Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Peter Sibley, Lynne Abrams and Philip Powell.

Apologies were also received from Lucien Spencer, AJ Brooks and Joanna Davidson. 

Councillor Kate Lymer, (Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Enforcement)  was confirmed as the Chairman of Safer Bromley Partnership Strategic Group.

In accordance with the provisions laid out in the Council’s Constitution, any questions to the Safer Bromley Partnership should be received by 5.00pm on 15th June.

No questions had been received.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 26^th March 2018 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

CSD18093

The Matters Arising report was written by Steve Wood, LBB Democratic Services Officer.

With respect to the VAWG update, it was noted that the VAWG Strategic Partnership Manager (Victoria Roberts) had recently left LBB employment. There had been some issues relating to VAWG funding which going forward would be picked up by the Director of Adult Services. Mr Vale informed the Group that he had drafted a report (ES18044) which was a MOPAC update going to the PP&E PDS Committee on 3rd July. This would update the PDS Committee concerning the past and current position with respect to VAWG funding. Mr Vale was hopeful that the second tranche of bidding into the MOPAC co-commissioning pot for VAWG funding would be more favourable. It was anticipated that by the next meeting of the Group in September, clarity would have been provided by MOPAC, and it was hoped that the current gap in resources could then be addressed.

It had been resolved previously that further conversations should be undertaken with the CRC and the police to see if they could bring staff capacity back to full strength on the IOM Strategic Board. The Group heard that once the tri-borough BCU was up and running, the SPOC for IOM would be Detective Superintendent Lee Hill. More work was required to clarify this going forward. 

The matter of MPS motor bikes would be looked into outside of the meeting.

RESOLVED that the matters arising report be noted and that a VAWG/MOPAC update be provided at the September meeting. 

As a new Chairman had just been agreed, there was no Chairman’s update on this occasion.  

The current Safer Bromley Strategy Document is merged into the agenda. Group members need to discuss how the Strategy should be revised and developed going forward.

The Group were reminded that the London Mayor had attached a high priority to the matter of dealing with serious violence and knife crime, and allocated resources accordingly. When developing the revised Safer Bromley Strategy, consideration would need to be applied as to how the new tri-borough BCU would be incorporated. There would need to be review of sub-groups—the Group would need to decide what sub-groups would need to be retained, and if any additional ones would be required.

The Group was briefed that a new strategic assessment document would need to be drafted, and this responsibility had been allocated to Anne Ball—Interim Community Safety Officer; once this had been drafted, there would be a consultation process prior to the draft of the SBP Strategy document. 

A briefing would be provided at the meeting on September 6^th to update the Group concerning progress made in the development of the Strategic Assessment.

RESOLVED that an update be provided at the next meeting concerning the development of the Strategic Assessment.

A verbal update concerning Bromley’s Prevent strategy will be provided by Rob Vale—LBB Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety.

Prevent induction training had been arranged for new Councillors. As LBB was regarded as a ‘Tier 3’ authority with respect to ‘Prevent’ no funding had been provided for a dedicated Prevent Officer. A meeting had recently taken place with the LBB department dealing with CSE/Gangs/Missing * to try and identify any training gaps. Mr Vale reported that LBB was in a good place with respect to the provision of training and the implementation of key practices. 

*CSE is an abbreviation for Child Sexual Exploitation*

A verbal update concerning Child Sexual Exploitation and Missing Children will be provided by Beverley Brown—LBB CSE and Missing Coordinator.

Since April 2018, changes had been made to the Atlas Unit (formerly team).  The service had now been aligned with the MASH service. This now made the combined service a ‘firewalled’ service. The transition provided the service with an easier access to soft intelligence in relation to those children/young people and families who were at risk of or experiencing Missing/CSE/Gang Affiliation.

Further changes included the introduction of the MEGA (Missing Exploitation Gang Affiliation) Multi Agency. The panel had been established to address the needs of children/young people on the medium to high risk indicator. The objective was to ensure that a holistic approach was being undertaken by all agencies and that everyone was held accountable for the needs of our young people.

The Atlas Unit would continue to provide in house training to Children’s Social Care staff, partnership agencies, safeguarding leads, school children and proprietors. 

