribution to the drafting of the Strategic Assessment Document.

Councillor Chris Pierce stated that opposition existed from all quarters to the BCU alignment with Croydon. This included members of the public, Councillors, and the Public Protection and Safety PDS Committee.   

Concerning the Public Access Project, the Group heard that Bromley would have one police station operating 24/7. Copperfield House would close, as would the current offices located at West Wickham and the Crays. There would be a role for District Ward Officers working out from various hubs for drop in sessions. The Borough Commander stated that help was needed in locating premises that could be used as hubs. Deidre Bryant stated that the Probation Service had an unused building in Orpington that could be used by the police as a hub. Councillor Pierce thought that this would be an ideal location. Ms Bryant added that the police presence should be discreet. Sharon Baldwin advised that Tesco had also volunteered rooms that could be used by the police as hubs. 

Further information was requested regarding the Bromley Risk Forum.

To this end the BRF Business Plan is incorporated for information.

Laurie Grasty (Emergency Planning and Corporate Resilience Manager) had sent apologies and was unable to attend. A copy of the ‘Bromley Borough Resilience Forum: Strategy and Business Plan 2017/18’ had been incorporated into the agenda for information and noting.

Members also noted the ‘Emergency Planning Report, June –October 2017’. 

The Executive Director for Environmental and Community Services informed that LBB had been involved in assisting after the Grenfell Tower Fire tragedy. It was also the case that LBB had made improvements in business continuity. Bromley’s resilience plans were currently subject to a peer review. It was important to not only have the plans in place, but it was imperative that the plans could be implemented effectively.

The Chairman asked if LBB was able to decant local people. The Executive Director responded that Grenfell was unique in its scale, but LBB had experience of decanting people previously. LBB had the ability to mobilise many volunteers quickly.

Mr Belcher referred to the mass casualty exercise that had taken place in June. The exercise was based around an incident similar to the Shoreham air crash that had occurred on the A27 in Sussex during the Shoreham Air Show on 22 August 2015. Mr Belcher asked what the conclusions of the exercise were, and why they had not been communicated to the public.

The Executive Director advised that an update on this would be added to a future communications update.

A presentation will be given by David Dunkley from Bromley Changes.

Bromley Changes is Bromley’s young persons’ drug and alcohol service.   

A presentation was given by David Dunkley--Team Leader with ‘Bromley Changes’. Attending with Mr Dunkley was Mr Jermaine Martin.

Bromley Changes was the young persons’ drug and alcohol service for Bromley. The service was commissioned by LBB.

The service offered:

·  An experienced team of recovery workers in

  substance misuse

·  Assessment for specific support needs

·  One to one or group interventions

·  A wide range of approaches and interventions to help you reduce or stop your use of drugs or alcohol

·  Help and advice

Mr Dunkley outlined the various means by which referrals could be made to the service. Referrals were accepted from most professionals and from self-referrals.

The Group was briefed on the various methods used to engage with professionals and the public. Young people could be followed up in a variety of settings which ranged from home visits to meeting in public places like Starbucks. If a referral involved a year 7 or 8 pupil, then the parents would be informed. A pupil from year 9 onwards could self-refer.

A full, comprehensive and holistic assessment would be undertaken. Mr Dunkley had streamlined the referral process so that referrals to Bromley Changes could be made in a more direct and straight forward way. Young people would normally receive an appointment within 1-2 weeks.

Workshops had been undertaken in schools entitled, ‘Your Choice—Your Voice’. These had ended in March 2017 due to a cut in funding. It was hoped that these would be able to resume early in 2018 providing the schools were prepared to buy into the programme.

Mr Dunkley explained that the service was confidential. If however, it was felt that a serious danger of harm was likely to be caused either to the client or a third party, or there was a safeguarding concern regarding their level of substance mis-use, then information would be shared as required with relevant partners. This was also the case when working with service users who were subject to court orders at YOS; for example if there was an ongoing police investigation—then information would be shared. Mr Dunkley explained that the sharing of information in health and social care was guided by the Caldicott principles. These principles were reflected in the Data Protection Act. 

Victoria Roberts asked if any of the cases that Bromley Changes had looked at involved sexual violence. Mr Dunkley responded that this was not the case, but there were some instances where domestic violence had been involved. 

Deidre Bryant wondered how the service retained the interest of young people during the time frame leading up to the assessment. Mr Dunkley explained that Bromley Changes used texting, and various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

The presentation concluded with a summation of key partnerships. 

Sharon Baldwin asked what the main issues were for Bromley youth. The Group was informed that the main problem with girls tended to be alcohol and for boys it was cannabis. Some of the alcohol came from shops, and some from home. There  ...  view the full minutes text for item 167.

