Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Erick Beckford, Peter Dunphy, Peter Lisley and Don Randall.

There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes of the last meeting, held on 21 February 2018

The Group considered the minutes of the last meeting, held on Wednesday, 21 February 2018.

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 meetings.

OR1 – Workshop Findings

The Chairman requested that the workshop findings be circulated once available.

OR4 – Prevent Module Link

The Community Safety Manager explained that this was available through City Learning now.  He explained that GDPR compliance considerations led to some delays, but these issues have now been resolved.

OR5 – Number of Tower Fires in 2016

The London Fire Brigade Borough Commander explained that in 2016 there were only 3 fires in buildings designated as high rise, and at the time of the comment made at the November 2017 meeting, there had been around 4-5 that year.  He explained that these were not necessarily significant fires, and in many cases were easily resolved, two of them as a result of wiring issues.  He confirmed that there had not been any dwelling fires recorded since November 2017, and no injuries were recorded in those mentioned above.  The Chairman approved of this.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

Director of Community & Children's Services to be heard

The Group heard a verbal update from the Health and Wellbeing Team on their activities since the last meeting of the Group in February 2018.

The Health and Wellbeing Team representative explained that there had not been a Health & Wellbeing Board meeting since the last update and so no written report was submitted.

The Health and Wellbeing Team representative explained that the Suicide Action plan would be submitted to the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board and was currently on track.

The Health and Wellbeing Team representative explained that the Street Triage now had funding secured for operation 7 nights a week.  The Chairman illustrated his approval of this. The Representative explained that they were currently exploring funding avenues with the City of London Police, and that the scheme would go live on 10 June.

The Chairman asked if there was a decline in the number of suicides.  The Health and Wellbeing Team representative explained that it was hard to measure suicide trends as the total numbers were very low.  The Chairman noted this and asked if attempted suicides were measured and found to be decreasing.  The Health and Wellbeing Team representative explained that significant work was being done by Hackney Council which could provide a good idea of this.  She explained that it would be known by the next Suicide Prevention Strategy meeting in 6 months.  The Chairman illustrated his concern that there is only an awareness of the figures up to 2016 and suggested that it would be useful to have an update on the progress of this at the next meeting. (1) The Commissioner of Police explained that they would be very interested in working with the Health and Wellbeing Team in this area.  He explained that in many cases the media’s promotion

Report of the Community Safety Manager

The Group considered a report of the Community Safety Manager that provided Members with an update on activity carried out by the Community Safety Team since the last meeting.

The Community Safety Manager explained that “Prevent” was an area in which there had been significant engagement in spite of the resource challenge that it faces.

The Commissioner explained that he was planning a trip to Peterborough where they had yielded very strong results around community engagement.  He hoped to be able to bring back some new ideas to employ in this area as a result.

The London Fire Brigade Borough Commander asked whether Prevent also covered industry engagement alongside community engagement.  The Community Safety Manager explained that it was predominantly focused on residents.  He explained that adapting local authority programmes to fit in with corporate targets was very challenging.  However, he confirmed that efforts had been made to engage with key businesses.

The Community Safety Manager explained that the 10% allocation from PCOA funding, regardless of the sum, could still prove to be significant to the Safer City Partnership.  The Chairman explained that the POCA sum still needed to be quantified but noted that there should be an expectation that it would be relatively small.  Members of the group queried how POCA funding was allocated.  The City’s Business Representative asked if the Later Night Levy funding could be used for the Safer City Partnership in the same way.  The Director of Port Health and Public Protection explained that the Late Night Levy could be allocated to anything relating to the Late Night Economy, and whilst this could support the work of the SCP, it could not go directly to the SCP.

The London Fire Brigade Borough Commander noted that the POCA funding figure was previously a significant sum and asked

Report of the Community Safety Manager

The Group received a report of the Community Safety Team that advised Members on the progress in developing an Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy.

The Community Safety Officer explained that they were currently aiming to raise awareness of the work done around Anti-Social Behaviour by obtaining information from all relevant parties.  She explained that the intention was to make ASB a priority, accepting that it was not viewed as a priority for CoLP, with a focus on collaboration.

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection asked how the recommendations from paragraph 40 onwards within the report would be implemented.

The Community Safety Manager explained that there had been increased pressure around ASB in recent months from within the community.  He explained that the Corporation had not addressed this previously, but was now doing so within the scope of the Corporate Plan.

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection explained that identifying who was doing what work would be very useful, and especially in relation to the Joint Command and Control Centre (JCCR).  The Community Safety Officer explained that this would be a very difficult task.

The Chairman requested that if all the meetings had taken place prior to the next meeting of the Group on 27 September, then an update on progress be provided at that meeting. (5)

The Community Safety Manager explained that it would be a long process considering the approvals required, but they hoped to have the strategy mapped out.  The Chairman noted that actions could be taken in the meantime, regardless of the final strategy’s approval date in the future.

