APPENDIX 2: Work to address the community safety priorities identified by the Safer Communities Board, and support users of our commissioned services during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse
In July 2020, following an extended period of stakeholder engagement, the Joint Unit published the Pan Sussex Strategic Framework for Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse 2020 – 2024. The Framework is focused on four key priorities:
1. Prevention and Early Intervention
2. Service Provision
3. Pursuing Perpetrators
4. Partnership Working
In the second half of 2020/21, the Joint Unit alongside the OPCC will review governance structures and establish a Partnership Board as will be required by the Domestic Abuse legislation currently making its way through parliament.
Delivery Planning groups that sit under the Partnership Board and which will take forward action planning to implement the high-level priorities in the Strategic Framework are being developed.
The Joint Unit is also in the process of recommissioning domestic and sexual violence and abuse, stalking and harassment services, with new contracts to go live from 1st April 2021. A strong thread running through all Lots is the expectation that providers collaborate in a co-ordinated community response to DVA and SVA and work alongside commissioners to maintain focus on victim experience, service improvement and growth;, alongside an expectation that services are fully inclusive to everyone, including those with protected characteristics. The specification is outcomes focused, with core requirements around active partnership working, service accessibility and service standards and outreach for each Lot specified.
Substance Misuse
The Covid-19 (C19) pandemic has affected the substance misuse landscape extensively and led to several significant changes to the delivery of services. The drug and alcohol treatment service and other commissioned services had to pivot overnight to provide safe delivery of interventions for both service users and staff due to the national lockdown. Most of these interventions, including the digital delivery of services, have been very successful and have now been absorbed into mainstream delivery.
The dependence forming medication service was paused in March 2020 for six months due to the closure of primary care settings for face to face contact. A realigned service was delivered through the main treatment service for those affected by use of this medication during this period. This service has re-commenced face to face work within primary care as of October 2020.
The project to address the recreational use of cocaine has been redefined due to the impact of the lockdown on the night-time economy. This work is now being delivered as part of the violence reduction work plan.
During the pandemic the East Sussex Drug and Alcohol Innovation Fund made a direct award to the Seaview project to extend the work of the RADAR project (due to the vulnerability of the cohort involved). Other services that were commissioned included:
· OWRS (delivered by the Oasis Project) - a gender specific project to support those who identify as female in recovery.
· The East Sussex Veterans Hub (ESVH) which supports veterans to address manage and maintain recovery from substance misuse.
· Adfam - a service to support those caring for those affected by a substance misuse disorder or those in recovery from a substance misuse disorder.
A countywide consultation- “a conversation about drugs and alcohol” has been carried out to inform the commissioning of these services. A second consultation “continuing the conversation”, which was co-produced with Public Health, has taken place to inform the East Sussex Alcohol Harm Strategy.
The drug related death working group will address any operational gaps that have been identified by the most recent drug related death inquiry. The impact of C19 on drug related deaths will be explored once the Coroner’s office have been able to process the cases. This inquiry is expected in mid- 2021.
A range of interventions have been commissioned to support the Street Community in Hastings through the additional funding made available to Directors of Public Health. These interventions aim to reduce harm caused by drug use by those living in temporary accommodation through a programme delivering harm reduction messages and diversionary activities directly to those affected and by delivering a series of training sessions to staff in temporary accommodation settings to enable them to reinforce these messages. There has also been extra staff resource made available to Merrick house in Hastings and the addition of three further substance misuse specialists to supplement the work of the Rough Sleepers Initiative. These interventions aim to contribute to the work to prevent those housed under Covid Powers from returning to the street. There is work underway to identify suitable funding to replicate this work in Eastbourne.
A proposal has been agreed in principle by the Home Office to provide significant funding to address drug related harm in Hastings – known as Project Adder. It aims to reduce drug related deaths, reduce drug related offending and reduce the prevalence of drugs in the town. Hastings has been identified as one of four areas in the country to benefit from increased funding (an investment of £3m) over the next two and a half years. This funding will be used to underpin a whole system approach that enhances existing assets that address substance misuse in the town. The project focuses on the harm associated with heroin and crack cocaine use and work has been divided into three works streams – enforcement, treatment and recovery and diversion. Each strand has a range of interventions which contribute to:
· increased Police and other partner related activity to break up serious and organised crime structures around drug supply,
· increase the number of heroin and crack users who enter treatment and who go on to enter and sustain recovery, and
· to increase the number of people who are diverted away from the court system due to drug related offences.
