Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the notes of the meeting held on 24 March 2022 were correctly recorded and be signed by the Vice-Chairman subject to the addition of Mr Mochrie-Cox’s attendance at the meeting.

1.     Mr Peerbux (Head of Community Safety, KCC) introduced the report and advised that the Kent Community Safety Agreement (CSA) has been updated to reflect amendments raised at the March meeting. The amendments, as agreed, included a new priority on ‘Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)’. In addition, the Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) priority was expanded to become ‘Preventing Neighbourhood Crime and ASB’ and the cross-cutting theme relating to the Covid-19 pandemic was amended to become ‘Response and Recovery from Significant Events’.

2.     Mr Peerbux also gave an update on the annual meeting of the Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Committee, which took place on 8^th June 2022. There was a focus on three of the CSA priorities (Road Safety, Serious Violence and Organised Crime, and Anti-Social Behaviour). In addition, the partners also gave a brief overview on the other priorities.  Mr Peerbux thanked the partners for attending and advised that the presentation was positively received, and the Committee had expressed interest with many questions raised.

3.     Ms Brinson (Community Safety Team Leader, KCC) provided an update on the refreshed CSA action plan. She explained that the action plan included pieces of work that were delivered by Community Safety partners across the county, linking in with other multi-agency groups and strategies such as the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Executive Group, the Safer Roads for Kent Partnership, the Substance Misuse Alliance, the Joint Exploitation Group, the Prevent Duty Delivery Board, Safeguarding Boards/Partnerships and the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). She explained that activities may be updated in-year, subject to revisions and changes that take place within those groups and plans.

4.     Ms Brinson advised that the action plan was a rolling document and contained a number of actions that were ongoing, or which took place annually. Some of the new actions that were added were linked to funded projects, the new ‘violence against women and girls’ priority and included a number of activities relating to the introduction of new national strategies and duties, such as the government’s 10-year drug strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’ and the ‘Serious Violence Duty’. Ms Brinson advised that the plan was open for comments and feedback, and that it remained a live document during the year.

5.     A Partnership Member advised that the government was taking a stronger scrutiny role over the ‘From Harm to Hope’ strategy and its funding.

6.     A Partnership Member explained that the Serious Violence Duty was discussed at the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) Board who were keen to see a shared strategy with all the specified authorities being involved in the development; and that the proposal to the Board had been that the oversight and governance of that strategy should sit with the Kent CSP and Medway CSP. A Partnership Member was keen to ensure that there was the ability to tailor the strategy to local needs.

7.     A Partnership Member advised that, although the monitoring of the quantitative outcomes of the action plan was key, qualitative data analysis was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

1.    Mr Peerbux explained that whilst the office premises where the Kent Community Safety Team (KCST) had been co-located since September 2015 was now closed; the KCST continue to work collaboratively and are making use of available office spaces to work alongside each other on a frequent basis (weekly).

2.    The KCST delivered a Community Safety Information Session (CSIS) on 17th May 2022 via Microsoft Teams. This consisted of presentations on the Ashford Streetwise App, Amparo Suicide Bereavement Service, an ASB app, the Counter Terrorism Local Profile, and police updates on events such as the World Cup and the Jubilee. The next Community Safety Information Sessions are scheduled for 14th September 2022 and 1st December 2022. Mr Peerbux indicated that, if colleagues had any suggestions of speakers/topics that would be relevant for the information session, or if they wished to attend, they could contact the KCST: kentcommunitysafetyteam@kent.gov.uk.

3.    The KCST, on behalf of the KCSP, delivered two DHR webinars, on the themes of Domestic Abuse and Children and Young People. The next one with a theme of n Domestic Abuse and Suicide was taking place on 15th July 2022.

4.    In terms of sharing good practice and facilitating joint working, the team continue to produce and circulate monthly E-Bulletins with the latest community safety updates and any relevant news, publications and legislation.

5.    Ms Brinson provided an update of the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) Crime Reduction Grant (CRG) funding that is allocated to the KCSP. She indicated that there was a small additional underspend in the previous year because there was an outstanding project and it was not possible to access all the funding at that point in time, but that the books were now balanced.

6.    Ms Brinson explained that four of the five proposed projects for the current financial year had been agreed by the Office of the PCC (OPCC), and that the projects receiving the funding included: ‘Best Bar None’ promotional material (stickers for windows), the Community Safety Conference, the Trauma Awareness Project and the promotional materials for awareness campaigns. She clarified that the Bystander Approach Training was not approved by the OPCC because the VRU are already funding the programme and it would be duplicate funding, however the training will still go ahead via the VRU. In total, the PCC approved £21,440.

7.    Mr Powell (Improvement Manager, KCC) advised that, in terms of Trauma Awareness, there was a multi-agency group that he chaired - ‘Space Matters’ - which was about implementing a trauma-informed approach across the county involving different organisations. The group invited KCSP representatives to join their meetings. Mr Peerbux clarified that he was aware of the group and that he had attended.

