Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from David Maher and Eric Beckford.

Lucy Sandford declared that her membership of the Group was as a representative of the Partnership for Young London charity, whilst also holding Membership of the Police Committee.

Minutes of the last meeting, held on 3 November 2017

The Group considered the minutes from the last meeting, held on 3 November 2017.

RESOLVED – That the minutes be approved.

Report of the Town Clerk

The Group received a report of the Town Clerk that summarised the outstanding actions from previous meeting.

OR3 – Street Triage Rough sleepers

The Chairman queried whether the Street Triage was now taking Rough Sleepers into consideration in its operation, and the Director of Community and Children’s Services confirmed that they were.

OR5 – Workshop Findings

The Chairman queried when the workshop findings would be circulated.  The Town Clerk confirmed that the Workshop had not yet taken place, but would be arranged for late March or April. The Deputy Chairman requested that the findings be made available for the next meeting. (1)

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

Report of the City of London Police

This item is in colour and has been attached separately

The Group received a report of the Commissioner of Police that summarised the activity of the City of London Police since the last meeting on 3 November 2017.

The Chairman asked, in reference to the increase in acquisitive crime, if there was any way to raise awareness of the importance of safe mobile phone use in public.  A Member explained that walking nearer to the building line would reduce the risk significantly.  The Commissioner explained that with the use of mopeds, thieves were able to mount the pavement.  The Commissioner agreed to speak to the Corporate Communications department about possible methods of promotion, proposing the possible use of geo-located mobile media to notify the public of threats.

The Commissioner explained that low-level violence had been sub-categorised into violence with/without injury, following Members’ previous requests.

The Chairman asked if there was a trend of violent crime increasing over the last three years.  The Commissioner confirmed that it was, but explained that it was necessary to analyse individual types of crime to get an accurate portrayal.  A Member explained that violent crime relating to the late-night economy was found by the Licensing Committee to be in decline, citing the success of the Traffic Light Scheme that monitored licensed premises.  The Chairman illustrated his approval.  The Deputy Chairman cited the recent changes to recording methods, and asked whether there was confidence that these figures were an accurate portrayal.  The Commissioner confirmed that they employed staff to enact quality control on incoming data, and thus that they were confident that the figures were reliable.

The Chairman asked if there was any understanding as to why Rough Sleeping had seen an increase.  The Commissioner explained that this was not yet known, but that austerity had often been sighted as one possible reason.  The Assistant Director

Report of the Chairman of the Serious and Organised Crime Board

The Group received a report of the Chairman of the Serious and Organised Crime Board that provided Partners with an update on the work of the Board since the last meeting on 3 November 2017.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

Report of the Community Safety Manager

The Group received a report of the Head of Community Safety that updated Partners on activity of the Community Safety Team since the last meeting on 3 November 2017.

The Head of Community Safety explained that the Christmas Campaign to reduce the harm caused by excessive use of alcohol had been deemed a success, with approximately 500,000 people reached.  He also noted that there had been an almost 7% decrease in ambulance call-outs in December.

The Deputy Chairman asked if the proposed “SOS Bus” would be deployed by Christmas 2018.  The Chairman asked who was responsible for actioning this.  The Head of Community Safety explained that a private company was sourced for the provision of the service, but that the responsibility for handling of the contract needed to be confirmed.  The Chairman requested that this be recorded as an action to implement by Christmas 2018. (3)

The Head of Community Safety explained that the Performance Dashboard had been circulated to Partners, and comments were welcomed.

The Deputy Chairman queried the status of the POCA funding for the Safer City Partnership.  The Chairman of the Police Committee confirmed that the City of London Police had agreed to allocate 10% of POCA funds to the Safer City Partnership, but noted that the reserves were currently depleted.  He also explained however, that there were currently plans for renewed revenue streams for the fund.

The representative for the Partnership for Young London asked how many times Section 35 of the Crime and Policing Act 2014, relating to Antisocial Behaviour, had been enacted.  The Commissioner explained that it had been enacted twice, and that there was currently ongoing work in this area in collaboration with Southwark Council and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

RESOLVED – that the report be received.

The Community Safety Manager to be heard.

The Group heard a presentation from the Community Safety Team that provided Partners with an overview of the Prevent module that provided an online training platform to promote understanding of the Prevent duty to tackle violent extremism.

The Chairman asked if there was scope to roll this out to City Businesses.  The Head of Community Safety explained that there was the option to do so, but that it would require tweaking for different audiences, mainly owing to challenges in the diverse range of language across different environments. 

The Chairman asked if a link could be circulated to Partners. (4)

The Deputy Chairman explained that a benefit of the system was that it created an auditable trail measuring who had completed training.  He explained that the PIP pot could be a possible funding option as this was deemed to be an area with increasing activity.

