Agenda and minutes

Noted

Peter Gilroy proposed and Robin Hales seconded, that with effect from the conclusion of this meeting Mr Charlie Hendry, the Chief Executive of the Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Service be appointed Chairman of the Kent Partnership: Safer and Stronger Communities Group.

Carried unanimously

The notes of the meeting held on 26 November 2009 were agreed as a true record.

(Liz Sanderson, KCC Policy Manager was present for this item)

(1)        Peter Gilroy presented a comprehensive report which detailed the findings from a wide ranging piece of research work developed by KCC together with other key agencies including the Prison Service, the Probation Service, the Police, local government and Health. The report in particular looked at and analysed the different aspects of public policy relating to prisons located in Kent.  These included housing, employment, health, social services and benefits, Mr Gilroy set out the main areas of research and findings in a presentation, a copy of which is available on request.

(2)        During the course of a wide ranging discussion members of the Group spoke about the importance of this work and the need to take forward and develop its conclusions and recommendations on a multi agency basis. One of the key messages was the fact that there was already some excellent work going on in Kent but some of this was demonstrably being diluted by the pressures being placed on already scarce resources by the number of non based Kent prisoners staying on in the County after their release. Therefore whilst there needed to be a focus on providing services related to especially housing and employment, there also needed to be a coordinated strategy which encouraged non Kent prisoners to return to their home areas. It was also said that treatments provided in prisons for conditions such as alcoholism, drug abuse and mental health problems needed to have matching resources on release so there was ongoing consistency with treatment regimes.

(3)        Discussion concluded with partners on the Group agreeing to take the report for discussion at meetings of the organisations which they represent or have contact with.  It was also agreed that a seminar should be arranged involving public sector/policy partners and agencies. A prime purpose of the seminar would be to take an in depth look at the issues raised by the report and the discussion and to look at ways to link existing and new strategies so they become more of an accepted  part of public policy across all relevant bodies and agencies.  

Action: Liz Sanderson

(1)        This report provided an update on the CDRP priorities for 2010/11 as detailed in the Strategic Assessment procedure. The Strategic Assessments had been analysed and their individual priorities evidenced and collated in order to generate the likely priorities to be included in this years Kent County Community Safety Agreement.

(2)        During the course of discussion a number of comments of detail were made which it was said would be included in a redrafted report which would now be prepared for the County Strategy Group meeting taking place in April.  This would include criminal damage and reoffending measures being retained among those priorities already listed in the report.

(3)        Subject to the above, the Group endorsed the priorities set out in the report for approval by the County Strategy Group at its meeting on 20 April 2010.

Action: Stuart Beaumont

(1)        Gary  Beautridge referred to the report circulated with the agenda and spoke about the work being undertaken by Kent Police reviewing the exiting powers currently granted to Kent’s some 382 PCSO’s and whether these should be widened and if so what additional powers should they have.

(2)        Members of the Group were invited to submit any thoughts they had direct to Mr Beautridge at Police HQ

(1)        Clive Bainbridge gave an oral report which provided an update on the work of  the  Public Confidence Group. He said one of the early issues which had emerged was the need for there to be more of a ‘common language’ so that across partners there was better understanding of the terms and expressions used in this area of work.

(2)        Taking matters forward Marie Porter of Kent police was developing an action plan which would be used as the basis for coordinating aims and objectives.  There would be an update on this work to the Group’s next meeting.

Action: Clive Bainbridge

Clive Bainbridge gave an oral report and spoke about the inter-relationship between this Group and others such as the Safer Kent Delivery Group and the County Strategy Group. He said there was a piece of work being undertaken which was reviewing the Kent Partnership and associated bodies. This work was looking at current structures and a paper outlining proposals for the future would be submitted   to a future meeting of both this Group and the County Strategy Group.

(1)        This report proposed that the work programme of the Information Governance

Programme Board should be supported by the Safer and Stronger Communities Group as a key priority and that partners should fully engage with this work programme as the delivery vehicle for updating the current data sharing protocols.

(2)        Following discussion the Group agreed: 

(i)                  That the Safer and Stronger Communities Group should support the work of the Information Governance Programme Board in reviewing and updating the data sharing protocols.