8.    A Partnership Member clarified that, with regards to the multi-agency group, there were two strands; one was the training of the workforce about being trauma-informed, but also trauma-informed leadership.

RESOLVED that the KCSP note the progress and actions undertaken by the Working Group and the work of the KCST.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

1.    Mr Peerbux advised that the KCSP terms of reference (ToR) were last updated and approved by the Partnership in July 2021. Since then, there had been no legislative changes. The ToR for the KCSP remained largely unchanged, aside from the Membership section, due to the NHS Kent and Medway (Integrated Care Board) taking on the responsibilities of the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) from 1st July 2022.

2.    The co-operating and participating persons and bodies list within the Membership section was extended to include Safer Roads for Kent Partnership, Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), Kent Substance Misuse Alliance and the Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Steering Group.

3.    Mr Peerbux pointed to a small inaccuracy in the update, as it was reported that KCC’s ‘Vision for Kent’ strategy was removed, while in fact it was a 10-year multi-agency strategy by the Kent Forum that had expired this year.

4.    Mr Peerbux reported that the KCSP had two subgroups which it was responsible for overseeing. The KCSP Working Group and the Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) Steering Group both had their own ToRs. The annual review of the subgroups’ ToRs had been aligned with that of the KCSP and, as such, members of these subgroups had also recently reviewed their respective ToRs.

5.    The majority of changes to the KCSP Working Group ToR were in relation to the Membership section, and also a slight change to the ‘Responsibilities’ section to include Safeguarding Boards/Partnerships within the ‘liaise and coordinate with other statutory bodies’.

6.    There was one change to the DHR Steering Group ToR within the ‘Responsibilities’ section to ‘ensure that lessons learned from DHRs are cascaded to agencies across Kent and Medway’. It now included ‘Domestic and Sexual Abuse Executive Group, MARAC Steering Group, Domestic Abuse Commissioning teams and agencies across Kent and Medway’.

RESOLVED that the Kent Community Safety Partnership Members

a)    Agree the Terms of Reference for the Kent Community Safety Partnership, subject to any changes (i.e. membership) proposed by the Partnership and approve the Terms of Reference for the KCSPs two subgroups (KCSP Working Group and the DHR Steering Groups).

b)    Ensure that they are signed up to the latest version of the Kent and Medway Information Sharing Agreement.

c)    Note that the Terms of Reference for the KCSP and its subgroups will be reviewed annually and included as an agenda item at least once a year.

1.  Ms Banks (Detective Chief Superintendent, Kent Police) explained that, following the recent sentencing of a serving police officer with the Metropolitan Police Service for the murder of a young woman, Kent Police instigated an immediate focus on how to maintain public trust and confidence, and listening and engaging with the public.

2.  The Tackling VAWG strategy defined Kent Police’s approach to tackling crime and behaviour that disproportionately affected Women and Girls. As part of this approach, Kent Police would introduce an action plan to track progress and demonstrate commitment to tacking Violence Against Women and Girls.

3.  Ms Banks reported that the Strategic objectives that Kent Police was seeking in order to improve its service included: Holding Offenders to Account (through offender management, training and development), Support Victims (through practice review, engagement and safeguarding); Keeping You Safe (via education, early intervention and crime prevention); Our Culture (through education, encouragement and empowerment) and; Strengthening the System (via governance, scrutiny technology and partnership).

4.  In answer to a comment about the importance of emphasising the prevention agenda, Ms Banks agreed that prevention and early intervention were critical and were key to the strategy.

5.  A Partnership Member stressed the importance of making sure that crossovers were avoided, as there were several organisations working on similar themes in this area.

6.  Mr Peerbux reported that he made the White Ribbon UK Promise to never commit, excuse or remain silent about men's violence against women, and encouraged colleagues to consider making the pledge.

7.  The Vice-Chairman invited Ms Banks to provide another update in a year’s time. Ms Banks agreed.

RESOLVED that the KCSP note the Kent Police Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.

-       17 November 2022, 10am

-       16 March 2023, 10am

-       6 July 2023, 10am

RESOLVED that the dates of the meetings in 2022 were noted.

1.  Mr Peerbux provided an update on the Kent and Medway Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) cases as well as a case briefing on the most recently published case for Simran 2019 which can be found on the kent.gov website using the link below.

https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/partnerships/kent-community-safety-partnership/domestic-homicide-reviews

RESOLVED that the Domestic Homicide Review update be noted.

1. Mr Wilkinson (Assistant Director Contest and Serious Organised Crime, KCC) provided an update on the PREVENT Duty Delivery Board who met on 12^th July and highlighted that the threat level remains as ‘Substantial’ meaning an attack is likely.

RESOLVED that the update on the PREVENT Duty Delivery Board be noted.

1. Members received an update on the Kent and Medway Joint Exploitation Group and the latest briefing will be circulated as soon as it is available.

RESOLVED that the update on the Kent and Medway Joint Exploitation Group be noted.