Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Bromley Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Steve Wood  020 8313 4316

Items
No. Item

71.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from David Dare, Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain, Helen Andrews, Vicky West, Dean Laws, Claire Lewin Farrell, Rebecca Saunders, Richard Baldwin, Emily Wren, Mimi Morris Cotterill, Jared Nehra, Finola O’ Driscoll, Cllr Kathy Bance, Christine White and Sarah Newman.

 

Apologies were also received from Dina Sahmanovic and Zuzanna Krzemien attended as substitute.   

 

The LBB Programme Lead – Substance Misuse (attended as a substitute for Mini Morris Cotterill).

 

 

72.

DECLARATIONS ON INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

73.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2nd JUNE 2023 pdf icon PDF 367 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 2nd June 2023 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

 

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74.

MATTERS ARISING pdf icon PDF 149 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

CSD23121

 

The Board noted the Matters Arising report.

 

An update was provided concerning progress made against the Safer Bromley Partnership Strategy and the nature of the Board’s engagement with the Home Office with respect to DHRs (Domestic Homicide Reviews).

 

The SBP had previously engaged with the Home Office during a current DHR where the deceased took their life by way of suicide. Concerns were raised about the language, how a domestic homicide review in certain cases of suicide could impact the recovery and wellbeing of the children of the deceased, and the need for the guidance to be reviewed in the case of suicide. Currently, the guidance provided a few lines of definition only. Similar observations were expressed in a letter from the Bromley Safeguarding Children’s Partnership in March this year.

 

The Home Office had since consulted on a review of the legislation and a response had been provided on behalf of the Partnership. The consultation included an acknowledgment that the name ‘Domestic Homicide Review’ could be misleading when the fatality had not been ruled as a homicide, such as suicides and unexplained deaths. An option was to offer an alternative name for non-homicides, in particular “Domestic Abuse Fatality Review”.

 

With regards to the guidance, the Home Office was continuing to redraft the statutory guidance and was grateful for Bromley’s feedback regarding its experiences of the DHR process, and how the next version of the guidance could be strengthened. The Home Office would be formally consulting on the statutory guidance later this year.

 

An update was provided concerning VVRAPs: Violence and Vulnerability Reduction Action Plans. These plans set out evidence based actions which tackled factors contributing to violence and vulnerability. The Violence Reduction Unit had recently updated the plans to align with research, emerging themes and good practice. The new action plan strengthened work towards the VRU priorities of reducing harm, and creating opportunities for children and young people, families, education, and community.

 

On 24th August, the latest version of the VVRAP was received. It was structured in the same way as the previous version; it had a section for actions, and a list of optional actions which boroughs might consider adopting. Details of new actions could also be added to the Plan. There was a new section which recognised the importance of tackling violence against women and girls, but many of the actions were similar to those in the previous version.

 

A update was provided regarding Knife Amnesty Bins:

 

Between April 2022 and April 2023  610 potential weapons collected from both bins.

 

From the bin in Walters Yard in Bromley, 347 potential weapons had been collected and from the bin in Station Road Anerley, 263 potential weapons had been collected.

 

It was noted that the Community Safety Website was still in the process of being updated.

 

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising Report be noted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

75.

SAFER BROMLEY PARTNERSHIP 2023/2024 QUARTER 1 (April - June 2023) UPDATE pdf icon PDF 288 KB

Minutes:

Partners noted the April-June 2023 Quarter 1 SBP update.  

76.

POLICE UPDATE

Minutes:

Superintendent Luke Baldock (Joint Chairman) attended to provide the Police update.

 

The Superintendent stated that he wanted to ‘dig in’ and understand individual problems in each ward and work was commencing to this effect. His aim was that a crime profile could be established for each Ward. A ‘data dive’ would then be undertaken to try and understand the key issues in each Ward and to see if the data dive met with the reality and current perceptions on the ground. So in essence, the Police were moving to a problem based system to identify problems and then undertaking the appropriate actions. The Superintendent said that he would take co-responsibility for a problem in each ward.

 

Partners were informed that a new speed gun was being acquired in an attempt to address the speeding problem that had been identified within the Borough. An ASB conference was due to take place in February/March 2024. The purpose of this was to better understand issues across the Borough with respect to ASB.

