Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Commander Richard Woolford (City of London Police), David Maher (Represented by Siobhan Harper for City and Hackney CCG), Don Randall (Crime Prevention Association) and Graham Littlewood (The Guinness Partnership).

There were no declarations.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2016.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2016 were approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Group received a report of the Town Clerk outlining actions outstanding from previous meetings. The following updates were noted:

-        Street Pastors: it was anticipated that a scheme would be in place by the end of the year. A meeting with local churches had taken place on 23 November 2016.

-        One Safe City Member Working Party: engagement with Members regarding the Working Party would take place following the Common Council Elections on 23 March 2017.

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

The Group received a report from the Director of the Built Environment updating them on the outcome of the 20mph speed limit scheme. The Group noted that casualty numbers have increased 9% in the two years pre implementation and two years post implementation. The number of people employed in the City broadly increase by 5% each year with the majority being pedestrians and cyclists which would suggest these numbers are actually falling in real terms.

Crucially, KSI numbers in the same period have decreased from 120 to 94, a

reduction of 22%. This provides evidence that the streets in the City have become

safer for users since the implementation of the City’s 20mph scheme.

The small increase in total casualties over the period studied is accounted by an

increase in slight injuries (An injury of a minor character such as a sprain, cut or

bruise). The reduction in the severity of injury is one of the objectives of the Road

Danger Reduction plan is in-line with expected outcomes resulting from slower

moving traffic.

Awareness of the speed limit is also high with drivers, although the low awareness of motor cyclists is something that should be addressed in light of the danger posed to them and by them to other road users. The City will update this note once the in depth collision data has been assessed. In addition to this work, further study and monitoring is recommended, initial results show substantial benefits from the scheme to the safety of the City community and in particular vulnerable road users.

Officers agreed to submit any update reports regarding the scheme to this Group when they were due to be considered by the Planning and Transportation Committee.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

A presentation from the Manager of the One Safe City Programme.

The Committee received a presentation and verbal update from the Manager of the One Safe City Programme concerning the progress of the Safer Communities project.

The Group noted that the scope for Tranche 1 running from June to December 2016 was as follows:

–       Information Sharing:

•        Workshops Vulnerable People and Domestic Violence

•        Recommendations documented and agreed from workshops

•        Property Risk Tool

•        Information Sharing Agreement information repository

–       Community Safety:

•        Recommendations on operating model

•        Community Safety Accreditation Scheme

–       Messaging:

•        Resolve procurement issues for ECD and CoLP critical messaging

–       Road Danger Reduction:

•        Recommendations  on joint working and operating model

The Group noted that the scope for Tranche 2 due to run January to March 2017 was as follows:

–       Community Engagement:

•        Recommendations and improvements particularly around hard to reach groups

–       Overarching Information Sharing agreement:

•        Safer City Partnership and Health and Wellbeing (replaces Crime and Disorder ISA from 2008)

–       JCCR recommendations: 

•        Related to information sharing / joint working

–       Closing off recommendations from tranche 1

Discussions ensued regarding the need for a culture of good information sharing to be implemented. Members agreed that sharing information remained a massive issue and all organisations would benefit from an over-arching policy regarding the matter. Officers agreed to circulate timescale projections to Members of the Board.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Borough Commander, London Fire Brigade

The Group considered a report from the London Fire Brigade outlining the monthly statistical bulleting and enforcement notice statistics.

 RECEIVED.

Report of the Community Safety Manager

The Group received a report of the Community Safety Manager detailing activity undertaken since the last meeting. The following points were noted:

-        The Group noted that due to a number of factors external to the City there was in fact no pan-London Christmas alcohol campaign led by the London Ambulance Service and the GLA, for us to work with this year. There was also no Alcohol Recovery Centre. Hopefully the issues that led to these situations will be resolved for Christmas 2017. Officers were drafting a letter due to be sent from the Town Clerk to the Chief Executive of the London Ambulance Service regarding the matter.

-        Officers informed Members that the experimental service of a Police Officer accompanying a member of the London Ambulance Service on cycles at night time in the City over the Christmas period had worked extremely well with a huge reduction in referrals to hospital and Officer time spent taking care of minor incidents.

-        The Serious and Organised Crime Board Chairman, John Simpson, and Deputy Chairman of the Board, Jon Averns, met with Detective Chief Superintendent Jane Gyford on 6 December to discuss progress and seek advice about how best to take things further forward. After helpful discussions from both sides it was decided that the nextmeeting of the SOC Board on 22 December would include a useful explanation of the Four P’s Framework (Prevent, Prepare, Pursue, and Protect) so that members of the Board understood the methodology of the Framework and how it can be utilised to tackle various forms of crime. It was agreed that each key crime area identified by the City of London Police would be discussed by the Serious and Organised Crime Board. Monthly dates have been scheduled up to the end of June and the

Report of the Community Safety Manager.

The Committee received the progress monitoring tool for the Partnership, which had been updated since the last meeting. The Community Safety Manager reported that …

RECEIVED.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Group received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services updating them on the recent work of the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Forum. The following points were noted:

·        The City VAWG Strategy (in addition to the more detailed paper for decision by

Committee) being completed and setting the priorities for the next City Domestic

Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategic Action Plan, to be finalised in March 2017.

· Vulnerable Victim Advocate re-commissioning in-line with the needs of victims in

the City and supporting the strategic aims of the Domestic Abuse & Sexual

Violence Forum.

· Training and making sure a formal process exists for a consistent and clear

response for repair staff in the City Housing Department, in line with the existing

strategic plan and lessons learned from the Case Review of a Serious Incident,

which concluded in August 2016.

