Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Spencer Alden-Smith, Jeanelle de Gruchy, Claire Kowalska, Stephen McDonnell, Cllr Martin Newton and Victor Olisa.

It being the last meeting of the municipal year, the Chair passed on his thanks to the Partnership for their hard work over the last year and the considerable progress made.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 December as a correct record.

RESOLVED

·        That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 December be agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

Matters arising:

·        A brief verbal update was provided of progress against the Youth Offending Service (YOS) actions arising from discussions at the meeting before last:

o   Location of service: based on current staffing levels, it would not be feasible at the present time to extend the Tottenham satellite service although it was recognised the siting of the main office in Wood Green was not optimal.

o   A mental health practitioner had started in post in February and referral pathways for first time entrants with mental health needs had been determined.

o   An event would be held on 4 April in the Chamber to launch the liaison and divergence scheme.

o   Benchmarking around first time entrants was being undertaken with other authorities to help with the analysis of data for this cohort.  

o   Re-offending rates were showing a positive direction of travel, with a toolkit developed to look at hardcore groups and learning from good practice at other authorities having an impact.

o   The governance arrangements for the YOS Partnership Board were being reviewed.

·        Performance information for the Victim Support Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) project had now been updated and fed into CSP performance monitoring arrangements.

·        A brief updated was provided on how the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) measure performance against the public confidence indicator. Performance against the challenging target of 75% was assessed using the national public attitude survey and crime survey for England and Wales focussed on four key drivers. 

Update from the Borough Commander.

The international threat level remained substantial, with no significant change since last reported.

RESOLVED

·        That the update be noted.  

Update from the Borough Commander.

An update was provided on the work of the MPS Trident enforcement and partnership team from their three month placement within the borough. It was advised that a bid was to be submitted to extend the placement. Key activities had included the use of a gangs matrix to identify gang nominals, the holding of a corporate day of action, visits to top 10 victims, diversionary visits, community engagement events, training sessions for partners and referrals to job fairs.

It was agreed that the profile should be raised of the visits Trident were making to schools in the borough through promotion via the Schools Bulletin. A short blurb would be drafted for inclusion in the next issue. 

The value was agreed of seeking to secure a longer term crime prevention design resource to link in with regeneration work in the borough.

Consideration needed to be given to the training of Council Frontline Service Officers in forensic sweep techniques.

It was requested that an update be provided at the next meeting following the receipt of the final closing update report from Trident.  

RESOLVED

·        That the update be noted. 

The Partnership received a report updating on quarter 3 performance against key indicators and highlighting exceptions and outstanding issues. 85% of targets were showing a positive upward trend for the quarter:

·        Confidence in policing had risen to 57% although the target remained challenging. Activities going forward would be focussed on low confidence wards.

·        The Integrated Offender Management (IOM) team were due to exceed their annual target.

·        The three youth justice targets were showing an upwards trajectory.

A number of indicators were below target and required further focus going forward:

·        Theft from motor vehicles offences were increasing, particularly in the west of the borough in general and Crouch End in particular. An offender focussed approach would be utilised going forward.

·        The number of domestic violence reports had shown an increase although this potentially reflected higher confidence levels.   

·        Serious youth violence offence levels remained significantly above target level.

The Board queried whether, in light of the good yearly performance, the IOM cohort for year two should be more ambitious. Confirmation was provided that the case target for year 2 would increase to 274, although it was emphasised that the establishment of clear referral pathways going forward would need to be prioritised to facilitate the increase in numbers.

In terms of joint working, progress had been made in building relationships with other authorities, with a visit made to Manchester and improvements to joint working with LB Enfield in train. A workshop session had also been proposed between LB Enfield, Hackney and Haringey to look at areas of concern and opportunities for co-ordinated approaches.  

It was flagged up that the Partnership needed to give consideration going forward to strategically addressing the wider issues of violence across the priority areas including serious youth violence, violent assault and gang-related and violence against women and girls. This could potentially include the establishment of a joint working group.

RESOLVED

·        That the update be noted. 

The Partnership considered a report on progress against key commitments in the Community Safety Strategy and the Corporate Plan and against each strategic outcome. Achievements to date and areas for attention were outlined. The Chair conveyed his thanks to the Board for their efforts in delivering the Strategy and the progress made including the establishment of clear areas for focus and key leads steering each outcome.

Under outcome 1, confirmation was provided that terms of reference and membership arrangements for the Safer Neighbourhood Board had now been signed off by MOPAC. HAVCO was leading on recruitment to the lay positions.

It was advised that the Integrated Gangs Unit was now operational under outcome 2 and co-located with the IOM unit. One of the key areas of focus going forward into year 2 would be early intervention and associated resourcing.

Under the domestic and gender based violence/abuse outcome, work was underway ahead of schedule to look at findings from the perpetrator’s survey. The mapping audit undertaken of service responses would be important going forward in feeding into next years work plan. A workshop was scheduled for next week to explore issues such as joint agency working. At a corporate level, it was agreed that domestic violence needed to be established as a key Council priority to ensure clarity was reached as to how the issue would be tackled going forward centred on a whole system approach. There was also agreement that future work was required regarding terminology in this area.

With regards to outcome 4, the IOM model had been praised as good practice by the Policing College. A key focus for the next year would be establishing single working practices to ensure continuity. Stable housing had been identified as a key factor impacting the cohort and it was agreed this needed to be picked up corporately to look at capacity issues across the borough although it was recognised this was a very challenging area.

In terms of ASB and property crime, engaging with businesses was an important area of focus going forward with regards to crime prevention.

Under outcome 6, preventing violent extremism, work was underway to develop webpages to provide information and support to parents and carers.

RESOLVED

·        That the update be noted. 

·        The £1.2m MAC-UK bid had been confirmed although the funds had yet to be received.  

·        MOPAC funding for year 2 had been secured following their satisfaction with the return submitted and outcomes achieved in year one. It was cautioned however that MOPAC had the power to withdraw any funding with a three month notice period.

·        Plans were being developed for the allocation of £500k MPS reward grant.

·        Home Office funding had been awarded towards a Somalian youth worker.

It was updated that the refresh of the assessment would be focussed on a smaller number of outcomes such as youth crime and the analysis of underpinning data. A draft would be circulated for comment, with the strategic assessment to be considered at the next meeting.

RESOLVED

·        That the update be noted. 

The Board considered the draft delivery plans for 2014-15 by strategic outcome for comment or addition. At a strategic level, clear officer leads had been established against each outcome to drive progress and strategic links identified and incorporated such as to housing services etc. Alcohol and mental health had been identified as two key ‘golden threads’. 

The final action plan would be submitted to the next meeting for sign off. It was noted feedback provided by the London Fire Brigade would be incorporated within the final draft. The Performance Management Group (PMG) would monitor delivery and provide updates to the Partnership.

RESOLVED

·        That the update be noted. 

It was agreed that Haringey Families First should be deferred to the next meeting and considered as a business item.

To be confirmed.

The CSP dates for the next municipal year:

·        19 June

·        18 September

·        11 December

·        19 March