The Chair to be a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED that –

Councillor R Martins elected Chair for the municipal year 2016/17.

The Chair advised members of the role of the task group and of its statutory function

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2016 to be submitted and signed.

Copies of the minutes of this meeting are usually available seven working days following the meeting.

(All minutes are available on the Council’s website.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2016 were submitted and signed.

Diagram of the Watford community safety structure and presentation outlining the current community safety priorities.

The community safety co-ordinator to outline the Watford community safety structure and the Safer Watford priorities 2016/17 to the task group.

The Task Group received a presentation by the Community Safety Coordinator.

The Community Safety Coordinator outlined the overseeing role of the One Watford Strategic Partnership.  This comprised of a range of senior individuals and partners including the Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner, the Mayor, the Watford Borough Council (WBC) Managing Director, Intu, the Chamber of Commerce and other groups with a strategic interest.

The task group were informed that the role of the Joint Authorities Group was to monitor performance in relation to the partnership’s action plans and to conduct gap analysis on community safety issues.  The group comprised of Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue, Hertfordshire County Council, WBC Licensing, Watford Community Housing Trust, Clinical Commissioning Service, Trading Standards, the Probation Service and Youth Connexions.

The Community Safety Coordinator explained the function of the Community Protection Group – the group was an operations level forum with significant problem solving capability.  It comprised of representatives from the police, Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue, Street Angels, Community Mental Health, Watford Community Housing Trust, the night time economy and security organisations.  He explained that in the future the Watford Community Housing Trust would take over the Chair of the group; this was seen as an innovative and effective approach. 

The Community Safety Coordinator provided an overview of the previous year’s community safety priorities and how these had evolved in to the focus for 2016/17.

He outlined the strands of the ‘Protect our Communities’ and ‘Reassure and Inform’ priorities for the current year.

In response to questions from members, the Community Safety Coordinator:

·        Clarified that a focus on human trafficking was as a result of a national drive on the subject resulting from a change in population demographics.

·        Informed the task group that there were 42 known rough sleepers in the WBC area.  If necessary he could provide figures as to a break down of the sleepers in to the various categories – however, there were 15 ‘hard core’ individuals.

·        Advised that parking on the pavement was dealt with by the police and that members should provide him with any car registration numbers of offending vehicles.

The Community Safety Coordinator informed members that a vigorous campaign was to be conducted to address begging in the town to deal with the most prevalent and predatory individuals.  This could lead to the arrest and imprisonment of the offenders.

In response to a question from Councillor Grimston, the Community Safety Coordinator explained the steps taken to deal with drug misuse in the town and of the response to two knife crime incidents – which included the use of police stop and search powers, CCTV and covert operations (resulting in a number of arrests).  In response to a further question from Councillor Grimston, the Community Safety Coordinator explained the action being considered to combat inappropriate behaviour in Garston Park – including the use of an injunction.

The Chair reminded members of the strategic role of the task group.

RESOLVED that –

the presentation be noted.

CSP Community Protection Plan 2016/17.

The community safety coordinator to inform the task group of progress with the Community Protection Plan 2016/17.

The Community Safety Coordinator introduced the updated plan.  He outlined progress in relation to the following tasks:

·        Develop an understanding of the needs of existing and emerging communities now and over the next 4 years.

·        Focusing on the protection of the most vulnerable in our community.

·        Extend the remit of the Community Protection Group improving the co-ordination with key agencies such as the multi-agency protection arrangement (MAPPA) and the National Crime Agency.

·        Maintain the Prevent strategy; preventing vulnerable people being drawn in to or supporting terrorism.

·        Work with partners at the Community Protection Group to identify and address issues of vulnerability due to homelessness or mental health.

The Environmental Health and Licensing Section Head informed the task group that funding had been secured to enable a Hertfordshire County Council analyst to conduct work to determine the demographics of the Watford community now and in the next four years – this should be completed by January 2017.  The product would then enable research to be conducted within communities to identify their needs.  The pilot could then be rolled out across Hertfordshire.

The Community Safety Coordinator explained that research was being conducted in to sex worker issues with further funding being provided in the future.

A communications campaign would also be carried out in relation to sexual exploitation – including a focus on young people and the change of profile.

The Community Safety Coordinator explained the MAPPA arrangements and how single points of conduct were identified in the various agencies; such as in WBC Housing.  Members discussed the efficacy of the single point of contact approach and the Chair suggested that this may be work that the task group should take forward in the future.

The Community Safety Coordinator discussed how a Prevent e-learning package would be rolled out across WBC. He informed the task group that a workshop to raise awareness on Prevent would be provided to members across the Council on 8 December 2016 (with further sessions to follow if necessary).

The Environmental Health and Licensing Section Head advised the task group that a new County Prevent Group; including local authorities, the Probation Service, police, the Fire and Rescue Service had been instigated to share best practice and action plans.  A generic action plan would then be developed which could be shared with the task group.

In response to a question from Councillor Cavinder, the Community Safety Coordinator informed the task group that a list of community safety acronyms would be available to members in the next few months - and that he would circulate a list pertinent to this presentation following the meeting.

The Community Safety Coordinator discussed how mental health issues were dealt with when avenues such as prosecution were not considered appropriate; with Watford having access to particular expertise in this regard.  

He concluded that the outcomes of the Community Protection Plan would be ratified by the One Watford Strategic Partnership group in March 2017.

RESOLVED that –

the update be noted.

the action requested be undertaken.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The task group is invited to consider agenda items for the future meetings.

The task group received a proposed work programme for consideration.

Members discussed the programme and agreed that a meeting on the 26 January 2017 was necessary.  It was also agreed that members forward the Committee and Scrutiny Support Officer three suggested items for discussion at the meeting (emanating from the topics raised that evening) by Friday 28 October 2016 in order that the Chair could then formulate a suitable agenda.

RESOLVED that–

the work programme be noted.

Inspector N Lillitou, Hertfordshire Constabulary, to provide an update to the task group on the CSP Managing Crime Plan 2016/17.