Issue - meetings

7.1       The Committee considered a report which provided an annual review of Safer Communities performance, priorities and issues which was introduced by the Assistant Director - Planning, Performance and Engagement, Samantha Williams, and the Safer Communities Manager, Justine Armstrong-Smith.

7.2       The following points were made in response to the Committee’s questions:

·         Officers assured the Committee that there is sufficient flexibility within the partnerships and plans to adjust to emerging challenges. Officers provided examples where there has been a shift in emphasis within the Business Plan in response to new threats and challenges such as cybercrime, exploitation, drugs and cuckooing.

·         In relation to funding provided by the Police and Crime Commissioner, this is now focused at district and borough level, plus some funding to work on issues on a pan-Sussex basis. The work of the Safer East Sussex team supports both county-wide and more local work, for example current work around County Lines and cuckooing. The team attends as many local meetings as possible and also plays a key role in translating national and regional policies into local work. Key relationships are in place and there have been recent discussions at Community Safety Partnerships to discuss meeting arrangements going forward.

·         In relation to statistics on the number of people receiving drug treatment, East Sussex has a good record of people successfully moving through treatment first time and not subsequently coming back into the system which impacts on the figures for the numbers entering treatment. The county compares well nationally.

·         Sussex Police are reporting a real challenge in keeping pace with cuckooing, particularly given the age profile which can be as young as 11, and the use of different types of property such as Air B&B and caravans which are less visible. The Lead Member for Children and Families commented on the involvement of Children’s Services and the LSCB in Safer Communities work, for example supporting County Lines work by taking children into care for protection.

·         There are a range of actions underway via partnership working in relation to drug misuse and cuckooing, for example action in schools on exploitation incorporates exploitation related to drugs.

·         In relation to the scale of modern slavery within the county, officers advised that Project Discovery in the Hastings and Rother area had made six referrals to the National Referral Mechanism since the start of year. A further six cases have been referred through other routes as it is not yet clear whether these cases are modern slavery. Eight people have come forward through other initiatives. Project Discovery is due to be rolled out across East Sussex which will enable a clearer picture of the issue to be obtained.

7.3       The Lead Member for Communities and Safety commented that the partnership arrangements in East Sussex work very well and enable partners to be reactive to current issues. There is a need to be engaged at regional level as well as within the county given the nature of crimes and the Police and Crime Commissioner funding arrangements  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7

6.1       The Head of Safer Communities introduced the report which provided an overview of community safety performance in 2016-17 and partnership priorities for 2017-18. She advised that a partnership event was planned for later in June to review and refresh priorities for future years.

6.2       The following points were made in response to questions from the committee:

Crime reporting

·         Sussex Police has advised that upward trends in some categories of crime reflect an increase in reporting, rather than being indicative of an increase in crime. The accuracy of figures is a question which can be taken up by the Police and Crime Panel which will be receiving a report on changes to reporting arrangements.

Prevent programme

·         The effectiveness of the Prevent programme is considered by the Prevent Board. Evidence seen by the Board suggests that interventions across schools and colleges have been very successful and these have been subject to independent evaluation.

·         The partnership secured Home Office funding for the ‘Think, Protect, Prevent’ programme (particularly focused on children with autism) which will be fully evaluated by the end of June but has been successful in terms of people completing the programme. A small number of referrals (fewer than five in the last 12 months) have been made to the national Channel intervention programme where there were specific concerns.

·         Partners are confident in the ability to identify concerns about young people through work in schools and colleges, and to make appropriate referrals to Channel.

·         The Prevent programme has been reviewed in light of the Sussex Counter Terrorism Local Profile and has had positive feedback. There is an ongoing focus on vulnerable young people who may be subject to influence rather than people from a particular background or faith.

·         There has been no specific new guidance on Prevent in light of recent terrorist attacks but the temporary increase of the threat level to critical affected the local authority response. After the Manchester attack the partnership proactively provided a presentation to local schools to help them talk about the issues as they felt appropriate.

Drug and alcohol misuse

·         There has been a positive impact from introducing community detox as an alternative to the residential service. There is no cap on the number of people able to access the service. As there is a very low level of representation once people complete the programme (80% stay clean) most are new attenders. There is an increasing need but also the capacity to manage it.

·         A reduction in drug paraphernalia left in public places is expected following a meeting with the pharmacy council which has now agreed to supply single needles rather than larger packs which lead to surplus needles being left unopened and abandoned.

Domestic abuse

·         The increase in referrals to Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs) is linked to increased staff training and they are under pressure. Work is being undertaken in conjunction with the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) to review the capacity of MARACs across Sussex and officers are confident that changes will  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6

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6.1.        Louisa Havers, Head of Performance, Engagement and Safer Communities introduced the annual review of the Safer Communities Partnership which this year focused on domestic abuse and Prevent work, and included the East Sussex Safer Communities Partners Business Plan 2016/17. The Committee considered each of these main three areas in turn.