The Atlas Unit would continue to improve its service delivery to Children’s Social Care partnership agencies and the community as a whole. The aim being to keep Bromley’s children and families safe.

Ms Brown stated that the merged team had been working closely with the police to identify missing children. The local authority and the police continued to work jointly to safeguard children in Bromley.

The Group was briefed by Rob Vale (Head of Community Safety) that an Ofsted inspection had taken place the previous week featuring vulnerable children which included Missing CSE, Gangs, FGM and radicalisation. 

Janet Bailey (Interim Director of Children’s Social Care) informed the Group that the recent visit by Ofsted was their seventh inspection. Ofsted was happy that all of LBB’s children were being safeguarded and action taken was proportionate. Ofsted was happy with Bromley’s staffing levels and were also satisfied that LBB was fulfilling the ‘caseload’ promise. LBB was looking to develop a new social work relationship model.  Ofsted felt that LBB had good joined up services. Ofsted would be publishing the letter on its website on 5th July.

RESOLVED that the update concerning child sexual exploitation and missing children be noted. 

The London Ambulance Service verbal update will be provided by Philip Powell—LAS Stakeholder Engagement Manager.

Mr Powell was not available to provide an update on the day, but subsequently provided the following post meeting update:

‘As a quick update the good news is that the LAS is now rated as ‘Good’ by the CQC and we are now out of special measures. This has clearly been achieved against a backdrop of some incredible hard work by the whole organisation.

It is also recognised that the LAS were rated as excellent for Care.

The Ambulance Response Programme is bedding in well and the South East as a whole is one of the best performing sectors for London.

Winter was a real challenge for the whole of the LAS and the NHS in general. We are now seeing some of the processes put in place during the winter, come to fruition. The pressure is easing but only slightly. Patient numbers attending hospital has not decreased’.

A brief update will be provided by Laurie Grasty—LBB Emergency Planning and Corporate Resilience Manager.

The Group noted the Resilience update briefing. There were no questions on the briefing on this occasion.

The Police update was given by Detective Superintendent Paul Warnett.

The Group was informed that the BCU (Basic Command Unit) would go live in its entirety on 19^th February. Local police teams dealing with matters such as rape and child abuse would be set up locally. Police officers had been invited to submit their preferences for where they would like to be based. The applications/preferences were now being processed. Five new Superintendents were now in place and a BCU update would be provided to LBB on 12^th July.

Mr Warnett expressed the view that the impact of the tri-borough BCU would be less in Bromley than in many other local authorities, and that most residents would not experience any difference in the way that the police carried out their duties. There would still be a CID unit in Bromley, together with two District Ward Officers in each ward. Neighbourhood policing would remain largely unchanged.

The Group heard that this year there had been an increase in knife crime; dedicated patrols had been set up to try and combat this. Extra weapons sweeps had been carried out and presentations had been given in various schools. Three targeted patrols had been undertaken by uniformed and plain clothes officers. Good interventions had taken place, and various weapons had been recovered, including knives, hammers and ammonia.

Mr Warnett mentioned the football World Cup which sometimes resulted in greater incidences of ASB and domestic violence, especially when England was playing. The Group was advised that over the last year, ASB offences had fallen by 6,000, which was a decrease of 18%. 

The Group was briefed around response times to I and S calls. I calls were the most urgent calls where a response was required within 15 minutes. S calls required a response of within one hour. I calls had been responded to within the target time in 88% of cases, and S calls within 85% of cases. The target response was to attend the calls within the time frame in 90% of cases.

Mr Warnett stated that gun crime was low in Bromley, and that the use of CS gas (tear gas) was more likely. A member asked if Bromley had a problem with ‘county lines’ and the answer to this was no. Sharon Baldwin asked how involved the BTP (British Transport Police) were with the MET in St Mary Cray. It was agreed that Ms Baldwin would discuss this matter with Mr Warnett outside of the meeting.

The Chairman enquired if the police were preparing for any spikes in crime during the summer months. Mr Warnett responded that the police were not particularly anticipating spikes in crime during the summer, with the possible exception of a limited rise in ASB. He pointed out that some of what the public may report as ‘nuisance’ was in some cases just kids being kids. Knife crime remained the overarching concern. 

