Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Lucien Spencer, Louise Watkinson, Richard Baldwin, Vicky West and Betty McDonald.

Emily Wren, Amanda Mumford and Finola O’ Driscoll attended virtually.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21^st September 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

CSD23153

It had been noted previously that there were high levels of burglary in certain areas like the Crays and Penge. Some impact had been made in slowing the pace of this because of work undertaken by the police; the situation was being closely monitored.

With respect to shoplifting and the intimidation of shopkeepers, a meeting of the Retail Crime Working Group was scheduled for 16^th January 2024. The Working Group would consist of representatives from the police, LFB, the local authority, the local community and academia. The aim was to analyse what the problems and issues were and to work out solutions. The Superintendent was optimistic of positive outcomes.

Regarding the possibility of PCSOs visiting Children and Family Centres, the issue that needed to be resolved was the fact that regular visits of this nature would require enhanced vetting, and the funding to undertake this vetting. The Superintendent was still looking into this. It could be the case that  standard police vetting clearance may suffice if the visiting was not on a regular basis. The LFB Commander said that in this regard some joined up working could be undertaken with the police. 

The Board was briefed that a new version of the DVPN was being trialled in Bromley which would give more scope for the police to use mitigation measures. It was noted that the Strategic Assessment for 2023 was in its final stage and that the Board should now focus on the development of the new Strategy.

It was noted that an update had been planned concerning the merging of the Domestic Abuse Strategic Group into the SBP. This item was deferred to the next meeting.

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising Report be noted. 

The LBB Public Protection Project Officer stated that this was an item for noting. An update had been provided concerning Community Impact Days. The Board was informed that project funding had been provided to run Community Impact Days in smaller areas in the Spring. 

A discussion took place regarding the format of the meeting going forward, and whether the meeting should be divided into Part 1 and Part 2, or whether it should just be a private meeting due to the sensitive nature of some of the matters that may be discussed. The LBB Public Protection Project Officer stated that the meetings of the SBP should be private meetings. The public must be consulted in terms of the development of the Safer Bromley Strategy, but the SBP meetings themselves should be private. The SBP should decide for itself how best to engage with the public and this should be determined as part of the on-going SBP engagement strategy which would be established through the strategy delivery plan. 

It was agreed that this was a matter that could be allocated to the Forward Plan to be discussed at the February 2024 meeting, as part of the discussion regarding the development of the new SBP terms of reference. 

RESOLVED that the Quarter 2 update be noted and that at the next meeting, the format of the SBP meetings going forward should be discussed and finalised. 

The Board was updated as follows.

There had been a slight decrease in violence with injury figures which was  0.1%; over the whole of London it had gone up by 1.8%. There had been a short spate of knife related incidences which had meant that the knife crime figures had increased by 16.5%. Sexual offences had remained roughly constant with a slight increase of 0.8% and hate crime was down by 1.1%. There had been a small increase in domestic abuse of 1.3% and domestic burglary was up by 2.7%. Vehicle offences were generally down by 13.2%.

A member requested that these briefings be included in the agenda pack next time. Superintendent Baldock said that he was happy for the Crime Update to be included in the agenda pack going forward, and this would enable members of the Board to consider beforehand any questions or issues they would like to raise. It was noted that this information was publicly available.

RESOLVED that the Crime Update be noted and that going forward the Crime Update would be included in the agenda pack.   

The LBB Project Manager for Public Protection introduced the Draft Strategy outline and Delivery Plan for the future SBP Strategy. The current Strategy focused on Safer Neighbourhoods, VAWG,  Keeping Young People Safe and Standing Together Against Hate Crime and Extremism. She explained that the SBP was now in the process of developing the new Community Safety Strategy for 2024-27. The new Strategy was being formulated based on the findings of the Annual Strategic Assessment.  It was noted that the findings of the Strategic Assessment 2023 were considered by attendees from statutory agencies and community and voluntary sector partners who attended the Safer Bromley Partnership Strategy Development Workshop on 16th November 2023. The following priorities were decided:

·  Prevention: Being Stronger together.

·  People: Protecting People.

·  Places: Resilient Communities. 

The Board discussed the draft ‘Plan on a Page’ for the new Community Safety Strategy. The view was expressed that some of the data was unnecessary and would change over the life of the Strategy, so was not required in this document, and that the focus should be on the three new priorities. The LBB Project Manager for Public Protection agreed to change the format.

It was noted that a local definition of ‘serious violence’ was required. This would need to be relevant to Bromley; for example, Bromley did not have the same gangs profile as other boroughs. The Head of Safer Communities referred to the London Council’s minimum definition for London which is ‘Any violence and exploitation affecting young people under the age of 25, domestic abuse, and sexual violence.’ This could be expanded by local areas if necessary.