(ii)                 That in consultation with the Chair of the Information Governance Programme Board consideration should be given to supporting the work programme with a resource allocation.

(iii)               regular updates should be submitted detailing the progress being made on the work programme.

(1)        This report outlined proposals for the delivery of a number of county wide projects utilising the £64k Anti-Social Behaviour Grant that had been allocated by the Home Office to Kent CDRPs in order to take forward action on minimum standards.  There is a piece of work being undertaken nationally on defining minimum standard and the outcomes from this piece of work would be circulated to the CDRPs. 

(2)     The report proposed that the funding should be allocated as follows:

·         Support for the introduction of county wide minimum standards                   £2,000

·         Support for Training                                                                                        £2,000

·         Public Confidence work in Thanet                                                                  £10,000

·         Public Confidence work in Swale                                                                   £10,000

·         Allocation to remaining CDRP’s (£4,000 per CDRP)                                     £40,000

TOTAL            £64,000

          In terms of identifying suitable projects at a local level the report suggested the funding  should support at least one or more of the following initiatives:

·         Link to Op Restore delivery

·         Raising of delivery standards

·         Engage community payback

·         Safe House initiative

·         Public Confidence

·         Assist the delivery of solutions to noise complaints

·         Assist repeat victims

·         Link to the CDRP ASB action plan

(3)  Following discussion the Group agreed

·         That the Safer and Stronger Communities Group should support the proposed allocation of grant funding as detailed above

·         That the grant funding wherever possible should be directed towards delivering solutions to issues identified within CDRP ASB Action Plans and key county wide initiatives as outlined above 

That the Community Safety Managers statutory partner ASB Sub-Group should monitor delivery and report back to the Safer and Stronger Communities Group on outcomes delivered during late 2010. 

(1)      This report provided an update on the provision of Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) following a meeting of the Domestic Abuse Executive Group held on 15 December 2009.  At that meeting the Group expressed the view that the way forward was associated with invest to save activity and felt that there was capacity across the various large statutory agencies to identify resources for IDVAs, examples considered included: housing staff, health visitors, schools family liaison officers, community wardens, social workers etc.  All agencies present agreed to consider whether they could provide funds and/or existing staff posts to resource countywide IDVA services and report back at the next Domestic Abuse Executive Group meeting.  It was also agreed that Kent Police and Kent Probation would brief the next meeting of the Domestic Abuse Executive Group on Lean processes and it was planned to hold a ‘Lean Event’ on 10 June 2010 to assess whether the processes relating to dealing with domestic abuse were efficient and effective and to identify any cost savings and refocusing of resources to deliver IDVA services across the county. An invitation to attend this event would be sent to members of the Safer and Stronger Communities Group together with representatives from other key partners such as Kent local authorities and the health economy. 

Action: Clive Bainbridge

(2)        During the course of discussion strong support was expressed for this work and various partners agreed to bring it to the attention of other groups/bodies  on which they either served or had contact with. 

(3)          Clive Bainbridge said the Audit Commission was currently engaged in work to consider the inclusion of Domestic Abuse within the CAA.  The Commission was now at the stage of collating research on what works to reduce domestic abuse and amongst other areas, had added Kent to its research base. The Commission therefore planned set up meetings with various stakeholders within Kent to discuss this further.

(4)        The Group agreed to support plans for a multi-agency domestic abuse Lean event and noted the likely inclusion of domestic abuse as a theme within future Comprehensive Area Assessments.

• 08/09 Underspend
• 09/10 Indicative Outturn
• 10/11 Allocation

(1)        The Group noted a paper presented by Graeme Brown which detailed the allocation of monies from the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund together with  expenditure approved by the Chairman of the County Strategy Group which is the decision making body with KCC acting as the Accountable Body.

As this would be the last meeting attended by Peter Gilroy before he left KCC a number of colleagues on behalf of the Group and other bodies placed on record their appreciation for the enthusiasm, passion and commitment he had given to this area of work and particularly during the period he had been the Group’s Chairman.  In response Peter spoke about his work in this field over a number of years and thanked colleagues for their kind words and good wishes.

Date of Next meeting

The next meeting of the Group is on Thursday 20 May 2010 at Oakwood House, Maidstone commencing at 9.30 AM