 

The Police Tactical Task and Action Group had identified that there was a disproportionately high victimisation of Bromley school children with respect to robbery, when compared with Sutton and Croydon. The Police would be working with the Education Department to implement awareness campaigns to help children understand how to keep themselves and their property safe.

 

It seemed that there was an emerging issue of burglary within the Borough, particularly in certain wards like Penge and the Crays and Superintendent Baldock was asking his officers to look into this further.

 

Some events were mentioned, like the recent attendance of the Met Commissioner, who introduced the new ‘Met for London Plan’. It was noted that the Crime Summit would be held in October. Superintendent Baldock was booking in public meetings, so that the police could speak to local communities. He had already attended a meeting in Biggin Hill; a meeting was booked in Chislehurst and he would be speaking in Plaistow soon.

 

There was no indication at this time that any of the recent violent incidents were linked. Superintendent Baldock said that it was the practise of local officers that they would be more visibly present in communities after these incidents, to provide assurance and that the local knowledge of Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) was often invaluable. It was noted that the local knowledge of a SNT had recently led to a suspect being identified via CCTV.

 

The Assistant Director for Housing mentioned that the Council had a large temporary accommodation unit in the Plaistow area, and she asked if any of the incidences discussed at the meeting had been linked to the unit.  Superintendent Baldock responded that at this time there was no indication that there was any link with the temporary accommodation unit. A discussion took place as to how the police would patrol parks and local spaces and it was noted that the misuse of nitrous oxide was a national problem and that the Government was considering new legislation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

77.

PRESENTATION ON THE COMMUNITY SAFETY ASSESSMENT

Minutes:

The Projects Manager for Environment and Public Protection presented the draft version of the Community Safety Strategic Assessment.  The Board heard that previous strategic assessments had focused on crime and the police. The idea of this draft, was that a more holistic approach involving all partners be adopted to try and minimise the volume of matters that ended up with the police. The idea was that the Assessment would identify trends that would aid in the formulation and agreement around the priorities for the future Safer Bromley Strategy. It was acknowledged that in certain areas there were knowledge gaps where more data was required.

 

Once the Safer Bromley Strategy had been finalised, then Task and Finish Groups would be established to deliver the strategic priorities. It was suggested that a ‘Workshop’ be scheduled to finalise the Strategic Assessment, consider the strategic priorities, key deliverables and delivery structure.

 

The Community Safety Assessment Document would not be published until all Partners agreed with its contents. The Assistant Director for Public Protection (and Co-Chairman) stated that this was a document that was owned by all  Partners, and so it was essential that all Partners agreed with its contents.  The Vice Chairman expressed the view that the document was very crime and police orientated. He pointed out that LFB had a statutory responsibility to produce a community based Risk Management Plan. This had not been incorporated into the Assessment and covered a much wider remit of matters that were considered as community safety and he expressed the view that these should be reflected in the Assessment. Consideration would need to be applied across the board to take into account business crime, transport infrastructure and input from the voluntary sector. Partners were encouraged to consider what sources could be used to fill knowledge gaps. The SBP was asked to focus on where there was the highest need for improvement and where resources could be used to achieve the greatest  impact.  

 

The Adult Safeguarding Manager (NHS South East London Clinical Commissioning Group) commented that consideration would need to be applied to the relevant legislation under the Crime and Disorder Act and that there should be some consultation with the public in the process of determining priorities. Care should be taken to avoid duplicating the work of existing Boards. 

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1) The Draft Community Safety Strategic Assessment document be noted and that a focused Workshop be arranged to take place, to finalise the Community Safety Strategic Assessment and develop the Strategy.

 

2) Partners should consider the contributions that they could make in determining the final version of the overarching strategic document and if the usual attendees were not able to attend on 10th November, then they should ensure that they arranged for a substitute to attend. 

78.

NEXT STEPS

Minutes:

As previously noted, ‘next steps’ would consist of finalising the draft Strategy and the formal setting up of a delivery structure. It was suggested that a Workshop would be required to establish high level actions. The Terms of Reference for the SBP and its Constitution would also need to be amended. The Workshop would need to be very focused. It was intended that there would  be a public consultation on the proposed strategic priorities before the Strategy was finalised.

 

79.

