Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner, City of London Police.  

The Sub Committee received a joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner, City of London Police, which provided an overview and update on three key areas of policing; young persons and children in custody, mental health crisis in custody and use of force.  Members noted that this was the first report on youth custody which had been presented to the Safeguarding Sub Committee.  The new Custody Manager was working on baselines, in order to improve the commentary and provide comparative data in future reports, but Members noted that, anecdotally, the City was performing well when compared to neighbouring boroughs. 

Given the majority of children detained in custody are not CoL children , do the CoL Police share information with local areas regarding the young people regarding the detention?

Members noted that a Child Coming to Notice Report was raised for all children which came into custody and this was cross checked monthly.  The reports were reviewed daily by the Public Protection Unit  and the information about all children (City or non-City) was shared with the City’s Children’s Services Team.  In addition, the Police made direct referrals to the Borough where the child resided and the City’s Children’s Service Team also followed this up.   The number of children was also shared with the local Safeguarding Board as part of  performance reporting.  The Children’s Service Manager confirmed the very high standards of the above procedures; which had an additional benefit in identifying patterns and vulnerability from a social work point of view. For example, there had been occasions where child sexual exploitation risks had been identified.

The report highlights the role of the Professional Standards Department in respect of governing complaints and conduct matters. Has there been any LADO referrals from Custody via the PSD.

There have been no LADO referrals in respect of custody staff this financial year.

In response to further questions from Members, it was noted that the concept of the ‘bubble room’ met the Home Office standard for this type of custody and young people were detained for as short a time as possible.  However, Members were concerned that it could take up to 2 and a half hours for an appropriate adult to reach the young person.  Officers advised that they met with the Appropriate Adult Service regularly but, unfortunately, this delay was often due to the late arrival of the parent or carer.  In addition, forensic and medical services, which were commissioned by the CCG, had lost some of their resources and, as they worked on a rota, this also contributed to delays which were beyond the control of the City of London Corporation.  Whilst understanding the circumstances and noting that this was a national issue, Members asked that their concerns be shared with the Police Committee and asked if officers could instigate a strategic challenge.  Finally, Members asked if a Police representative could be in attendance at future meetings, when required.

RESOLVED, that – the report be noted.