Outcomes of the project include an increase in the number of children and other vulnerable people safeguarded, a reduction in costs to local Police forces, the court system and health and social care systems and a reduction in drug related deaths. The project is expected to begin in November 2020.
Serious Violence
In April 2018 the government published its Serious Violence Strategy in response to increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide across England. Sussex was identified, by the Home Office, as being disproportionately affected by knife related hospital admissions.
The Home Office have selected 18 Police Force areas, based on accident and emergency statistics, to receive additional support and resources. Sussex is one such area and the Home Office have a Violence Reduction Unit grant of £880k, of which £130k has been allocated to East Sussex for interventions
Much of the partnership development activity thus far has focused on understanding the impact and causes of violent crime in East Sussex. Following production of an East Sussex serious violence profiles partners were consulted on and agreed a proposal to deliver this work. This consists of:
· An Executive Group chair by the Safer Communities Manager and the Superintendent for Crime and Operations;
· A perpetrators / Reducing Re-Offending Group led by Sussex Police, the Probation Service and Children’s Services;
· A Victim Group which is in development; and
· Two hotspot groups in Devonshire and Castle Ward led by the District and Borough CSPs in Hastings and Eastbourne.
Home Office Funded East Sussex Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) initiatives include:
· Dedicated YOT practitioners working with Pupil Referral Units to engaging the students on a variety of subjects and topics related to offending and exploitation.
· MACE Key workers intensive family services.
· Through the Home Office Vulnerable Children's Charities VRU Funding 3 local charities were awarded grants: Priority 1-54, Project Rewild and Gizmo Theatre Company to work with young people at risk of serious violence in Eastbourne and Hastings.
Other East Sussex Partnership developments include:
· Mapping existing and Proposed VRU Interventions across the partnership;
· A partnership project to develop a Forum Theatre workshop for Year 8 pupils around crime: serious violence including knife crime, domestic abuse, county lines, and online harms.
· Developing a Community Engagement proposal specifically for the two identified hotspot areas in Eastbourne and Hastings.
· Development of a perpetrator profile looking at the top 20 perpetrators of serious violence, causation factors and the interventions they have received.
· East Sussex has been asked to lead on the Sussex Reducing Re-offending workstream for the Sussex Serious Violence Steering Group. A consultant employed by the Group is developing an outcomes framework which will focused around the 7 pathways to reducing offending.
· The work also has strong links to Op Safety (Knife Crime surge funding).
Nationally Lancashire VRU have been tasked by the Home Office to develop a Blueprint to involving Health Partners in this work. The Blueprint is due to be published in October.
Modern Slavery
Modern Slavery is an umbrella terms for a number of types of exploitation. The East Sussex Safer Communities Partnership is committed to working with partners in a structured approach in order to identify victims of slavery, signpost support and disrupt and prosecute the traffickers to prevent slavery.
A pledge to meet the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 has been developed by the Pan Sussex Anti-Slavery Network for use by Local Authorities across Sussex. It is intended to promote this pledge to raise awareness of this terrible crime during Anti-Slavery week.
To underpin this pledge East Sussex County Council has formed an internal working group to oversee the duties placed on Local Authorities under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and subsequent reviews. Bespoke training has been delivered to Trading Standards, the Gypsy and Travellers Team and County Councillors.
The Safer Communities Partnership have been working with colleagues in the Safeguarding Adults Board to create local multi-agency training resources which can be used for all public sector staff and those that are designated as First Responders under the Modern Slavery Act. A range of on-line training materials are available for all partners some of which are targeted at first responder organisations.
