Verbal update.
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Communities gave a short verbal update on his portfolio, which was followed by a question and answer session. The key points raised by the Cabinet Member were noted as:
· There had been four murders in the borough in 2021, which was a worrying development. Particular concerns were raised about serious youth violence and the seeming willingness of young people to carry knives. The Cabinet Member advised that he was working with officers and the Leader on how to communicate the anti-knife agenda, with a meeting arranged for 24th. The Council’s Youth at Risk Strategy identified a number of high risk groups in the area, such as those excluded from mainstream education.
· The Cabinet Member advised that he was in the process or organising an all Member briefing on serious youth violence and it was anticipated that this would take place in May.
· Cllr Blake noted that he had thanked the Borough Commander for the sensitive way in which the vigils for Sarah Everard had been policed over the weekend and also expressed frustration with how the vigil was policed at Clapham.
· Progress had been made on the development of a youth centre in Wood Green, something that had been missing for at least 10 years. Officers had been asked to set up a stakeholder site visit in May. Officers were continuing to work with partners on the offer for young people and it was envisaged that the youth space would be opened before the end of the year.
· The Youth Justice service was due to undergo a thematic inspection by HMICFRS in May which would be looking at ethnic disproportionality in the youth justice system. The inspection would be carried out alongside Hackney and Lambeth.
The following arose as part the discussion on this agenda item:
a. The Committee sought assurances around the extent to which services were being co-produced with young people and other key stakeholders. The Cabinet Member advised that there was a young person’s advisory group around the Wood Green Hub and that he would feed back more details to the Committee via email. (Action: Cllr Mark Blake).
b. The Chair also highlighted a recent a discussion with young people, where some of them had expressed mistrust with the use of rangers on Wood Green High Road and that this reflected a wider mistrust of the police from some of Haringey’s communities and particularly from young people. The Cabinet Member agreed that he would take this point away for further reflection and acknowledged that similar mistrust of the rangers had been raised by some homeless people.
c. The Committee raised concerns about an emphasis on policing numbers to tackle crime and queried the extent to which the Council was looking at prevent programmes based around engagement with perpetrators. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that there was some work being funded with perpetrators but that it was rather limited in its scope. The Cabinet member suggested that recent events highlighted the need for a review of how the Council promoted these programmes and provided reassurance to the public in general.
d. The Committee queried to what extent additional resources were being looked at for schools-based interventions around violence against women and girls. In response to this, the Cabinet Member advised that he was broadly supportive of this but also highlighted the role that individual parents had to play. The Cabinet Member advised that more work could be done in this area and that he would see what came out of the process, with an update going to the Community Safety Partnership in the summer.
e. In relation to locality based working in north Tottenham and incorporating services to support young people along with health services at the same location, the Cabinet Member advised that he hadn’t had any specific discussions on this but acknowledged that this was an under-utilised resource. The Cabinet Member acknowledged concerns raised about the long-term viability of funding for Youth Service as the Council was essentially reliant on central government for funding. However, the Cabinet Member advised that the Wood Green hub would save money and bring additional resources into the borough.
f. Officers agreed to send round some further information around work to tackle violence against women and girls. (Action: Joe Benmore).
g. The Committee noted that Haringey had been awarded £750k from MOPAC for co-production work around robberies in an area of Tottenham Hale.
h. The Committee expressed concern about the murders that had taken place and sought assurance around what modelling had been done around further increases after lockdown had ceased. In response, the Cabinet Member cautioned that the murders were not linked but it was acknowledged that there was a huge amount of work to do to tackle attitudes around carrying knifes. The Cabinet Member acknowledged that crime levels spiked after the end of lockdown in June/July and that conversations with police were continuing. The Cabinet Member also advocated the need for ongoing interventions with those most at risk.
i. The Committee welcomed the award of £750k from the Violence Reduction Unit and sought assurances around the late notification/engagement on the bidding process. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that Tottenham Hale was a very late allocation of funding in the process. It was noted that the Bridge Renewal Trust would play a leading role in the project and in engaging with local councillors and other stakeholders. Officers assured members that there would be significant consultation taking place with local stakeholders going forwards. In response to a question, officers advised that the funding award was based around crime figures in that particular ward (Tottenham Hale).
j. Further concerns were noted about engagement with local ward councillors on the VRU funding. Officers acknowledged these concerns and set out that a consultative approach would be taken going forwards and that there were five different consortiums involved in managing the funds. It was reiterated that the Bridge Renewal Trust would be liaising with councillors on how this money would be spent.
k. The Cabinet Member was asked for an update on the building works to the youth centre in Bruce Grove. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that the refurbishment was happening with a number of investments made including plans for an artificial 4g football pitch. The Cabinet Member agreed to provide further information on this via email.
l. The Cabinet Member was also asked to provide an update on the £12m capital funding allocated to alternative provision. The Cabinet Member advised that plans to move the provision to Stamford Hill Primary had not come to fruition, partially because of COVID-19. Progress was being made on returning pupils into mainstream education settings.
m. Cllr Brabazon emphasised the importance of a public health approach to violence prevention and the successful work that had taken place in other areas around adopting an epidemiological approach and the importance of starting with early years provision. The Cabinet Member advised that the Council was working very closely with the Mayor’s office and the Violence Reduction Unit on this. The Cabinet Member acknowledged the point about early years and set out that the all Member briefing on serious youth violence which would provide an opportunity to look at the issue in detail.
RESOLVED
Noted.