· Safeguarding Children from the Experience of Domestic Abuse Policy, detailing

how the City will support children and young people witnessing and experiencing

domestic abuse.

· Update on the Domestic Abuse Profile for the City including work that will be

taking place in the early part of 2017 to enable a holistic collection of data.

· MARAC update, noting how the City continues to strengthen its response to high

risk cases of domestic abuse.

· Directory of Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence Services to help professionals

and members of the public to access services in the City, pan-London and

nationally.

· City workers domestic abuse awareness training pilot with Lloyds Banking Group,

highlighting how participants evaluated the training.

· Training on engaging with perpetrators of domestic abuse, to strengthen access

to programmes that facilitate understanding in perpetrators of the harmful impacts

of their abusive and controlling behaviour.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Group considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services presenting the City of London Violence against Women and Girls (VaWG) Strategy.

The Strategy was created in consultation with local statutory and community

and voluntary sector services, in addition to supporting the vision and principles set

out in the Government’s Strategy on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and

the pan-London response set out by the Mayor’s Office of Police & Crime (MOPAC).

Additional to the experiences of women and girls the strategy, and its actions, will be

applicable to men and boys who have experienced or been affected by harmful and

exploitative behaviour.

RESOLVED – That the City of London Violence against Women and Girls Strategy be approved.

Report of Community & Children's Services

The Group received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services updating them on the last meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Group noted that a recent mapping exercise undertaken by members of the Health and Wellbeing Advisory Group highlighted that whilst there is a great deal of

valuable work taking place across the City to tackle alcohol harm, there is

also potential for greater collaboration between partners, underpinned by

a common vision. We are therefore proposing the development of a

Corporate Alcohol Strategy to address this and develop a Corporation wide

approach to safe, responsible drinking.

The strategy will provide an overview of alcohol harm in the City, covering

both the impact on individual health and the wider community in terms of

crime and safety. It will describe what needs to be done to create a

culture of safe and responsible drinking in the City, prevent a further

increase in ill health caused by alcohol, improve the health of problem

drinkers and tackle alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour. The

Public Health Team will lead on the strategy, working in partnership with

departments across the City Of London Corporation, City Of London

Police and City and Hackney CCG.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted. 

Report of the City of London Police

Members discussed a report of the City of London Police detailing recent operational activity. In response to a query from Members, Officers agreed to provide statistics regarding the effects of fraud on City residents. It was also noted that data regarding cybercrime had been included in the update as per the request of the group.

The Group noted that acquisitive crime, although is showing an increase in reporting during this period, it should be noted that the increase in attributed to peaks which are isolated trends. The exception to this trend is non-dwelling burglaries. This area of crime is illustrating an upward trend since September 2016 in comparison to the same period last year and the previous four month period May to August 2016.

CID/Crime Squad are currently running a proactive operation to target burglaries with some significant arrests already made, and some offenders identified and currently

wanted. Other Thefts is showing an upward trend but this was due to increased reporting in November 2016. The remaining months reported figures do not significantly differ from previous month or last year.

Vehicle offences have reported higher figures since April 2016 in comparison to last year, but December 2016 is showing the lowest figures to-date with only 5 offences reported. Average offences reported per month have been 16 offences per month. This crime area is being closely monitored with the release of prolific offenders being briefed to officers and CID/Crime Squad considering a Analysis/Response/Assessment (SARA) ahead of a potential expected rise in this crime area as warmer months approach.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Port Health & Public Protection Director, Markets & Consumer Protection

The Group received a report of the Director of Port Health and Public Protection which provided an update on recent operational activity. The following points were noted:

The Department of Markets & Consumer Protection contributes to the work of the

Safer City Partnership (SCP) through its Public Protection Service which comprises

Environmental Health, Licensing and Trading Standards. Work relating to the SCP is on-going in relation to the following priorities:

· Acquisitive Crime: Investment Fraud – the Trading Standards continues to collaborate with the City of London Police over Operation Broadway, now extended

across London.

· Anti-Social Behaviour: Illegal street trading – persistent action has virtually eliminated this from the Square Mile.

·       Noise complaints service – a 14/7 service is provided and response times are good.

· Night Time Economy Crime and Nuisance: Late Night Levy – this has generated approximately £445K and is the subject of a separate report.

·       Safety Thirst – a complete review has been undertaken and some

changes will be made to the scheme.

·       Licensing controls and enforcement – Enforcement activities and use of

the Late Night Levy have kept the number of licence reviews and

suspension notices at a low level.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Port Health and Public Protection.

Members received a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection informing them of Late Night Levy spend and activity over the past 12 months. It was noted that the recommendations had been approved by the Licensing Committee at their last meeting.

A Late Night Levy has been operating within the City of London since 1 October

2014. This report looks at the second year of operation and details the number

of premises that are paying the Levy, the income collected and how that money

has been spent to date.

The evidence shows that almost as many premises at the beginning of the

second Levy year were liable to pay the Levy due to their terminal hour for

selling alcohol being after midnight, as at the beginning of the first Levy year.

The income collected has enabled the licensing service to continue with

operating its unique risk scheme combined with Safety Thirst, a best practice

scheme. The Police and cleansing service have been able to put additional

resources into those areas that are affected by the night time economy directly

affecting the levels of crime and disorder and public nuisance.

Although the Levy would need to operate for a minimum of a further year before

the effects can be fully examined, the decrease in licensing hearings or reviews

during the past twelve months is significant.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

There was no other business.