The representative for the Crime Prevention Association explained that they needed to remain aware of the risk that a rollout could cause alarm and lead to counter-productive reactions from businesses.  Nevertheless, he offered to assist in promoting the module if required.

The representative for the Partnership for Young London asked if the Prevent module and eLearning would be made available to services commissioned by the City of London Corporation, and the Chairman also queried the access of contractors.  The Community Safety Manager confirmed that there were plans to widen stakeholder involvement going forward where possible.

RESOLVED – That the Community Safety Manager be heard.

Report of the Community Safety Manager

The Group received a report of the Community Safety Team that advised Members on the new Statutory Guidance for practitioners that was updated in December 2017.

The Community Safety Manager explained that a new Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy would need to be created. 

The Community Safety Manager explained that information sharing continued to be a significant challenge.  He explained that the information sharing guidance had been circulated to Partners, and was available on request.  He also explained that Home Office guidance in this area was useful at a time when the new GDPR was being implemented.

The Deputy Chairman asked whether the proposed software system to aid information sharing was progressing.  The Community Safety Manager confirmed that he was attending a meeting in the afternoon following this meeting to trial the product.

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection asked how and when the ASB strategy would be implemented.  The Community Safety Manager explained that a draft was being created now, and would be available for comment at the next meeting on 31 May 2018.  He explained however, that the Strategy was a Corporate document, rather than one of the Safer City Partnership.  Partners offered their support if required to endorse the Strategy.

The Chairman suggested that it would be beneficial to raise Member awareness of the fact that ASB was being addressed.  The Community Safety Manager agreed to arrange for an update to be included in the Members’ briefing.  The Police Committee’s SIA Lead for ASB confirmed that she would raise this at their next meeting on 1 March 2018.

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection asked who would approve the Strategy, and the Community Safety Manager confirmed that it would require the eventual approval of the Court of Common Council.

RESOLVED – That the report be

Report of the Health and Wellbeing Team

The Group received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the work undertaken by the Health and Wellbeing Board since the last meeting of the Safer City Partnership Strategy Group on 3 November 2017.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

Report of the Health & Wellbeing Team, Community & Children's Services

The Group received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services that sought Partners’ support of their work around Drug and Alcohol Misuse Services.

The Health and Wellbeing Executive Support Officer explained that a multi-agency partnership was being proposed to improve understanding of drug misuse.

The Health and Wellbeing Executive Support Officer explained that the although the Police custody suite used for drug and alcohol assessments was funded by Police budgets, this funding was no longer certain in future.

With regards to the Task and Finish Group referenced by paragraph 13 of the report, the Director of Port Health and Public protection proposed that further representatives could be involved.

The Health and Wellbeing Executive Support Officer explained that the Business Healthy Programme had shown that there was greater resistance to engagement concerned with drug consumption than with alcohol consumption. 

The Representative of the Crime Prevention Association offered to assist with engagement, and the Chairman confirmed that this would be beneficial.

A Member noted that the Late-Night Levy funding is allocated to initiatives involving the Late  Night Economy, and emphasised that some aspects outlined within the report, such as drug use in the workplace, would not be covered.

RESOLVED – That Partners agree to:

              i.        Note the report.

             ii.        Support ongoing work to prevent and tackle drug and alcohol misuse among workers in the City of London, through key channels such as the Safer City Partnership, Business Healthy and WDP’s Square Mile Health®.

            iii.        Endorse the proposal to establish a multiagency partnership group to look at this issue in more detail, and gather further evidence about drug use in the City.

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

The Group received a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection that provided Partners with an update on the work of the Public Protection Service since the last meeting on 3 November 2017.

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection explained that the Public Protection Service was aligned with the Safer City Partnership Strategy.  He informed the Group that a report on Cryptocurrencies would be available at the next meeting.

A Member noted that the Licensing Committee had renewed the Late Night Levy for the next 3 years.  He explained that, in contrast to the bad press it had received recently, Members of the Committee thought that it was very effective.  The Director of Port Health and Public Protection explained that they were able to consult with the Police to monitor its effective use.  The Community Safety Manager explained that Businesses in the City of London were able to see results that other areas of London perhaps were not.  He confirmed that it was very important for the City of London.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

The Borough Commander of the London Fire Brigade to be heard

[No representative from the London Fire Brigade was present, and this item was omitted from the agenda]

Any further questions relating to the work of the Group

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection requested an update on the progress of the Safer Communities and JCCR Projects.  The Deputy Chairman explained that issues surrounding out of hours working in the JCCR had been the topic of discussion, and that a paper had been submitted to Summit Group in January.  He explained that Corporate staff migration would occur around July, and the Control Rom would be operational in September.  He explained that the service would need to be jointly managed by the City Police and the City Corporation.

There was no further business.