The Assistant Director, (Children’s Social Care Safeguarding & Care Planning Services) stated that the matter of children coming into care had to be considered as this was a serious and expensive issue.

Another issue for consideration in the Strategy was how to combat the negative use of social media. The Assistant Director felt that videos of crime on social media acted as a ‘feeder’, in that it could encourage further crime.

It was noted that the SBP needed a high-level strategic approach that included media, online crime and abuse. Consideration should also be given to the wider effect of crime on communities. Another view was expressed that social media was a global issue and was beyond the ability of the SBP to significantly influence.

It was acknowledged that in developing the Strategy, extra resources, including officer time and funding may be required. The delivery plan should be ambitious but deliverable, and when determining the resources required, if these were too extensive the scope of the project should be revised to be more achievable. No budgetary issues had been noted in the Draft Strategy and it was important to understand the assets and resources available to the SBP. 

Future updates on the Delivery Plan would be provided in an exception report format, with the identified leads providing the progress update.  The SBP would be asked to focus on the areas identified as performing exceptionally well  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

This item provides a roundtable update from all partners on developments in relation to performance and emerging issues.

The Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB) update was provided by the SNB Chairman, Sharon Baldwin. She said that since the last meeting of the SBP,  the Autumn Crime Summit had been held. This had taken place on Saturday, October 14^th 2023. She expressed her thanks to all who had supported the event, especially Luke Baldock, Chris Lyon, Cllr Angela Page and Council Officers. There was excellent feedback from the public who continued to welcome this style of public engagement. The Spring meeting of the SNB would be held in March 2024 and details would be sent out in January.

After a lengthy delay with MOPAC’s (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime), new financial procedures, the SNB project funding for the current program had been received. The SNB Program was designed in response to community concerns that had been highlighted at the previous Crime Summit and from Ward Panels. This included funding an additional speed camera for use by panel members alongside their SNT (Safer Neighbourhood Team) Teams in targeted areas.

The ASB Conference planned for 11th March 2024 would bring together the public, police, LFB, Council, academics and those targeted by or previously involved in ASB behaviour. The aim was to better understand what partners collectively meant by ‘ASB’, and its subsequent impact on individuals and neighbourhoods, financially, environmentally, and socially. The aim of the conference would also be to work out local solutions to prevent and resolve ASB. Additional funding to support the expansion of Community Impact Days to smaller towns and areas of greatest need had been received.

The project funded in the Autumn was the theatre performance regarding ‘County Lines’ for ten schools across the Borough. This was a very powerful and engaging way of communicating the dangers that young people could be exposed to.

As Chair of LCP2 (The London Communities Policing Partnership--the pan-London body representing all SNBs) Ms Baldwin had been working with senior officers responsible for Neighbourhood Policing, as well as meeting with the Deputy Commissioner, Dame Lynne Owens, to highlight the ongoing concerns around the MET’s ability to deliver the promise of the best ever Neighbourhood Policing Programme.

The SNB Chairman said that it was good to hear that the Met was committed to the Ward Panel structure, and that their focus would be on ensuring community engagement was part of, and not an addition to the role of SNT officers. The appointment of Borough Superintendents was a key initiative in the Commissioner’s vision for an improvement in re-building local knowledge, and for developing local solutions.

The SNB Chairman expressed the view that Bromley was an  excellent example of partnership working, something not necessarily shared by other boroughs. This provided the opportunity to make collaborative decisions that would directly and positively impact on local communities.

Funding for 2024/25 would be approved by MOPAC in February 2024. Although not confirmed, it was likely to be similar in scale to the current £15k and targeted to three community projects.

In the meantime any ideas /  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89.

This item was deferred to the next meeting.

The LBB Project Manager for Public Protection stated that the Forward Plan was collaborative and that suggestions were welcome for future items. Items could then be scheduled properly. It was noted that there would be items regarding Community Impact Days and a Domestic Abuse update on the February agenda. It was noted that there may be a Domestic Homicide Review to sign off in February. It was felt that the dissemination of a ‘Directory’ showing who was leading in various areas would be useful. It was intended that more information going forward would be disseminated online.

Superintendent Baldock mentioned that if the Vagrancy Act achieved Royal Assent, then this would change how the Partnership dealt with rough sleepers and beggars. The LBB Project Manager for Public Protection said that she could disseminate a list of proposed legislation and what stage particular Bills were at. There was general agreement that the Partnership had to consider how it could most effectively work in a joined up and collaborative manner. 

RESOLVED that the update regarding the Forward Plan be noted and that the LBB Project Manager for Public Protection disseminate a list of proposed Bills/Legislative Changes with a note on what stage the Bill was at. 

The next meeting will at the Civic Centre on 29^th February 2024 at 10am

It was confirmed that the next meeting would be held at Bromley Civic Centre at 10 am on 29^th February 2024.