SAFER NEIGHBOURHOOD BOARD UPDATE

Minutes:

The Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB) update was provided by its Chairman, Sharon Baldwin.

 

The SNB was considering ways of encouraging community support and participation, and was also considering options to improve Ward Panels. Consideration would need to be applied as to who specifically should be members of Ward Panels. The SNB Chairman expressed the view that it would be good to finalise the publication of the Police Safer Neighbourhood Team contact details, to facilitate better engagement with the public. Partners were reminded that the Crime Summit would take place on the 14th of October at Bromley Civic Centre.

 

The Board was briefed concerning three projects for which MOPAC funding had been received:

 

·  A new Speed Gun

·  An ASB Youth Conference scheduled for the Spring.

·  A Safer Streets campaign.

 

The SNB Chairman had been asked to contribute to the drafting of a new Stop and Search Charter.

 

RESOLVED that the SNB update be noted.

 

 

80.

DOMESTIC ABUSE STRATEGIC GROUP

Minutes:

It was proposed that the current Domestic Abuse Strategic Group be incorporated into the Safer Bromley Partnership. This would have the advantage of saving officer time and of avoiding duplication. The Assistant Director of Public Protection felt that the nature of the Safer Bromley Partnership meetings should change, as they were often too rushed. She suggested a longer meeting with a break in between, which would give more time for discussion and networking.

 

It was noted that although the minutes of the Safer Bromley Partnership were published on the Bromley Council Website, the meeting itself was not a public meeting. The Assistant Director suggested that due to the sensitive nature of some of the matters discussed by the Board, it may be useful to adopt a similar process used by scrutiny committees, and that there should be a ‘part one’ and a ‘part two’ meeting, where the ‘part two’ meeting would be private and confidential. This idea was supported by the joint Chairmen, and also by Councillor Alisa Igoe. The Assistant Director of Housing said that she would prefer a meeting that was not separated into two parts to maintain the flow of the conversation. The NHS Adult Safeguarding Manager commented that he would not wish to lose the importance of the domestic abuse agenda, now that it had gained momentum. Partners expressed frustration regarding the budgetary constraints that domestic abuse operated under.

 

The Assistant Director decided that the next meeting would run as one longer meeting, which would not be split into two and clarity would be provided on what could be recorded in the public minutes. A discussion arose as to whether or not the Safer Bromley Partnership was a public meeting and the Assistant Director for Public Protection, stated that in her view it was definitely not a public meeting and indeed was not suitable to be a public meeting. It was pointed out that the Safer Bromley Partnership was subject to scrutiny by the Public Protection and Enforcement Scrutiny Committee.

 

RESOLVED that the Domestic Abuse Strategic update be noted and that the next meeting of the SBP would be longer to allow more time for discussion and  networking.

81.

FORWARD PLAN

Minutes:

The Assistant Director for Public Protection said that at the Workshop, she would like to give consideration regarding the membership of the Safer Bromley Partnership Board to ensure that all relevant organisations were represented. The Terms of Reference would also be considered and amended as required. The Assistant Director stated that it was important that the representatives from all partner organisations turn up and attend the meetings. It was also important that the agenda be relevant and be a productive use of time. It was anticipated that the meeting in December would likely be a time where feedback would be received from the Workshop.

 

Reference was made to the fact that Bromley was piloting the new Domestic Violence Protection Notice (DVPN) scheme in spring 2024, and that it would be useful to have an update regarding this at the December meeting. Superintendent Baldock said that he would see if he could arrange a short presentation regarding this.

 

The Assistant Director for Public Protection requested that the proposals made regarding the incorporation of the Domestic Abuse Strategic Group into the Safer Bromley Partnership be fed back to the Domestic Abuse Operational Board and that feedback be provided to Partners.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1) At the Workshop, there would be a review of the SBP’s TOR and Membership.

 

2) If possible, an update on the new DVPN Pilot scheme be brought to the December meeting.

 

3) The proposed incorporation of the Domestic Abuse Strategic Group into the SBP be advised to the Domestic Abuse Strategic Board and their feedback provided to Partners.   

82.

DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be held at Bromley Civic Centre at 10am on 6th December 2023

 

Minutes:

The next meeting will take place at Bromley Civic Centre on 6th December at 10.00am