Ms Baldwin mentioned that young people aged 10-14 needed somewhere where they could go  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The Safer Neighbourhood Board update will be provided by the Chairman of the Board, Sharon Baldwin.  

The SNB (Safer Neighbourhood Board) update was provided by the Board’s Chairman, Sharon Baldwin. The Group heard that the SNB now had a broader range of membership that was more representative of the local community. It was however still proving difficult to recruit members to the Safer Neighbourhood Panels. Ms Baldwin had arranged to meet with Jeff Boothe (Tri-Borough BCU Commander) to look at best practice. 

Ms Baldwin expressed the view that a restructure was required to improve the relationship between the SNB and associated panels, and that some direct restructuring of the panels themselves may also be required. The Neighbourhood Watch was working very well, but occasionally the work of the Safer Neighbourhood Panel appeared to be a duplication of effort, which meant that the local Safer Neighbourhood Teams had to respond to two similar groups of people with the same information.

Ms Baldwin updated the Group concerning the SNB community meeting in Hayes. There was good attendance from the public, and the presentation from Neighbourhood Watch was very good.  Many people at the meeting stated that they would like to see more officers on the beat. They felt that innovations with police working with IT equipment were going well.

Ms Baldwin raised a query with CCTV imagery. She stated that she had been informed that CCTV imagery was now only being delivered to the police directly, and not to anyone else. There was a possibility that the rules may have changed post GDPR. It was agreed that Ms Baldwin would speak to Joanne Stowell (LBB Assistant Director for Public Protection) concerning this after the meeting.

Mr Terry Belcher informed the Group that this would be the last meeting that he would be attending as he had other responsibilities to attend to. He would be undertaking more work with Neighbourhood Watch and with London Chairs. The Chairman expressed her thanks to Mr Belcher for his service, and it was noted that he would still be able to act as alternate for Ms Baldwin if required.

Mr Gooding felt that work was required so that the Safer Neighbourhood Teams and Safer Neighbourhood Board could feed in to the Safeguarding Board more easily. He expressed the view that Safer Neighbourhood Panels needed to be more professional. 

RESOLVED that the SNB update be noted.

Nicola Rees from the London Fire Brigade will present on LFB’s Youth Engagement Strategies.

A PowerPoint presentation on LFB Youth Engagement Strategies was provided by Nicola Rees (LFB Youth Engagement Co-ordinator).

Three youth engagement activities were undertaken which were:

·  Early Intervention—LIFE

·  Fire Cadets  (ages-14-17)

·  Junior Fire Cadets  (ages 11-13)

The Fire Cadets were a uniformed youth organisation and were externally funded. The Group heard that there were 14 units located in different parts of London, with 16 young people in each unit. The programme offered the opportunity to earn a BTEC 2 qualification. The Fire Cadets now had a path for progression and the programme helped them to develop their self-esteem, practical skills and personal development. The Group was informed about the benefits for participants, the local community and for volunteers. 

The Group heard that the Fire Cadets had been involved in fund raising for fire fighters and for local charities, and had collected money for homeless people at Christmas time. Ms Rees highlighted that her aim was to develop inter-generational work, also to develop peer education and to get involved in helping to build better community cohesion. The Fire Cadets were involved in much social media interaction.

Ms Rees mentioned that LFB was looking for volunteers to help with the work of the Fire Cadets and she outlined some of the benefits of working as a volunteer. Volunteers were recognised at an award ceremony, and mentoring opportunities existed. 

An update was also provided concerning the Junior Fire Cadets. The intention was that by participating in a positive cadet experience at this stage of their lives, the children would develop resilience, skills and be encouraged to become engaged citizens, contributing to positive activities in the local community. They were also provided with the basic skills required to keep safe.

An overview was provided of the aims and objectives of the LIFE courses. A LIFE course was regarded as a youth intervention programme. These courses were aimed at young people aged 14-17 who met one or more of the following criteria:

·  At risk of becoming involved in gangs, ASB or other criminal activity

·  Had been excluded from school

·  Had poor attendance at their educational provision 

·  Had been underperforming in school

·  Had been displaying challenging behaviour

·  Were not in education, employment or training.