Accommodation for Prison Leavers
Reducing re-offending by improving outcomes for those in the Criminal Justice system in both a National priority and a priority for the Safer Communities Board. During 2018/19 41% of all referrals to the East Sussex Rough Sleeper Initiative had spent time in prison. (However, this number is believed to be far greater as this was an optional disclosure).
The Prevention of Homelessness for Prison Leavers short-life group (a sub-group pf the Safer Communities Board) have been working to address these issues. Activities to date:
· Embedding Criminal Justice Multi-Disciplinary posts in the Rough Sleepers Initiative Team to develop Housing pathways and understanding the impact of the Rapid Rehousing Project in supporting prison leavers.
· Looking at the feasibility of a dedicated Integrated Offender Management (IOM) housing units and placing a Housing Options Officer in local prisons with the East Sussex Housing Officers Group.
There is no additional funding available beyond what partners locally are able to provide or that is available through other sources such as VCSE involvement. There may be opportunities to access additional funding for systems leadership initiatives through a Local Leadership and Integration Fund at a later date. Successful trailblazers will receive direct support from the Reducing Reoffending Directorate to help unblock issues, particularly at the national level with other Government Departments. There is also targeted training on systems leadership to each Trailblazer area for their cross-system leadership group.
Preventing Violent Extremism
East Sussex remains a non-funded Prevent area and although the risk here is less than other areas within the UK we remain committed in upholding and adhering to the requirements of the Prevent Duty. The East Sussex Prevent Board assesses the countywide risk of people being drawn into terrorism and coordinates Prevent partnership activity. The Board meets four times a year and shares regional and national threat information with partners, identifies which areas within the annual Counter Terrorism Local Profile (CTLP) it can support and what activities would be beneficial to reduce any identified risk.
Prevent training for staff and partner’s is delivered on a need basis. Other training and awareness activities include an online e-learning module; Extremism Assemblies to Secondary Schools; and a RelationSHOP’s programme in Primary Schools.
The Channel program has continued and there is a review process in place. There will be changes to the Channel Duty Guidance for England and Wales which is due for launch early November 2020.A series of’ virtual’ roadshows will be taking place in November across the UK to support the launch of the publication.
The handover to local authorities for managing all Prevent Referrals is still taking place across the UK and the South East is expecting this to take place at some point in the future. This will involve sharing the coordination of referrals and the management of Channel with other local authority areas.
School Delivery and Education Programmes
There are a number of programmes and interventions delivered to schools, colleges and other youth organisations on a number of issues including Prevent. These are often adapted over time to reflect the current or changing trends with national and local crime patterns.
An annual directory is developed and shared with all schools and is available online. The Stay Safe Directory pulls together a variety of programmes and workshops which are currently being offered by a range of local agencies and organisations and focus on different strands of community safety and personal safety such as cyberbullying and preventing extremism. The directory is split into Primary and Secondary/FE sections for ease of searching and helps schools and colleges offer a current and modern programme on personal safety/ community safety which is well planned and co-ordinated. It also supports providers with up to date information and clear and factual advice and support on relevant, current and topical areas to their pupils. The directory also includes an extensive list of supporting external resources including cybercrime, substance misuse, county lines, hate crime and domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Communities Against Exploitation Campaign
The overall aim of this campaign is to stimulate the curiosity of local communities about organised criminal activities happening in their neighbourhoods, improve their observational skills so they become the local ‘eyes and ‘ears’, empowered to identify possible safeguarding concerns linked to serious organised crime threats, and take appropriate signposted action in helping to protect people in the most vulnerable circumstances.
Bexhill Academy students helped design artwork depicting the types of exploitation and were used as part of the ongoing media campaign and a range of partners supported and helped to facilitate some of the workshops. The Project is locally tailored and delivered to meet the needs of communities from a diverse range of community based settings. These include:
· Community / voluntary organisations and local networks which support and help communities / individuals.
· Organisations that deliver and coordinate local youth provision.
· Residents living in key locations such as town centres (including residents’ associations / registered social landlords).
· Businesses that employ staff and run and coordinate their work in the main town centres.
The campaign was delivered in Rother during 2019. It will be delivered in Wealden during 2020/21 as part of the planned Children’s Service Contextual Safeguarding work taking place.