Agenda and minutes

County Councillor David Jenkins declared a personal interest, as his son is a police officer.   

The Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership accepted the minutes of the meeting held on 25 October 2010 as a correct record, subject to the following alteration:

• Move the statement Mike Soper would present the Strategic Assessment to a countywide Community Safety Partnership meeting from issue number 71 to issue number 67.
• Move the statement Mike Soper cautioned against confusing ‘clusters’ with ‘randomness’ from issue number 72 to issue number 67.

County Councillor Kevin Wilkins reported that County Council Scrutiny Committee support has spearheaded the promotion of the IOM as a key tool for tackling re-offending early on. He identified three key issues affecting offenders on the IOM:

a)      Mental Health

The Bradley Review revealed that 90% of offenders have poor mental health, with 60% revealing three different instances of a mental health breakdown.

This is not a condition that affects a minority of offenders so a mental health professional is needed to deal with offenders on a day-to-day basis, due to offenders being unlikely to contact a GP directly.

b)      Housing

The unavailability of private rented accommodation in the District means offenders are not being housed quickly enough. Their ability to claim benefits or join a GP surgery is greatly hindered by a lack of fixed address. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that some offenders are released on a Friday with £42 which gets spent before they can be seen by officers the following Monday. The key issue is that offenders cannot apply for benefits or to visit a mental health worker whilst they are in prison. More flexibility with regards to accessing housing, medical care and education is needed.

c) Complexity of the system

Co-location of housing officers, mental health workers and probation would reduce the time wasted referring offenders to other agencies. The main concern is that offenders are ‘lost’ in a web of an overly complicated referral system.

Nationally, feedback via the Scrutiny Committee is to go to the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, whereas the Integrated Offender Management Strategic Board engages with key partners locally.

In summary, the offender management process needs to be streamlined and made less complex with co-located agencies working together.

The report was deemed extremely useful by the CDRP and has been made a priority for the rolling plan. The aim is to use the steer from the Strategic Board to answer the national consultation. A greater understanding of mental health issues and better inter-agency co-operation will enable agencies to engage with offenders more effectively.

Apologies were received from Mike Soper for the tabled report.

Mike went on to report a reduction in dwelling burglary and vehicle crime as well as domestic violence MARAC cases.

Due to sporting events and increased alcohol intake, a rise in incidences of domestic violence was noted during the period June to October 2009.

The Board considered the Rolling Plan Performance Report and noted the following:-

Serious Acquisitive Crime:

• Good intelligence gathering led to a successful operation to tackle vehicle crime at beauty spots in the District.

• Theft from motor vehicle offences had halved as a direct result of the operation, from 50 offences to 31.

• A retrospective investigation is underway to build a substantial case for court.

• Extra funding, good use of intelligence and effective use of resources resulted in a substantial reduction in crime.

• The Board accepted the recommendation to retain the serious acquisitive crime Task Group with a focus on reducing burglary whilst taking up opportunities to tackle vehicle crime if incidents arose.

Reducing re-offending:

• A new NACRO deal has been negotiated and the PPO team has carried out referrals to NACRO.

• The reducing re-offending board sat in January where the IOM project was discussed.

• There are currently two schemes, one in Peterborough and one in Cambridge.

• NACRO was deemed good practice and a significant effort.

Domestic Violence:

• 500 domestic abuse helpline cards have been re-printed for circulation and are available at Addenbrookes Hospital, Relate and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

• It was recommended that the group make decisions regarding future funding taking into account the effect on the task group.

Anti-social behaviour:

• The welcome return of the ASB Caseworker following maternity leave.

• Excellent example of multi-agency work.

• Money is to be allocated from the CDRP to the SCDC Housing Department to address ASB.

Drugs and alcohol:

• An increase in alcohol use was noted due a low heroin supply locally.

• Housing users is the key focus.

• To improve the outcomes an improvement of the system needs to take place.

• A request was noted for a quarter by quarter reflection of trends.

Bridget Fairley explained that the purpose of the report was to update the group on progress with 2010-11 funding.