Domestic Abuse

6.2.        James Rowlands - Strategic Commissioner for Domestic Abuse (for both East Sussex and Brighton & Hove, since the establishment of a joint unit) gave an overview of developments and priorities. Key points included:

·           The launch of a new domestic abuse service, ‘The Portal’, in February 2016.

·           The significant work being undertaken this year in relation to child sexual abuse including the introduction of a specialist worker to support families experiencing abuse, and the extension of access to talking therapies working with NHS England.

·           Ongoing work to encourage people (including the friends and family of victims) to report domestic abuse and access support. The increase in reporting of domestic and sexual abuse is positive and reflects national trends.

·           Work on reaccrediting the Council to the White Ribbon scheme – this is focused on awareness raising, working across district/boroughs, and encouraging people to report domestic abuse.

·           The involvement of East Sussex as one of three areas piloting the ‘Ask Me’ scheme developed by Women’s Aid – this involves training 50 champions to talk about the issues in communities.

·           Undertaking three statutory reviews of domestic violence homicides in order to ensure any lessons are learnt.

6.3.        The Committee asked a number of questions covering the following areas:

·           Homicide reviews – it was confirmed that these reviews are primarily considered by the Safer Communities Board, but are also shared with the Home Office.

·           Resources to deliver on the ground given financial constraints – Chief Inspector Rosie Ross from Sussex Police confirmed that domestic abuse is a priority area and is not facing reductions in available resources, so there would be no reduction in frontline officer response. James Rowlands explained that a key aspect in delivering support for victims of abuse is in how their first disclosure to a professional is managed and responded to. Statistics indicate that people may approach a professional between five and eight times before getting a response. A training programme is being rolled out to address this issue and police officers are using a body worn video camera to help gather evidence.

·           Financial abuse – it was clarified that financial abuse primarily comes under safeguarding processes and the Committee would receive the annual safeguarding report in September 2016. However, the Safer Communities Partnership is piloting a post that will involve looking at the response to domestic abuse amongst older people, which includes financial abuse. The Lead Member for Adult Social Care advised that the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has set up an elders commission whose first report in March 2016 highlighted elder abuse as a priority. This is being fed into the PCC’s new Police and Crime Plan.

·           Police  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6

6.1    The Committee considered a report by the Director of Adult Social Care and Health providing an overview of the East Sussex Safer Communities Partnerships’ Business Plan 2015 to 2016, with particular focus on domestic abuse and the new anti-terror duties coming into force on 1 July 2015.

6.2    Officers provided the following additional information about domestic abuse and hate crime in response to questions from members of the Committee: 

·              Reported crime increased by 15.7% in 2013/14, but this is mainly due to:

o  a number of historic victims of the traditionally underreported crimes of domestic abuse and serious sexual offences coming forward due to high profile national cases; and

o  a nationwide tightening of the guidelines on reporting crime so that more crimes are now classed as ‘violent crime’.

·              Some people have expressed concern that as the White Ribbon campaign focuses on the impact of abuse on women and girls, it could be a barrier to men and boys coming forward about domestic abuse. However, it is part of an umbrella of awareness raising campaigns that the Council supports. Furthermore, campaigns targeted at specific issues with specific audiences, such as breast or prostate cancer, are more effective than general campaigns. The White Ribbon Campaign calls men to speak out to prevent male violence against women and girls.

·              The adult Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) – based in the Saturn Centre, Crawley – and paediatric SARC – based, temporarily, in the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton – provide specialist services for either children or adults who are the victim of rape, sexual violence and abuse throughout the whole of Sussex. On the rare occasion where there is insufficient capacity at either centre, patients may be transferred to SARCs in Hampshire and London. Whilst this is a less desirable situation, there is a forensic window of time during which a patient needs to be admitted to a SARC.

·              The Paediatric SARC is for young people under the age of 14. Young people aged 15-16 years are referred to either the paediatric SARC or adult SARC depending on the advice of clinicians about which would provide better support.

·              Of the 264 recorded hate incidents in East Sussex in 2013/14, 203 were racist, 30 homophobic, 13 disablist, 12 religious and 6 gender based. Incidents were higher in Hastings than Eastbourne. Incidents of hate are also recorded at schools but are not included in these figures.

·              Hate incidents are not about the intent, but the effect on the individual: how the victim perceives the incident, even if the perpetrator did not think it was a hate crime, is key to whether a hate crime has taken place. A third person, such as a police officer, may also perceive an incident to have been a hate crime and report it as such.

6.3      Officers provided the following information, based on a PowerPoint presentation, about the Council’s new anti-terror duties: 

·              Under the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 specified authorities (schools, nursery providers, further and higher  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6