Apologies were received from Councillor Richard Williams, and Councillor Vanessa Allen attended as substitute. 

Apologies were received from Alf Kennedy, and Councillor Mary Cooke.

There were no declarations of interest.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee 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 5pm on Wednesday 28^th February 2018.

There were no questions  received from Councillors or Members of the Public.

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting of Public Protection and Safety PDS Committee held on 16^th January 2018.

A Member drew attention to minute 64, paragraph 12. This was in relation to the paragraph dealing with business continuity and resilience. The last sentence in the paragraph read as follows: ‘It was noted that the mechanisms used for emergency planning and business continuity were similar, as were the skill sets.’ It was requested that the sentence be extended to include the phrase, ‘but they were separate in their very nature’.

So the final sentence in the paragraph was changed to read as follows:

‘It was noted that the mechanisms used for emergency planning and business continuity were similar, as were the skill sets, but they were separate in their very nature’.  

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th January 2018 be agreed and signed as a correct record with the proviso that the minutes be adjusted as outlined above.

CSD 18043

The Committee noted the matters arising from previous meetings.  

The Chairman referred to Minute 60 (Police Update) where it had been requested that going forward there should be a distinction made between the burglaries of houses and outbuildings. Detective Superintendent Warnett explained that due to a request from the Home Office, sheds and garages were now grouped together in the same statistical group as houses. He explained that accessing the data requested was not a single task due to limitations in the police recording system. An analyst had been used to look at the burglary figures between December 2017 and February 2018. This had showed that just 3% of burglaries were connected to outbuildings.

Minute 60 had also requested that performance data relating to the response to emergency calls should be reported back to future Committee meetings. Mr Warnett informed the Committee that the most urgent response calls were categorised as ‘I’ calls, and that the next tier of emergency response calls were categorised as ‘S’ calls. Both sets of calls had a KPI response time of 90%. The response time to ‘I’ calls had been achieved in 89.1% of cases, and the response time to ‘S’ calls had been achieved in 84.5% of cases. 

The matters arising for Minute 60 also required a third response. This was the request from Councillor Cartwright to receive ASB data at Ward level. The Committee was informed that as this information was generally available at a Borough level; an analyst had been requested to break down the data into Ward levels. The data from this process would be available in due course, but was not available on the night. Councillor Cartwright expressed concern at the difficulties that had been experienced in obtaining crime data for Wards.

Mr Warnett had tabled a printout from the police.uk website. He explained that in future, Councillors would be able to go to the website and look at crimes that had been committed in individual Wards. The website would change daily as the data would change in real time. Councillor Cartwright stated that if the data was continually changing, then trends should be looked at instead.   

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising Report be noted.

The Chairman informed the Committee that she had attended a visit to the Victim Support Head Office at Hannibal House on January 22^nd with several other Committee members. 

The police update was provided by Detective Superintendent Paul Warnett. 

It was noted that Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe would assume operational command of the tri-borough BCU (Basic Command Unit) from 19th March 2018. Five Superintendents would work underneath the Chief Superintendent and would be assigned their own portfolios that they could design and develop. The BCU would not go ‘live’ until November 2018. 

It was noted that although the overall number of non-domestic VWI (Violence with Injury) offences had decreased by 8%, the number of more serious VWI offences had increased. There was a concern that the number of injuries from knife related crime were disproportionate considering the demographics of the Borough. There seemed to be a concentration of gang and knife crime in the Penge area. The Committee noted that on 3^rd March, a sub machine gun and a pistol had been recovered from the area. Bromley Police were working closely with officers from Trident, and an officer from Trident had been recruited as Bromley Police’s Gang Partnership Officer.   

Dealing with residential burglaries was a focus area for the Police as there had been an increase in the number of residential burglaries of 44% over the last 12 months. ASB figures had decreased but there was still a host of ongoing issues.

A Member who was not present at the previous meeting asked why Bromley Police had lost 5 cars. Mr Warnett explained that over the MET, it had been calculated that 170 cars were under-utilised. In Bromley, this equated to one area car and four administrative cars. There had been no decrease in performance. The Member expressed concerns over the loss of the area car, especially given Bromley’s demographics. Mr Warnett explained that Bromley Police still had an area car and a rapid response car. The vehicles that had been disposed of were under-utilised and therefore not cost effective.

