The report of the Community Safety Partnership Board (Document “K”)  provides details of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) performance report for the 12 months to 30^th September 2019, presents the annual CSP Delivery Plan and seeks to engage further with members of the Health and Wellbeing Board on combined work to respond to priorities in the CSP Delivery Plan.

Recommended-

(1)          That the Health and Wellbeing Board considers the report and how the existing partnership work, including specific suggestions in the report relating to domestic abuse and sexual violence, can be developed to improve performance further.

(2)          That a further report on response and impact of any interventions agreed by the Health and Wellbeing Board be considered in the Autumn 2020.

(3)          That staff who may be the victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence be supported through training managers to sensitively support them in the workplace.

(4)          That raising awareness of the “Bright Sky” App and its benefits to victims of domestic abuse and those who are supporting them be noted.

(5)          That system wide learning and awareness raising events to tackle domestic abuse be supported.

(6)          That consideration be given to a focused development session of the Health and Wellbeing Board which will look at the impact of domestic abuse on children and the system response to it.

(Michael Churley – 01274 431364)

The report of the Community Safety Partnership Board (Document “K”)  provided details of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) performance report for the 12 months to 30^th September 2019, presented the annual CSP Delivery Plan and sought to engage further with members of the Health and Wellbeing Board on combined work to respond to priorities in the CSP Delivery Plan.

The Chair of the District Community Safety Partnership introduced the report which provided details of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) performance report for the 12 months to 30^th September 2019 and presented the annual CSP Delivery Plan, and sought to engage further with members of the Health and Wellbeing Board on combined work to respond to priorities in the CSP Delivery Plan.

It was reported that the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) West Yorkshire delivered the ‘Your Views’ survey to provide data on a range of measures of public confidence and community safety. The Your Views survey included questions in three key sections; views on local priorities, views on policing, and views on partners. It was sent out to a stratified sample of 111,000 households across West Yorkshire every year and the results helped to build a better understanding of the issues at a local level and brought about positive changes.

Members were informed that there had been 3,500 responses received from the district in the 12 months to October 2019.  The overall questionnaire response rate was 15%, a relatively strong return for a postal survey.  However, there were weaker response rates from relatively deprived areas and stronger responses from relatively affluent areas. It remained a survey of perceptions of community safety issues therefore other evidence measures were used alongside the Your Views survey in order to identify priorities; only 15% of respondents said that they had experienced a crime in the past 12 months and public confidence across the district on key issues such as feeling safe continued to increase; fluctuations in recorded crime was not always reflective of actual crime levels for a number of reasons and other factors such as victims’ willingness to report crime and changes in recording requirements all impacted crime figures reported at paragraph 3.2 of the report.

It was reported that there had been a difference in the way crime was being recorded; whilst historic data was less helpful, future reports would come under Crime Data Integrity (guidance in the way police forces recorded crime); Bradford was ahead in the way data was being recorded and was given the outstanding mark for crime data integrity work recently.

Members were informed that there were a number of upcoming system wide events and activities in 2020 to help to raise the profile of work being undertaken around domestic abuse and ways to support the victims of domestic abuse. In order for these to be delivered successfully, a whole system approach was required which was detailed in paragraph 3.2.17 of the report.

Members were informed that one of the most successful projects in Bradford was called ‘Breaking the Cycle’ and had enabled the establishment of a team of skilled and experienced youth work practitioners to work with young people who were involved in, or at risk of being involved with: serious organised crime, urban street gangs, County lines exploited or were exploiting others, or in receipt of higher than yellow levels of ASB sanctions. The project was funded until March 2020 and was a key lynch pin in the districts offer in terms of interventions with young people. The programme had an impressive voluntary engagement rate of 96%.

It was reported that in February 2016 Bradford District Police set up Operation Steerside;  the enforcement element of Operation Steerside had been positively welcomed by communities; however, as a partnership it was recognised that enforcement alone could not resolve or tackle the issues across the District. More collaborative working, utilising all collective resource and powers to ensure that there was a comprehensive plan that not only focussed on enforcement but also looked at  changing behaviours including working with young people in schools and youth settings.

It was reported that the Community Safety Partnership had led on the implementation of two successful PSPO’s (Public Spaces Protection Order) in the district. The first was to prevent the anti-social use of alcohol in open areas in a defined area around the city centre. It had been in place successfully since 2016 and had just been renewed. The second PSPO related to the anti-social use of vehicles including erratic and dangerous driving, noise and harassment from vehicles. This was a district wide PSPO and was the first of its kind in the UK covering a whole district area. It would become enforceable after road signs to raise awareness of the scheme were erected in the district across December 2019 and January 2020. The scheme was nominated for, and won, a ‘John Connell Local Authority Award’ from the Noise Abatement Society in November 2019. The Public Space Protection Orders would make an impact once the road signs had all been erected.

