Agenda item

Report of Community Safety Team

Members considered a report of the Community Safety Team Manager that provided an update on multiple issues that had not been previously addressed.

The Community Safety Team Manager alerted Members to an error within the cover sheet of the report stating that this was submitted to the Group “For Information”.  It was confirmed that the report, in terms of the Prevent strategy for 2017/18, was in fact due for decision by the Group.

The Community Safety Team Manager explained that recent events had seen a significant increase in workload around monitoring community tensions and concerns.  This was an area of work unlikely to diminish in the short term and that required some additional development.

The Chairman referenced LFBs “visual audits” in which those working within communities identify visual causes for concern, which could include graffiti or stickers inciting hatred.  The Chairman highlighted the importance of such information being fed back to Prevent/CST Manager.  This highlighted the relevance of issues previously discussed with regards to information-sharing.  The Chairman then asked if there had been an increase in information fed back in the light of recent events such as the numerous indiscriminate acts of violence in public spaces across the UK.  The Community Safety Team Manager confirmed that there had been an increase in reporting.  Members agreed that there needed to be a more robust and accessible system for reporting and sharing these kind of issues.  It was suggested that there be a central hub within the City of London Corporation that records these findings from each of the partners within the Group.  The Community Safety Team Manager confirmed that at the current time, this would effectively be the role carried out by them, but would place a considerable additional burden on the team given its current capacity.

A member asked if there was a workshop available to teach individuals the correct methods for feeding back and contacting Prevent, as well as looking out for signs in public spaces.  The Community Safety Manager explained that there had been a lot of work in this area with WRAP (Workshops Raising Awareness of Prevent) training available to staff, local education establishments and businesses within the City of London.  The Community Safety Team Manager explained however, that there was still a lot more work needed to be done with businesses and that there are plans to develop e-training materials.

With respect to the draft Prevent strategy presented for approval the Director of Community & Children's Services raised a concern about the omission of explicit references to health bodies.  The Community Safety Team Manager acknowledged the value of including a section setting out links to health and this would be included in a revised version of the document (3).

[RESOVLED] – That the report be received.