A Member commented that his ward officers had to use buses and asked why they did not have access to a vehicle. Mr Warnett answered that Inspector Byfield decided where cars were allocated. 

The Committee was briefed on response rates to 999 calls.

Mr Warnett explained that there were two classifications of emergency response—these were ‘I Grade’ calls and ‘S’ grade calls. ‘I’ Grade calls required an immediate response with attendance within 15 minutes—the target for this is to respond to the calls in this timeframe in 90% of cases. During 2017-2018 Bromley Police had responded to ‘I’ Grade calls within the timescale in 89.1% of cases. 

‘S’Grade calls required a response within 1 hour—again the target was to achieve this response in 90% of cases. For 2017-2018 the response time was achieved in 84.5% of cases.

Mr Warnett updated the Committee regarding the ‘Stop and Search’ policy. Between January 2017 and January 2018, Bromley Police had recorded 3066 stop and searches. The majority of these were for drugs (1309), weapons (618), and stolen property (594). The primary demographic of those stopped were white males aged between 15  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.

Danie Gordon attended with members of Bromley Youth Council, who presented on their latest campaign. Attending from BYC were Emily Warnham, Katie Bacon, Seejay Brown, Jacob Eyers, Ruth Freema and Katie-Rose Plaxton.

As a result of the Manifesto Event in 2017, it was decided to campaign and facilitate positive change for young people in Bromley on the following issues: 

Primary Area: Young People’s Sexuality & Identity.

Secondary Campaign Area: Youth Crime & Gang Culture.

On the evening of the PDS meeting, BYC presented on the secondary campaign area, which was youth crime and gang culture.

Young people identified Youth Crime and Gang Culture as a secondary campaign area at the BYC Manifesto Event 2017.  Particular areas of concern for young people included:

·  Young people discussed issues about the lack of awareness and education around joining gangs and becoming involved in criminal activities; carrying weapons and engaging in inappropriate relationships.

·  Young people recognised there was gang activity in Bromley and wanted to explore how Bromley had become an emerging gang borough. They also wanted to explore the data concerning the number of young people involved in gangs and in the criminal justice system.

·  Young people were interested in how schools, Safeguarding Officers, the Police, the Youth Offending Service and local services came together to share intelligence on vulnerable young people joining gangs or gang activity and also the prevention work that was undertaken.

As part of the research BYC undertook the following activities:

·  Conducted an online survey of youth crime and gang culture and met with the ATLAS team, a new specialist team in the Borough set up to tackle missing youths; gangs and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

·  Met with Betty McDonald, Head of Youth Support and Youth Offending Services. BYC were able to discuss the role of the Youth Offending Service and challenge the gaps existing between services working together and sharing appropriate information.

·  Met with Sarah Armstrong from ‘Say No to Knives’, a local campaigner.

·  Participated in several workshops on Gang education to widen knowledge and understanding of youth gangs. Researched and began designing posters to raise awareness amongst young people to deter them from joining a gang and highlight CSE within the gang culture.

BYC was keen to make the campaign hard-hitting and practical as well as directly influencing young people in the Borough.

The idea was to facilitate a conference where young people would be invited to attend; young people would be made aware of statistics and information with the aim of deterring them from lives of crime and gangs.

The funding for this campaign came from the Youth Offending Service (YOS), The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Bromley Youth Support Programme (BYSP). BYC learnt that the Bromley Borough was active in tackling the issue of crime and gang culture.

Additionally, BYC learnt that young people’s perception of crime and gang culture was dependent on where they lived and went to school in the Borough.

Eighty two percent of young people who took the survey  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

ES 18023

The report dealing with adults who misuse drugs was written by Helen Buttivant, LBB Consultant in Public Health.

The report had been drafted to provide the Committee with the findings of a health needs assessment concerning the population of adults in Bromley that had issues with problematic drug use.

No decision was required by the Committee or the Portfolio Holder—the report had been submitted to the Committee for information only. The report was part of the JSNA (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment). 