The Commissioner of Police noted that it would be useful to have the ideas represented within the strategy maintained in the daily consciousness of partners in order to aid with problem solving actions.  He explained

Report of the Community Safety Manager

The Group received a report of the Community Safety Team that provided Members with an updated Performance Dashboard for the Safer City Partnership.

The Community Safety Manager explained that ongoing work was in progress, and so they would welcome Partners’ feedback.

The Representative for the NHS noted that there were some indicators that were missing baselines to work from as a reference, citing 3.1.1e.  The Community Safety Manager explained that this was due to working from limited analytical resource.  The Chairman noted however, that these statistics should be available.  The Commissioner explained that the gap in data was likely caused by a delay in gaining approval for the release of information presented in a certain form.  He explained that this was a process that needed to be standardised by CoLP.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

Report of the City of London Police

The Group received a report of the Commissioner of Police that provided Members with an update on the activities relating to the City of London Police since the last meeting of the Group.

The Commissioner warned Members to be cautious in drawing conclusions from the figures presented, given the small size of the CoLP.

The Commissioner explained that, when considering Violent Crime, there is a need to be looking ahead, citing the upcoming FIFA World Cup as an example.  He explained that they had been visiting business owners involved in the Night Time Economy in order to discuss potential issues.  The Commissioner cited the lessons that had been learned as a result of violence occurring at the recent Marathon.  The Director of Port Health and Public Protection explained that this issue was raised at Licensing Committee, and there were plans to be more prepared next year.  The Community Safety Manager explained that it would be useful to do so in partnership with Tower Hamlets.  The Commissioner explained that he would be able to engage with contacts at Tower Hamlets on this issue.  The City Businesses representative conveyed his thanks to the team tasked with cleaning after the Marathon, noting that a significant mess was removed immediately following the event.  The Chairman asked that this message be passed on to those involved.

The Commissioner noted that efforts to tackle Moped-enabled crime had had some success, with initiatives such as the use of invisible “Smart” spray to track thieves.  He emphasised the importance of collaboration with partners beyond the City of London’s boundaries.

The London Fire Brigade Borough Commander asked if there had been any recent acid attacks recorded.  The Commissioner confirmed that there had not been.  The Borough Commander noted that one CoLP officer had been affected previously, and the

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 Members with an update on the work of the Board since the last meeting.

The Chairman of the Serious and Organised Crime Board (SOCB) explained that the information-Sharing Agreement, as previously discussed, was hoped to be agreed in principle.

The Chairman of SOCB noted that they had requested that a representative of CoLP to attend a future meeting to advise on the issue of money-laundering.

The Chairman noted that the Chairman of SOCB had announced his retirement.  The Chairman of SOCB explained that further details around his succession would be confirmed at the next meeting of the SOCB.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

Report of the Director of Markets & Consumer Protection

The Group received a report of the Director of Port Health and Public Protection that detailed enforcement activity around three main priority areas: Acquisitive Crime, Anti-Social Behaviour and the Night Time Economy.

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection explained that there were no significant trends to note.

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection explained that cooperation with Southwark had taken place over illegal street trading, with an agreement hoped to be signed and returned by them within the next week.  He explained that Nut Sellers and Ice Cream Vans had been successfully combatted, but that additional funding would be used to focus on the Thames’ bridges.  The Commissioner explained that operation Callisto which focused on countering illegal traders would commence at 10am on 1 June, running 7 days a week.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

The London Fire Brigade Borough Commander to be heard

The Group heard a verbal update from the London Fire Brigade Borough Commander.

The Borough Commander explained that since the last meeting the annual figures around fire issues had been recorded, with numbers generally low.  He explained however, that false alarms due to automatic fire alarms had risen by almost 200% of the target of around 800.  The Chairman asked if there was any feasible action that could be taken to address this issue.  The Borough Commander explained that first-time offenders could not practically be blamed, though repeated offenders were advised not to re-enable their auto-alarms without sufficient confidence that it was working correctly.  Those who do are invited to attend a PowerPoint presentation, and this initiative has had some success.

The Borough Commander explained that there had been two arson incidents, and 18 outdoor fires originating within bins/rubbish.  The Borough Commander explained that in many cases these incidents were insignificant and could be resolved relatively easily, in some cases through the application of a cup of water to extinguish flames or smoke.  The Chairman asked if there was any way that Project Griffin could be utilised to ensure proactivity in tackling such incidents.  The City Businesses representative explained that an issue worth noting was the limited access to locked premises.

The Borough Commander explained that there had been 556 home fire safety visits, with 532 of these resulting in a rating of “high risk”.  The Commissioner asked whether these visits were solely carried out by LFB, or if they were multi-agency.  The Borough Commander explained that coordinating an approach with other agencies would prove very challenging.  The Commissioner agreed, but noted that training could be shared between agencies/forces.  The Borough Commander explained that training for 6,000 staff would not be a straightforward undertaking.

The Chairman agreed that it was

There were no questions.

There was no further business.