Members were informed that the Bonfire period in 2019 continued the trend in recent years towards reduced incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour. As in previous years, communities, elected members and voluntary sector groups worked alongside statutory services providing a significant partnership response.  This helped to educate and build resilience but also challenged negative behaviours and, where necessary took appropriate action. 

Members paid tribute to the communities and voluntary groups who played a significant part in reducing levels of anti-social behaviour.

It was reported that Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence had a major impact on direct and indirect victim’s health and wellbeing and was a key area that the Community Safety Partnership would ask the Board to offer support in the year ahead which could be achieved through various ways that were detailed in paragraphs 3.2.15 to 3.2.19 of the report.

It was suggested that a Health and Wellbeing Board development session be arranged which considered the impact of domestic abuse on children.

Members were informed that on the 6 January 2020 a Police Domestic Violence Unit had been set up which changed the way investigations were undertaken and would see more engagement with victims and lead to improved outcomes.

It was reported that the Crown Prosecution Service was changing the way it looked at domestic violence cases at a national level.

Members commented on the following:

·                               Operation Steer Side produced some good results.

·                                 A lot of work was being undertaken in relation to supporting staff who had suffered domestic abuse as detailed in paragraph 3.2.15, this work needed to link into the work on workforce strategy.

·                                 Additional training was needed to support social workers to ensure that victim safety advice was consistent - particularly around ending relationships.

·                                  A focus was required to look at the support offered at an Early Help stage, particularly to those children who had witnessed domestic abuse and the Board heard from the Survive and Thrive Partnership about the work that the voluntary sector were undertaking to support this.

·                                 Domestic violence was a significant issue for Children’s Services and was present in more than a third of the cases; safety of children when leaving home and doing an assessment of risk, safety plans and considering views of multi agency partners and mitigating risk was an area that required further reflection and support for front line staff.

·                                 It was clear that the views of communities did not always reflect the positive improvements reported by the Community Safety Partnership. Work was needed to promote the work undertaken by the Community Safety  Partnership to reduce crime which would help public perception of crime in the district and help them to understand the work of the Partnership. In response, it was confirmed that the Community Safety Partnership were working on a branding campaign and promoting the work of the partnership to help improve public perception. 

·                                 It was acknowledged that we needed to do more to promote information on the signs of domestic violence such as placing posters with information in easily accessible places.

·                                 Excellent work that had been undertaken by “Keep it Local” and Survive and Thrive in helping disadvantaged families was recognised.

·                                 Members felt that feeling safe was important so more needed to be done to let people know collectively what good work was being undertaken for example the positive impact of neighbourhood watch schemes.

·                                 Impact of domestic violence was vast and therefore a focus on prevention work was key part of  tackling the issue.

·                                 Domestic abuse in the older generation needed to be built into any work that was being undertaken around domestic violence -particularly in carer relationships. In response, it was noted that the on-going Domestic Homicide Review was about a carer relationship.  Work was on-going to try to understand this.

·                                 It was also acknowledged that more work was needed to improve the work with perpetrators to reduce repeat incidents of domestic violence-particularly where there was MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment)  involvement.

·                                 The board was advised that any agency could refer a case to MARAC.

Resolved-

(1)          That consideration be given to widely promoting information on the signs of domestic violence such as placing posters with information in easily accessible places such as on the inside of toilet cubicle doors etc.

(2)       That the Safer Communities Partnership considers actively promoting the work being undertaken by the partnership to reduce crime and make the district safer which, in turn, would help public perceptions of crime in the District and help them to understand the work of the partnership.

(3)       That staff employed by all partner organisations are supported where they may be the victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence by:

(a)  Training managers to access support and have discussions sensitively with staff in the workplace, particularly through return to work interviews.

(b)The Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Team actively       offer support to managers across the partnership to deliver   training on this issue.   

(4)       That awareness is raised of the “Bright Sky” App and its benefits to victims of domestic abuse and those who are supporting them. That the Community Safety Partnership provide promotional materials for this to Board Members for them to disseminate appropriately.

(5)       That system wide learning and awareness raising events to tackle domestic abuse be supported by the partnership.

(6)       That a focused development session of the Health and Wellbeing Board be arranged which looks at the impact of domestic abuse on children and the system response to it.

Action:  All Partners/Health and Wellbeing Board Manager/ Community Safety Manager