The Committee was informed that Bromley had the 7^th lowest estimated rate of opiate and or crack use in the region. However much of the other data revealed in the report gave the Committee cause for concern.

·  The estimated consumption rate for opiate and/or crack use in young people in Bromley (aged 15-24) was higher than the national average

·  Opiate and or crack misuse was also rising in the older population

·  The rate of hospital admissions for substance misuse in young people in Bromley was significantly higher than the national average

·  In 2016/17 there were 100 children living in the Borough who were known to be living with people known to be misusing drugs

It was noted that hospital admission rates for substance misuse in Bromley correlated positively with levels of socioeconomic deprivation. Another cause for concern was that although the illicit use of drugs was increasing, the number of people entering treatment was decreasing. The Committee was also concerned to learn that the estimated level of unmet need in Bromley was much higher than the national average and that 63% of drug users in Bromley were not known to treatment services. A further cause for concern was that Bromley had a higher proportion (37%) of new clients presenting with a co-occurring mental health condition—the average for the rest of England was 24%. 

The Committee noted that people also presented to drug treatment services with problems related to prescription drugs, and over the counter medication. The lowest proportion of successful treatment for drug misuse was in connection with opiate abuse.

The Committee was appraised that the estimated socio-economic costs for drug misuse in England was estimated at £10.7 billion. The Committee heard that drug misuse was a cause and consequence of wider factors which included physical and mental health as well as other determinants.

The report noted that the proportion of people in treatment with entrenched dependence and complex needs, particularly heroin users, would increase. It was also expected that the number of deaths of older heroin users was also going to rise.

Ms Buttivant explained to Members that the report that was being presented to them would be analysed. Out of this, recommendations would be provided to inform the planned procurement of substance misuse services for adults, children and young people in Bromley in 2018.

The Committee heard that unemployment and housing problems had a marked negative effect on treatment outcomes, and that these factors would exacerbate the risk that someone would relapse after treatment.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82.

Attending to present on behalf of the LAS (London Ambulance Service) were Philip Powell and Darren Farmer. Mr Powell was the Stakeholder Engagement Manager for South East London; Mr Farmer was the Assistant Director of Operations for South East London.   

The Committee heard that the LAS served all areas of London which included 32 CCGs and 41 NHS Trusts.

The Committee was provided with the following data:

·  1.9m calls were made to the LAS in the previous year

·  There had been a 47% increase in life threatening calls since 2010

·  104 new ambulances were now in service

·  167 new frontline staff had been recruited since June 2015

·  20 specialist centres existed to deal with trauma, heart attack and stroke

·  LAS treat 3500 patients over the phone every week without the need to send an ambulance

Members were appraised concerning various means by which the LAS cared for London:

•  999 emergency and urgent care response – delivered using traditional and innovative means e.g. Cycle Response Unit

•  Intelligent Conveyance

•  111 Services

•  Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response

Mr Powell explained what was meant by ‘intelligent conveyancing’.

All accident and emergency departments experience peaks and troughs in pressure, often associated with the number of arrivals by ambulance. This could mean unnecessarily long waits for patients to be treated, with the possibility that they would breach the four hour target for treatment, admission or discharge, and increased pressure on staff. It could also mean that hospitals faced sudden demands for large numbers of beds for admitted patients.

Last year, London Ambulance Service and its commissioners proposed a solution that would redirect ambulances away from the hardest pressed departments to ones that were less busy.

‘Intelligent conveyancing’ involved an agreed maximum number of ambulances per hour arriving at each emergency department. Public and healthcare staff are already used to the idea that an ambulance may take patients to a more distant emergency department if it had better facilities for serious conditions, such as stroke or major trauma.

‘Intelligent conveyancing’ takes this one step further by avoiding departments that are known to be under pressure, with potential benefits for both the NHS and the patients.

Patients going to a specialist unit are excluded, along with patients receiving ongoing care from a particular hospital and those who might have an extended length of stay as a result of being taken to a distant hospital; for example, because their care package would be hard to restart.

Intelligent conveyancing involves an agreed maximum number of ambulances per hour arriving at each emergency department with any beyond this diverted to other local emergency departments that have not met their maximum and therefore have “spare” capacity.

