Agenda item

Verbal update

The Panel received a verbal update from the Cabinet Member for Communities and Engagement on his portfolio area. The following was noted in discussion of this item.

a.    The new Borough Commander for Enfield and Haringey was in place and the Cabinet Member advised that he was looking to set up an all Member briefing session with the Borough Commander in the autumn. The Cabinet Member advised that the Borough Commander had advised that one of her first tasks was to look at shift rosters with the aim of getting more officers on the streets and in the right places. The Cabinet Member also advised that he was seeking to have a detailed discussion with her on Stop and Search and better engagement around this issue.

b.    The Cabinet Member advised that the Community Safety summer programme was being finalised and a total of £120k internal funding had been allocated. The Cabinet Member advised that had had arranged 3 community meetings for July in Wood Green, Tottenham and Muswell Hill. In response to a question, the Cabinet Member advised that the meetings in Wood Green and Tottenham were follow up meetings from last year and Muswell Hill was in response to a recent fatal incident in the area. Cllr Culverwell agreed to speak to the Cabinet Member about holding a similar meeting in Stroud Green (Cllr Culverwell). 

c.    In response to questions regarding the budget for the portfolio area, the Cabinet Member advised that around 75-80% of the budget came from MOPAC and was not subject to the same pressures as internal funding. The Panel were advised that Haringey had done well in its funding settlement in recent years but some other boroughs had not fared so well. The Cabinet Member advised that there would of course be pressures on youth services and keeping the manifesto pledges, but he was hopeful on capital funding to provide a youth space.

d.    In response to a question, officers  assured the Panel that a joined-up approach would be adopted with key services in respect of the detached youth workers.

e.    In response to concerns around media reports of cuts to MOPAC funding officers assured the Panel that the money from the Mayor’s Fund was secured for 3 years. Officers were working with the Cabinet Member to look at longer-term funding but this was at a very early stage.

f.     In response to a question around what the criteria was for installing CCTV in a particular location, the Panel was advised that this was based on mapping of hotspot locations and was done on a case-by case basis. Officers advised that they were also investing in a number of relocatable CCTV cameras. The Chair requested an opportunity for Members to feed into the decision-making on CCTV locations given their knowledge of their respective wards. Officers agreed to consider how Members could best feed into CCTV locations. (Action: Eubert Malcolm).

g.    In respect of the cost of cameras, the Panel was advised that these varied but the most expensive locations could cost around £25k including data connections.

h.    In response to a question around the key headlines in Community Safety, Officers agreed to circulate an update on this and around Haringey Community Gold. Members also requested a walkabout of the key sites around Haringey Community Gold. (Action: Eubert Malcolm).

i.      In response to a question, the Cabinet Member acknowledged concerns about community buildings and advised that there was a community building strategy being developed to map out how they could be better utilised.

j.      The Panel suggested that the recent vigil within the Kurdish community was an opportunity for engagement and to start to big conversation on youth violence in the Borough. The Cabinet Member agreed to take this suggestion away and consider how best to facilitate further engagement. The Panel were advised that the CSP were devising a communications strategy and that this suggestion could be incorporated into it.  (Action: Cllr M. Blake).

k.    The Panel raised concerns around an attack on two young boys outside Markfield Park and the fact that the Police did not share that information in a timely fashion. The Cabinet Member acknowledged these concerns and advised that he would pick this up with Police colleagues at the next hate crime meeting.

l.      The Panel advocated a strong role for schools as sites for hosting youth hubs, given the existing infrastructure in place and the fact that children knew the locations. The Panel suggested that capital funding could be made available to schools to facilitate this. In response, officers acknowledged that 60% of criminality occurred between 3-6pm but suggested that it was a complex issue and was not one size fits all. The Panel were advised that the detached youth workers would be responsible for finding and engaging with young people and signposting them to youth services. Cllr Blake suggested that more work needed to be done to engage with schools about building links with school police officers. Cllr Blake agreed to email Cllr Davies with further details of what was being done to link up with schools around youth services. (Action: Cllr M. Blake).

m.  In response to concerns about grooming and how information was collected and shared within local networks, the Cabinet Member acknowledged this issue and the difficulty of tackling it. Cllr Ogiehor agreed to circulate some further information on building relationships with her local SNT contacts in response to a recent incident at the Mossy Well. (Cllr Ogiehor).

n.    In response to concerns about hate crime, the Panel were advised that this was on the rise but that the numbers were relatively small. Incidents had spiked following the Brexit referendum.

o.    In response to a question around the gender split on sexual offences, the AD for Stronger Communities agreed to share this data with the Panel outside of the meeting. (Action: Eubert Malcolm).

p.    In response to a question about the extra funding for police officers from the Mayor’s Office and when those officers would be in place, the Cabinet Member agreed to speak to the Borough Commander and feed this information back to the Panel. (Action: Cllr M. Blake).