An update report on Prevent was presented to the Group from Rob Vale, Head of Community Safety and Trading Standards.

The Group heard that Prevent Case Management meetings took place on a monthly basis, and a core membership had now been established. The meetings were chaired by LBB with SO15 in attendance. It was a requirement that councils developed a case management policy and Bromley had done so. The terms of reference for the Prevent Case Management Team were being reviewed by the Adults’ Safeguarding Board.

Proactive training of staff had been carried out and was ongoing.

Mr Vale stated that he would be reporting to the Chief Executive later this month, and for this he required a fresh update from SO15. Mr Vale was hoping to receive updated data from the Schools Audit to ascertain if schools were doing all that they were required to.

Mr Vale addressed the issue of referral data from the Home Office. It was explained that the Home Office would only release data at a regional level as they felt that this level of data could be released without compromising individual’s anonymity. 

Mr Vale was attending monthly Prevent networking meetings with other boroughs.

Mr Vale appraised the Group concerning the recent march in central London by the ‘Football Lads Alliance’. The purpose of the march was allegedly to express sympathy for the victims of terrorism in the UK. However, there were some concerns regarding possible right wing links. 

The SNB (Safer Neighbourhood Board) update was provided by Sharon Baldwin who further briefed the Group regarding the Crime Summit. Feedback had been positive and Sophie Linden was complimentary. There had been about one hundred members of the public in attendance, and fifty had provided feedback.

Ms Baldwin expressed the view that the issue of police public access offices had been overshadowed by the matter of the proposed tri-borough BCU amalgamation with Croydon.

Ms Baldwin felt that it was important that the views of SNB panels were not ignored. The matters raised at SNB panels were of a smaller local nature, and dealt with a different type of local policing; a balance was needed. The Borough Commander stated that it was his aim to embed neighbourhood policing before the BCU tri-borough changes took effect. 

Ms Baldwin highlighted that communication was an issue, and that 101 was not working. Newsletters should be relevant. Proper communication of dates was required for the SNB board and panel meetings. Another matter of concern was the issue of the police not being able to chase bikes. Ms Baldwin declared that this was a policy that should be changed.

Mr Belcher expressed disappointment that no Police Cadets attended the Crime Summit, despite assurances to the contrary. The Borough Commander was surprised to hear this, and promised to investigate.

Ms Baldwin had attended a meeting in City Hall a week after the Crime Summit. She expressed the view that the meeting was all about compromises due to lack of funding.

It was noted that the SNB was no longer led by a Councillor, and was strong and independent. 

The Group had received apologies from Anne Ball, and so no MOPAC update was received on this occasion.

The update from the LAS (London Ambulance Service) was provided by Mr Philip Powell.

The main focus now was on preparing for the winter. There had been pressure from NHS England to ensure that A&E departments were as prepared as possible to deal with winter pressures. Mr Powell felt that local plans were well advanced, and that everything that could be done was being done. He expressed the view that the whole of the NHS would suffer significant pressure when winter hit.

The group heard that LAS were not far off their numbers in terms of staffing requirements. In the past the LAS had recruited from Australia as their training was similar to that undertaken in the UK. 

The Domestic Violence and VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls) report was presented by Victoria Roberts, the VAWG Strategic Partnership Manager. The report was for information only.

No statistical data was currently available concerning the performance of the VAWG service provider, but this would be made available for the next meeting.

Ms Roberts informed the Group that services were bedding in well using the co-location model. Lots of partnership work was being undertaken with the DWP and Job Centre Plus. Small hubs were being set up in Job Centres. Universal Credit was being rolled out in May with the exception of vulnerable people. The DWP would be attending the DV Forum.  Ms Roberts acknowledged the sterling work that had been done previously by Detective Chief Inspector Trevor Lawry, and hoped that the new DCI would be able to take over seamlessly from Mr Lawry.

The Group heard that the DV/VAWG Forum met on 27^th September 2017; representation was good apart from the fact that there was not a representative from the police. The Borough Commander stated that he would look into this and try and get a police representative for the next meeting on 15^th December.

The Group was informed that a MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference) Steering Group would be set up to monitor the performance of Bromley MARAC, and that the Steering Group would be a sub-group of the Safer Bromley Partnership. Ms Roberts would provide updates and MARAC performance data to the SBP on a quarterly basis.

The report outlined the functions of the MARAC Steering Group and updated on the DV/VAWG Training and Development Programme for 2016-2019. It was hoped to commission FGM training as part of this. FGM training was likely to be targeted to children’s social workers.

An update was provided on the IRIS Project. IRIS Training had now been rolled out across 25 GP surgeries, and it was hoped to increase this to 35 surgeries by the end of March.

Week commencing Monday 6^th November was Safeguarding Adults Week, which was being hosted by the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board. This would be based at the Walnuts in Orpington.