The public and healthcare staff are already used to the idea that an ambulance may take patients to a more distant emergency department if it has better facilities for serious conditions, such as stroke or major trauma.

“Intelligent conveyancing” takes this one step further by avoiding departments that are known to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

Eleanor Bateman attended to present on behalf of SLaM (South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust). Ms Bateman was the Service Director for the Addictions & Behavioural and Developmental Psychiatry Clinical Academic Group. Attending with Ms Bateman to present and answer questions were Professor Thomas Fahy (Clinical Director) and Dr Michael Holland (Medical Director).

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust provided the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK. The Committee heard that staffing levels had been increased and plans were in place to improve service quality.

Substance misuse services were also provided for people who were addicted to drugs and alcohol. Services included the Maudsley Hospital and Bethlem Royal Hospital. The CQC overall rating for January 2016 was ‘good’.

Bethlem Royal Hospital is based in 260 acres of green space in Beckenham, South London. It is the oldest psychiatric hospital in the world and home to a number of specialist services for people from across the UK who had been diagnosed with a mental disorder.

Reference was made to the Channel 4 programme ‘Life on the Psych Ward’ which would take viewers inside River House, a specialist forensic unit where  staff worked to ensure that offenders with mental health problems were assessed and treated effectively, in a secure environment. The objective was to manage risk, reduce further offending and support recovery throughout the person’s stay.  DVDs of the programme could be sent out on request.

Many of the patients on these forensic wards were sent to Bethlem from prison and referrals could range from those who had committed minor offences to serious crimes. Patients were also referred from psychiatric services where there may be a concern about the level of risk that they could pose. Qualified staff balanced the needs of the offender with the risk to the public. They delivered a wide variety of one-to-one and group treatment programmes in state of the art facilities and because of this were able to discharge the majority of patients safe and well back into the community.

The Committee heard that a partnership had been set up with South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust in an attempt to benefit from shared learning and knowledge. Forensic initiatives were being developed, along with improved care pathways. Work was ongoing to improve the access to care for CAMHS services.

The Committee was briefed that no escapes had occurred in the previous year, and a recent review of forensic services had placed them in the top 10% of forensic service providers. It was the case that out of 20,000 episodes of leave during the course of the year, only twenty three patients had failed to meet their curfew target. The target was regarded as being breached even if the patient was a few minutes late. In these instances, the Portfolio Holder and the Chairman were alerted.

RESOLVED that the SLaM update be noted.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee 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 5pm on February 28^th 2018.

There were no questions received from Councillors or Members of the Public for the Portfolio Holder.

The Portfolio Holder gave the following update:

There was going to be a meeting of the Safer Neighbourhood Board the following Thursday in Orpington. The Portfolio Holder thanked Councillor Kim Botting for helping to arrange the venue. The venue was located as close to Ramsden as possible to address the recent issues there. Following the last Safer Bromley Partnership meeting where the Fire Borough Commander (Terry Gooding) suggested a LIFE course out of Orpington Fire Station to tackle the problems, funding had been found for a LIFE course from Clarion Housing Group.

Last month the Tri-Borough Commander Jeff Boothe came to Bromley at his request to meet with the Leader, Chief Executive and the Portfolio Holder. Following this meeting, he confirmed that he was able to attend the SNB's Crime Summit which would be on Saturday 29th September. 

On Thursday evening the same week, the Portfolio Holder would be attending  Bromley Youth Council's Manifesto Event and would be on the panel for their Q&A session with the acting Police Borough Commander.

The Portfolio Holder would be attending a meeting of London Councils at the end of March and would report back to the Committee.

FSD 18024

The Committee was presented with the Capital Monitoring report for the 3^rd quarter period of 2017/18, and the Capital Strategy from 2018 to 2022. The report had been written by James Mullender, Principal Accountant. The report followed changes to the Public Protection Portfolio that had been agreed at a meeting of the Executive on 7^th February 2018.

The report was presented to the Committee as it highlighted the changes that had been agreed to the Capital Programme for the five year period 2017/18 to 2021/22. The revised programme for the portfolio was detailed in an appendix following the report. 