• The CDRP Funding 2010-11 Underspend report outlining recommendations for allocating the remaining SSCF funds was circulated to the Board on 23 November 2010.

• It was agreed by the Board via email that £2,686.60 was to be spent on the Drive to Arrive road safety project and £10,140.30 was to be made to enable the SCDC Housing ASB Officer to work on cases involving all residents of South Cambs and not just SCDC tenants.

• A questionnaire has been produced to evaluate the success of the Tesco TV project however it has not been completed due to technical problems with the TV’s.  

Tom Jefford provided the following updates:

·         The County Council has, over the last 6 months, been undertaking its budget setting process for the next 5 years. This has been carried out against a backdrop of significant reductions to expenditure.

·         SSCF was an Area Based Grant (ABG) and therefore is no longer subject to a “ringfence”.

·         It was decided to allocate the SSCF to the Directorate, which has responsibility for managing Community Engagement, the Drugs and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) and Community Safety in the County.

·         Some disruption is inevitable, and the level of savings needed from the notional SSCF ABG budget, in line with the savings target across the Directorate, is 31% over the next 5 years.  The majority of these savings are in the first year namely 2011/12.

·         The need to make savings was seen as an opportunity to review how money is spent. In an attempt to reduce duplication at the centre the proposal is to bring together the DAAT and Community Safety functions and create one team, under a new Head of Service. As a result, and subject to consultation internally, the current posts of DAAT Coordinator and Countywide Community Safety Coordinator will be made redundant. It was also suggested that the County pick up responsibility for the costs associated with Community Safety research.

·         The recommendation is not to reduce the current investment which would save each District and the City Council £7,700 each per annum.

·         There remains a cost benefit and a strategic benefit in top slicing funds for certain countywide activity. It was suggested that there are only two areas that this should apply to, namely the Integrated Offender Management and Domestic Violence projects.

·         It is suggested we maintain the top slice at its 2010/11 level, namely £62,000 and £74,000 respectively.  Finally the Directorate would seek to take £73,000 from the SSCF budget as a contribution towards a number of posts in the new joint Community Safety/DAAT Team.

·         If these suggestions are approved this would allow £288,000 to be delegated to the District CSPs as well as maintaining this level of support over the five year period as the required savings in Year 1 would have already been made.

The group considered the following priorities for the 2011- 2014 plan:

• Reducing burglary of homes
• Reducing the number of repeat victims of anti-social behaviour
• Reducing farm crime
• Improving road safety

The group APPROVED the plan depending on the outcome of the Road Safety Partnership meeting.

The group appointed the following lead officers:

• Farm crime- Inspector Chris Savage, Cambridgeshire Constabulary
• Road safety- Lyn Hesse, Cambridgeshire County Council

The task group considered the report and discussed the following issues:

• The perception of crime in the Cambridgeshire area needs tackling as a telephone survey conducted recently indicates a 20% improvement.

• The group considered using this result as a good news story as it was deemed to be more reflective. 

• The BCS survey includes perception of crime for the whole Cambridgeshire District, which includes Peterborough and Fenland. This was seen to adversely affect the figures.

• Feedback from people receiving our services was seen to be more valuable than a survey of perception.

• The BCS survey only takes into account the views of people over the age of 18.

• A breakdown of figures according to District was seen as more beneficial. Could be used to target problem areas.

Lynn Hesse advised the following:

• Efforts to improve road safety have also had an impact on crime and disorder in general.
• Campaigns carried out on the A1307 were deemed a success due to improved communication with villages.
• There has been a reduction in casualties across the District.
• Multi-agency work has been carried out to target young drivers through schools.
• Peer teaching methods are effective but are reliant on effective resources.
• The drink driving campaign was deemed a success due to funding to enable road checks.
• The group agreed that the key to reducing casualties is improving attitudes.  

Philip Aldis informed the Board that Parish Councils were keen to be involved in a bin sticker initiative. The County Council and SCDC are due to meet to finalise a revised design. Philip asked that Lyn Hesse and PC Tony Barrios help take this forward as soon as possible.

Action: Lyn Hesse and PC Tony Barrios.

None noted.