Agenda item

Report of Community & Children's Services

The Group received a report of the Health and Wellbeing Team that provided Members with an update on recent work carried out.

The Health & Wellbeing Team representative apologised to Members for the long period since the last update, owing to staff shortages at previous meetings.

The Health & Wellbeing Team representative explained that officers from the Department of Community and Children’s Services, City of London Police and Trading Standards had been in cooperation on a Financial Abuse Task and Finish Group.

The Health & Wellbeing Team representative explained that suicide prevention signage had now been implemented on Tower Bridge, and was in the process of being approved for Southwark Bridge.

The Health & Wellbeing Team representative explained that the team were more than happy to take requests for update reports on any particular area of their work for the Safer City Partnership in future.

The Chairman asked for clarification on what “Section 136” referred to.  The Health & Wellbeing Team representative explained that this was a section of the Mental Health Act 2007 that gives powers to detain those perceived to be a threat to personal or public safety.  The Commissioner of Police explained that the Street Triage operation was working well to prevent situations in which this is resorted to as far as possible.  The Chairman stated his approval at this.  The CoLP Senior Intelligence Analyst explained that based on information gathered through reporting, the presence of a trained mental-health professional alongside Police Officers has been significantly beneficial.  The Chairman queried the degree to which Street Triage operation overlapped with work on Rough Sleepers.  The Assistant Director of Community and Children’s Services approved of the Chairman’s comments and explained that, although Rough sleepers were a wider issue and not an explicit focus of the Street Triage, they would look to consider this aspect within its operation.  The Chairman asked that discussion on this be undertaken to ensure it is given consideration. (3)

The Chairman queried the progress of the Christmas Alcohol Campaign for 2017.  The Health & Wellbeing Team representative confirmed that work on this was currently ongoing, with the tagline not yet confirmed, but with a general message around enjoying alcohol responsibly.  They are currently looking at approaches both within the City and in cooperation with boroughs across London.  The Community Safety Team Manager explained that funding was predominantly from the Greater London Authority (GLA), so there was a strong emphasis on cooperation with other London boroughs.  He explained that they were using methods applied in the Release the Pressure Campaign, where technology distributes messages to users based on their current location.  This is a cost-effective option of promoting messages, and allows greater targeting accuracy and tracking.  It has also enabled the analysis of pan-London data on the categories of citizens at greatest risk.  The Town Clerk queried the timeline on implementation of the campaign.  The Community Safety Manager confirmed that although the work was live, there was no concrete deadline.  The Chairman of the Licensing Committee explained that the London Ambulance Service was also involved.

RESOLLVED – That the report be received.