The Portfolio Holder was being asked to note and confirm the changes that had been agreed previously by the Executive. The Committee noted that no post-completion reports were currently due for the Public Protection and Safety Portfolio. The quarterly Capital Monitoring report would inform Members if any further reports were required.

The Committee noted that the CCTV Control Room refurbishment had now been completed, and was in ‘defect’ period. A sum of retention had been applied, and final payment would be made to the contractor after the CCTV Control Room had run successfully for a 12 month period. Subsequent to this, the scheme would be reviewed, and any residual balance would be removed from the capital programme.

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder note and confirm the changes agreed by the Executive on 7^th February 2018.   

FSD 18031

The Budget Monitoring report for 2017/18 had been written by Claire Martin—Head of Finance.

The report provided an update of the latest budget monitoring position for 2017/18 for the Public Protection and Safety Portfolio based on expenditure and activity levels up to 31st December 2017. This showed an under spend of £41k.

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder endorse the latest budget projection for the Public Protection & Safety Portfolio.

ES 18024

The Prevent Update report had been written by Rob Vale, Trading Standards and Community Safety Manager.

The report updated the Portfolio Holder and the Committee and requested the Portfolio Holder to approve the Prevent Strategy.

Mr Vale explained that a Prevent Case Management (PCM) Panel was now well established with key members from adults and children’ssafeguarding, mental health, education, community safety and the police. PCM was a national framework which aimed to prevent and disrupt all forms of extremist activity. The PCM framework allowed action to be taken to mitigate the risk of extremist activity, including by making referrals into the Channel programme where applicable.

Mr Vale referred the Committee to section 3.10 of the report where a list of priorities going forward had been identified. These had to be realistic as resources were limited.

Mr Vale briefed that a number of ‘train the trainer' events had been organised with partners such as schools and healthcare organisations to enable their safeguarding leads to deliver aware training sessions within their own organisations. A Member queried how the quality of this training was checked. Mr Vale, responding to the question, commented that the training was checked by the Home Office in that survey training feedback forms were completed and submitted subsequent to the meeting. It was also the case that the training was straightforward in that attendees just needed to be made aware of referral pathways. 

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder approve the recommendations for the key priorities outlined in section 3.10 of the report.

ES 18017

The report on the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) had been written by Mr Rob Vale. The report was coming to the PPS/PDS Committee for pre-decision scrutiny before going to the Executive for approval. The report was also going to be considered by the Renewal and Recreation PDS Committee on 27^th March 2018.

The report had been written to provide the Committee with details of a Proceeds of Crime Investigation which had resulted in an award of money to the local authority, and to request the release of funds.

Trading Standards had been working in partnership with Planning Enforcement to take action against a private landlord who had been providing housing to people on low incomes. The five bedroomed property had been providing accommodation that was illegal and also below required living standards. Action taken by the Council had resulted in the Court granting a Confiscation Order against the defendant for the sum of £144,388. Trading Standards had spent £11,630 in pursuing the case on a part time financial abuse/scams officer. The remaining balance of the funds appropriated was £132,758, and it was proposed that £84,633 be allocated to Planning Enforcement, and that £48,125 be allocated to Community Safety/Trading Standards to continue funding investigative work into financial abuse and scams.

RESOLVED that the report is noted, and the Committee agreed the recommendations that would be put to the Executive for the drawdown and carrying forward of funds.    

CSD 18048

The report was noted and the following additions to the Work Programme were noted:

1-LBB Knife Charter be added to the agenda for 3^rd July

2-Trading Standards update on under-age sales be added to the 3^rd July agenda

3-A BCU briefing be incorporated into the agenda for 27^th September 2018

4-A joint meeting be held in the future with the GP&L Committee to discuss problems in the night time economy relating to licensing and alcohol related ASB and violence. 

Mr Vale updated the Committee with some information relating to the Prevent programme which was of a confidential nature.  

The Chairman thanked Members and Co-opted Members for their attendance and contributions during the previous municipal year. She also thanked the Council’s Officers for their input, including the Committee Clerk for his diligence and hard work. As this would be the last meeting of the 2014-18 Council term, the Chairman invited everybody present to partake of drinks and nibbles.

The date of the next meeting has been confirmed as Tuesday 3^rd July 2018.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 3^rd July 2018.