Ms Bryant asked if any training was provided for dentists. This was because a victim of domestic abuse may require dental treatment. Ms Roberts responded that there was an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor located at the PRUH. A DV briefing was provided to vets. Talks would be undertaken with possible partners like the Dogs’ Trust to see if short term dog fostering could be provided in DV cases. 

The Offender Management Sub Group update was provided by Amanda Mumford.

The Group was pleased to hear that a representative from Oxleas Mental Health Services attended the IOM (Integrated Offender Management) Panel meeting in September.

Helen Andrews (IOM Support Officer) visited the Living Well Project in Penge on Friday 15^th September and helped to serve a hot lunch to 120 guests.

The Group was also pleased to hear that on 11^th September, a meeting had taken place with Lucien Spencer from CRC (Community Rehabilitation Company).  Amanda Mumford and Dan Jones attended the meeting from LBB, and DI Charles Clare attended from the police. It was noted that the CRC could not commit to attending the SBP meetings on a regular basis. They were in the process of recruiting a Stakeholder Manager.

The Group noted that data for breaches and warnings concerning drug/alcohol treatment orders was proving difficult to access. Ms Bryant expressed the view that data around breach of alcohol treatment orders should be easy to get, and she would liaise with Lucien Spencer concerning this. 

RESOLVED that

(1) Deidre Bryant would contact Lucien Spencer to obtain data showing breaches of alcohol treatment orders.  

(2) Amanda Mumford would request information from Deidre Bryant at London Probation concerning data showing breaches of alcohol treatment orders. 

Also, there were two actions that were going to remain on the minutes from the previous minutes relating to YOS payback arrangements and employment opportunities for young people looking for work with Blue Sky.

(3) The SBP support the progress of youth payback solutions with the YOS.

(4) The SBP identify young offenders (aged almost 18) who may be suitable with Blue Sky.  

A Gangs and Serious Youth Violence report was submitted to the Group by Betty Macdonald—Head of Service for YOS.

The report outlined the approach taken in getting local professionals to work together in developing an understanding of the networks and relationships involved with young people that were at risk of serious youth violence and gang related activities. To this end a new Gangs Partnership Group had been formed and had met once.

To develop the project, it would be necessary for each agency involved to agree to share data for the purpose of the project. The developing work would be supported by the analyst from the Atlas Team in Children’s Social Care. 

The ASB and Envirocrime update was provided by Mr Peter Sibley—LBB Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinator.

Mr Sibley updated the Group concerning Community Impact Days, and the membership of the Planning Team. The team was made up from various LBB departments and contractors, the MET, LFB and Affinity Sutton. The police were represented on the planning team by Inspector Gary Byfield and Inspector Phyllis Rooney. 

The Group heard that arson was a big problem in Bromley. Work was being planned with LFB to factor in operations in the worst affected areas.

Moped crime was on the increase but the good news was that recently a senior gang member was arrested in connection with moped crime. The main concern for the public seemed to be moped crime.

Dilapidated garages had been identified as a source of ASB and crime. Plans were being developed to neutralise these locations as a site for crime.

The report highlighted an extensive list of operational achievements to date.

Mr Sibley requested sponsorship for two suitable bikes, a service plan, logos and personal equipment. He asked if enquiries could be made with the Portfolio Holder to cover the cost. The estimated cost was £1600.00. The bikes would be deployed seven days a week in the identified MOPAC areas, and would help in the fight against arson. The bikes would also be used to assist LBB Street Services.

Mr Sibley made an additional request for funding to cover the cost of two off road motor bikes. These would be used by MPS officers on MOPAC days and on daily patrols. They had proven effective in the past in dealing with moped crime. If this request could be agreed in principle, then work would begin to identify a suitable motorcycle and supplier. 

Mr Belcher raised the issue of cross border fly tipping. Mr Sibley clarified that the area referred to by Mr Belcher was within the jurisdiction of Kent County Council. Mr Vale gave assurances that LBB did speak to Kent concerning these matters.

Councillor Pierce was pleased that the problem of off the road bikes being ridden in parks had largely disappeared in his ward. He was also impressed with police use of social media, and described this as a very effective and useful tool. 

Councillor Pierce stated that he had been in contact with a representative from Affinity Sutton who was interested in joining the SBP. Councillor Pierce agreed to forward his details to the Committee Secretary.

Ms Bryant stated that at the next meeting she would report back on an HMI Probation inspection.

Post Meeting Note:

Councillor Pierce has forwarded the information as promised.

The SBP will meet next at Bromley Civic Centre on 19^th December 2017.

The next meeting is scheduled for 19^th December 2017 at 10.00am.

All meetings take place at Bromley Civic Centre unless otherwise notified.