Agenda item

Report of the Director of Environment and Resident Experience. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Community  Safety and Cohesion.

Following approval for consultation on the Community Safety and Hate Crime strategy, the Community Safety team conducted a comprehensive 12-week consultation and engagement process. Permission is being sought from Cabinet to approve the findings in the Community Safety, Hate crime strategies, and agree to seek final approval at full Council in March 2024.

The Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Cohesion presented the report which set out the outcome of the consultation on the Community Safety and Hate Crime Strategy requested approval to present the Community Safety Strategy to Full Council on 14th March 2024. There had been extensive consultation on the strategies and all members of the Council had a responsibility to make progress in the achieving the aims and objectives of the strategy.

In response to questions from Cllr Cawley- Harrison, the following was noted.

• In relation to gang violence, there were number of schemes and support provided by the Violence Reduction Unit who had taken an interest in Haringey partly because of the partnership approach that the Council had taken, but also a commitment from the Mayor of London to tackle many of the issues. It would be useful to provide the Council with another opportunity to be briefed in detail about what some of the work would entail. It was a priority to keep young people safe and have opportunities created for young people which the Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families was taking forward.
• In relation to reporting hate crime, it was important to get people to feel comfortable and safe and providing the vehicle for which they could safely report these crimes.
• The Police had signed up as co-signatories to the strategies, and would help facilitate meeting actions of the community safety strategy. This would involve continued conversations and documents and strategies like the ones outlined in the report provided a framework for partnership working , but they were also adaptable in a way in a way to ensure that they were relevant.
• The Council had sought the view of various seldom engaged communities. For example, multifaith, older people's groups and young people's groups. The Council approached the voluntary sector groups through the Bridge Renewal Trust as a way of getting some of the surveys out to the wider community, but the main focus of engagement was talking to people and getting their lived experience. That provided some rich data.
• Page 818 of the agenda papers provided a helpful picture of the number of people that were engaged with and the community outlets used to facilitate engagement.

RESOLVED

1. To take note of the contents of the evaluation report which provides an overview of the responses and the headline findings from the Community Safety and Hate Crime Strategy engagement consultations.
2. To recommend that Full Council approve the Community Safety Strategy as part of the Council’s Policy Framework.
3. To approve the London Borough of Haringey’s Hate Crime Strategy (2024-2027).
4. To delegate authority to the Assistant Director of Safer Stronger Communities, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Cohesion to make any minor amendments to the documents and to agree and publish an annual action plan.
5. To notes that the Assistant Director of Safer Stronger Communities will bring a report to Cabinet to make any necessary amendments to the Hate Crime Strategy in the event that Full Council approves the Community Safety Strategy in a form that is incompatible with the Hate Crime Strategy as currently drafted.

6. To note that the Climate Community Safety and Culture scrutiny Panel have no changes to the Community safety strategy and recommend Cabinet note their comments set out below at paragraph 13 in accordance with Part four Section E paragraph 2.2 of the Council’s Constitution.

Reasons for decision

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998, requires that the Council establish a Community Safety Strategy. As a collaborative document outlined in the Constitution and integrated into the Council's Policy Framework, the Crime and Disorder Reduction (community safety) Strategy, hereafter referred to as the "Community Safety Strategy," is reserved for ultimate approval by the full Council, subject to a recommendation made by the Cabinet. The co-creation of a Hate Crime Strategy for Haringey aligns seamlessly with the Council's unwavering commitment to a zero-tolerance stance against any manifestation of hate and discrimination. Additionally, the issue of hate crime has been incorporated as a prominent theme within Haringey's Corporate Delivery Plan for 2023-2024.The Community Safety Strategy will serve as the overarching framework encompassing key priorities in community safety, harmonised with vital Council strategies and action plans including the Corporate Delivery Plan for 2023-2024, the Young People at Risk strategy for 2019-2029, and the proposed Hate Crime Strategy for 2024-2027. Both the Hate Crime Strategy and the Community Safety Strategy are scheduled for publication in 2024.

Alternative options considered.

• Not developing a Community Safety Strategy is not an option, as it is a legal requirement as highlighted in 4.1.
• With regard to the development of the Hate Crime Strategy, the alternative option would be not to have a strategy. This is not recommended as it is recognised the most effective way to coordinate this work is to deliver an agreed set of ambitions under a structured partnership strategy with an adjoining annual action plan. In response to both strategies, without any agreed responsibility or monitoring by officers, including any formal Governance, would significantly increase the risk of the work dissipating and would not allow for the effective protection of victims.