The idea of the LIFE course was to positively impact and influence young people so that they made the right decisions and choices, before they made a decision that would negatively affect their future. The LFB employed a designated co-ordinator to deliver the work, and the LFB was one of the few organisations that was directly involved in trying to tackle gang violence and dis-engaged young people.

Ms Rees gave the example of a young person that had been referred from a school and attended a Life course at Bexley. The impact on this student was transformational, and the young person had become a Fire Cadet and also a member of the school student council. It was agreed that Mr Gooding would email the Chairman with details of the LIFE referral programme.

Referrals  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

It was noted that the LBB VAWG Commissioning Manager (Victoria Roberts) had recently left LBB had had not yet been replaced.

Mr Vale stayed that all VAWG projects were still running successfully and achieving their objectives. 

A report will be tabled on the day of the meeting.

Katie Nash (Acting Head of Service—London Probation Service) informed the Group  that  on  the  day sentencing had improved as Probation had improved capacity to complete on  the day reports. This meant that justice was swifter  and more efficient. A large restructure of NPS called OMIC (Offender  Management  in  Custody) was due to be implemented in 2019. This involved cases being managed by staff in the prison (probation and prison staff) up to 12 months before release. This was likely to mean less staff working in the offender management team in Bromley.

An update will be provided by Betty McDonald—LBB Head of Youth Offending Service.

The update was provided by Betty McDonald—(Head of Youth Support and Youth Offending Services).

1. Reducing first time entrants

The number of first time entrants entering the criminal justice system was tracked by the YOS for an annual period. The latest figures available were for the 12 month period—October 2016 to September 2017. Eighty Eight young people became first time entrants during Oct 2016 to Sep 2017. This was a 29.4% increase in the rate of first time entrants compared with previous year. An increase in knife related crime had contributed towards the increasing numbers of first time entrants, as knife related crimes are not eligible for triage. A triage intervention diverted a young person away from entering the criminal justice system and offered the young person a chance to engage in a voluntary intervention with YOS without going through the whole court process. Bromley’s rate of first time entrants was 26% lower than the average for London and 4% lower than the national average.

2.  Reoffending 

The YOS tracked a cohort of offenders who received a pre-court, or a court disposal or who were released from custody in a 12 month period. The latest figures available were for a 12 month period between April 2015 to March 2016. One hundred and ninety seven young people were sentenced between April 2015 and March 2016.

This cohort had reduced significantly since April 2011 where Bromley experienced highs with over 310 young people being sentenced. There had been a 36% reduction over a 4 year period.

Of the 197 young people sentenced between April 2015 and March 2016, 96 (48.7%) reoffended within a 1 year tracking period, with some committing over 4 offences within a year.

3. Reducing the use of custody

The YOS tracked the number of young people sentenced to custody in an annual period. The latest figures available were for the 12 month period of January 2017 to December 2017. Good performance was typified by a low figure.

Eight young people were sentenced to custody Between January 2017 and December 2018. Two young people had been sentenced to custody more than once throughout the year resulting in 11 custodial sentences. This was a 21% reduction on the same period last year (Jan 16 – Dec 16) and 30% below the London average. This performance was also 1% below the national average for custodial sentences.

Those sentenced to custody had committed drug related offences, joint burglaries and violence--causing severe injuries towards the victim. All 8 were assessed as medium to high risk and 6 would be supported by the YOS throughout their sentence. The longest serving sentence was for murder and this young person had been detained under her majesty's pleasure.

Ms McDonald stated that the YOS were in the process of making applications to the Young London Fund.

Ms Baldwin enquired if there was going to be a review undertaken with respect to a possible emerging gang problem, and if there was going to be a review, who  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16b

The ASB and Envirocrime update will be presented by Terry Gooding—Borough Fire Commander.

Mr Gooding informed the Group that a Community Action Day would take place in Mottingham the same day. A full statistical brief would be provided to the September meeting.

Fly tipping and ASB had reduced everywhere except for both the Cray Valley wards. There had been 9 weapon sweeps and three arrests made.

