Agenda item

1.    Martin Adams, Assistant Director of Community Engagement for Kent Fire and Rescue, provided an update on the recent activity of the working group.  Key points included the organisation of the Annual Community Safety Conference at Ashford International which would be focusing on substance misuse this year.  This was to involve key speakers from the Margate Taskforce (a multi-agency team supporting community safety activity in Thanet) and Jan King from the Angelis Foundation which supports young people tackling addiction.  Jessica Mookherjee, Public Health specialist, commented that the joint Drug and Alcohol Strategy would be out for consultation soon and it was hoped that the issues discussed at the Conference would contribute to improving the strategy.

2.    Mr Adams highlighted the importance of the joint Community Safety Team, which had significantly contributed to progressing the objectives of the working group, supporting the planning for the conference and had continued to evidence the benefits of joint working between agencies.

3.    Shafick Peerbux, Head of Community Safety, KCC, provided an update on the Community Safety Agreement, explaining that Violent and Acquisitive crime priorities had been amalgamated into the single focus on Serious Crime.  A new priority had been added related to Safeguarding, while Hate Crime and Preventing Violent Extremism had remained key issues.  In terms of general performance, Mr Peerbux explained that reports of domestic abuse had increased, in part because Home Office counting rules had changed but also because the provision of One Stop Shops and similar support services had encouraged more victims to come forward.

4.    Mr Adams provided an update on Road Safety, stating that there had been an increase to the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) on the roads.  While additional work was going to review and analyse the figures to identify key issues and confirm details, all partners were already committed to working together to reduce the KSI number and protect road users.  Mr Adams advised the committee that the data indicated that the majority of casualties were car users, rather than pedestrians or cyclists although unfortunately the number of KSI children had increased.  All the increase did match with national trends and it was believed that the increase in vehicle numbers on the roads was a major contributing factor.  Neil Wickens, from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, noted that recording changes by the Police had potentially contributed to the increase in figures due to more incidents now be included in the KSI numbers but he advised that this was still being reviewed.  Sheila Davison, Head of Health, Parking and Community Safety at Ashford Borough Council, commented that Ashford has a high number of KSIs and that they have been reviewing cluster sites to develop a response.  Mr Peerbux explained that funding from the PCC’s office was being used to support the License to Kill scheme which educated people on the dangers of poor driving.

5.    Mr Peerbux explained that work was ongoing to improve scam awareness campaigns and that the CST was working to address the £20k funding gap still present in how Domestic Homicide Reviews were funded.

6.    Mr Peerbux provided an update on the work of the joint Community Safety Team, explaining that Police and Fire senior management have been working with local councils on sharing information.  It was planned that the team would be a centre of knowledge and able to disseminate and promote good practice.  Themed workshops were planned, with Strategic Assessments agreed as the first to help local partners in conducting their assessments which contribute the county wide response.  The team was focusing on using the MORALE assessment model, which links well with Kent Police’s Risk / Harm assessment approach.  Mr Peerbux advised the committee the CST had already been nominated for an award, which was positive given its relative youth as a joint working initiative.  Supt. Simon Thompson noted that he had been made aware of good feedback regarding the CST from Community Safety Unit managers around the county and that the Police was keen to support the work to share information better and promote good practice.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.