The last three months had seen operations undertaken in Mottingham, Penge and Cray Valley East. Fly tipped rubbish was down in Mottingham and Penge, but remained static in Cray Valley East. Nine weapons sweeps were made and two knives recovered. Three arrests were made for crime and one illegal immigrant was arrested. Thirty nine fire safety visits were carried out. One licensed premises was given a closure notice.

Arson remained under control except for the area around Star Lane. Mr Gooding contextualised the problem by stating that Bromley borough had the third highest arson figures across all London boroughs.

Clarion Housing had agreed to secure and demolish garages that were being used for the storing and maintaining of mopeds used for criminal activities.

It was noted that much fly tipped rubbish was located in the vicinity of Star Lane. However, caution was urged in apportioning blame for this solely on the Travelling Community. It was not always the case that the problem was caused by Travellers and many other people drove through the area that could also be fly-tippling. When cameras were installed, they were generally vandalised. It was noted that fly tipping also created an arson risk. Mr Gooding agreed to work with the police in supplying statistical data to assist the police with a targeted operation in the area.

Mr Gooding also mentioned the initiative of using firefighters on bikes to help identify potential sites for arson. He explained that this would require a speedier response by the council contractor in the removal of fly tipping and associated rubbish.

RESOLVED that the ASB and Envirocrime update be noted, and that a full statistical brief would be provided to the September meeting.

A communications update will be provided by Andrew Rogers—LBB Communications Executive.

The communications update was given by Andrew Rogers LBB Communications Executive).

The Group was informed that the date for the Crime Summit was 29^th September and would be held at the Civic Centre. Mr Rogers asked members what they would like to see in the latest edition of the Safer Bromley News, and to email him with any ideas that came mind.

It was noted that Mr Rogers was successfully disseminating good news stories, and if any partners had any good news stories that they would like to share they should liaise with Mr Rogers. 

A written MOPAC update had been provided by Lynne Abrams, as there was still no specific point of contact for Bromley representing MOPAC.

Members noted that £10m had been allocated to tranche 1 of the Co-Commissioning Fund. Forty three expressions of interest had been received by MOPAC of which eight went through into the development of full proposal stage. Funding was approved for four projects in Tranche 1, and money was left over which was subsequently used to fund a fifth project.

Tranche 2 of the Co-Commissioning Fund currently totalled £4.5m across two years (2019-2021). MOPAC was currently consulting partners on the prioritisation of the funding for tranche 2.  A formal decision on the prioritisation of the fund would be made in July and the tranche 2 application process would commence in September.

Work continued on the Mayor’s Knife Crime Strategy and broader measures to tackle violence. Forty three community projects had been awarded Knife Crime Seed funding this year,

A London Summit of MPs and Leaders was hosted by the Mayor on 10th April to ensure that the whole leadership of London was working with the MET to tackle the problems posed by knife crime and serious violence.

The Group was pleased to note that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime had met with the Managing Director of Google to ensure continued pressure on the social media organisation to remove online content glorifying violence and knife crime. MOPAC was also working alongside the Home Office to work with Facebook, Twitter, Snap and others. 

The Group was informed about the Young Londoners Fund. The total amount of funding available would be £45m over a three year period. Groups were now able to apply for a share of this year’s funding which totalled £15m. The funding would be provided for projects that offered skills, training, mentoring and helped young people aspire to reach their potential and avoid getting caught up in crime. Information and advice on how to apply for funding was available in the Young Londoners Fund prospectus at www.london.gov.uk/apply-young-londoners-fund.

The Group was pleased to note that on 10 May, a new Stalking Threat Assessment Centre had been launched.  The Centre was designed to be a centre of excellence; the Stalking Threat Assessment Centre (STAC) would offer a range of services from different agencies, all working together to combat stalking and to protect victims. The project would be overseen and managed by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, who would also be providing advocacy services to victims. The partnership approach would see three police forces, three NHS Trusts and charities, working together to pilot innovative responses to stalking through the Multi-Agency Stalking Intervention Programme (MASIP).

Mr Dunkley informed the Group that Bromley Changes had successfully tendered for a new contract and this would commence in December. 

The next meeting is scheduled for 6^th September at 10.00am.

It was confirmed that the next meeting was scheduled for Thursday 6^th September at 10.00am.