Agenda and minutes

Venue: Hendon Town Hall, The Burroughs, London NW4 4BQ

Contact: Tracy Scollin 020 8359 2315 Email: tracy.scollin@barnet.gov.uk 

Note: Two paper copies of the agenda only will be available at the meeting for members of the public. Attendees are requested to view the agenda online and if needed, to print any specific agenda report(s). 

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and Introductions

Minutes:

The chairman welcomed all.

 

2.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 364 KB

Minutes:

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 25th October 2019 were approved.

 

3.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Elena Barrasso (Department of Work and Pensions) and Kiran Vagarwal (Assistant Director, Community Safety, LBB).

 

4.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

None.

5.

Barnet Draft Local Plan Consultation 27 Jan-11 March 2020 pdf icon PDF 191 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman invited the following to the table to speak to their presentation:

 

·       Ken Bean – Principal Policy Planner, Re

·       James Gummery – Principal Policy Planner, Re

 

Mr Bean reported that a public consultation would be held over the next seven weeks on the Draft Local Plan. This would cover multiple areas including housing, design, infrastructure and parks and was made up of 51 policies in 67 site proposals across Barnet.

 

The Draft Local Plan had been approved by Policy and Resources Committee and feedback was encouraged through a formal written response from the SCPB. The next stage after the first formal consultation would be the independent examination stage with the planning inspector.

 

Mr Bean noted that it would be helpful to have feedback on any erroneous or out-of-date information in the plan as well as expressions of support in areas that this was felt to be applicable.

 

Mr Gummery reported that a ‘Secured by Design’ approach had been taken in relation to the design of buildings and town centres with a view to ‘designing out’ crime. Barnet looked likely to increase its night-time economy, in line with the London Plan, but any potential significant negative impact including anti-social behaviour (ASB) was being taken into account.

 

The consultation end date is 16 March 2020 with adoption of the plan to begin in winter 2021.

 

The Chairman asked how objections would be considered on specific elements if the planning inspector would be modifying the plan. Mr Bean noted that from the start of the consultation comments would have an impact. The Core Strategy 2012 remains the extant plan until the new plan reaches adoption at the end of 2021. It would still be possible to quote policies in the former plan as the Draft Plan develops.

 

The Chairman commented that the housing target in the Draft Plan appeared to be higher than that recommended by the Mayor of London. Mr Bean noted that the government uses standard methodology but a panel had recommended that the Mayor of London reduce Barnet’s target as the planning inspectors had stated that it would not be deliverable. The Draft Local Plan suggested 46,000 new homes for Barnet whereas the government recommended 62,000; this figure was open to review.

 

The Chairman in his capacity as Brunswick Park Ward Councillor asked that outside the meeting he be provided with more information about the six sites to be developed in his Ward.

Action: Mr Bean

 

The Chairman asked how much the design had been discussed with the Met Police. Inspector Jason Mosely reported that developers had to liaise with a Design Out Crime Adviser (DOCA) as part of the process.

 

The Chairman asked about the impact on crime and mental health as there would be a significant amount of high density living. Mr Gummery stated that the plans included the Brent Cross and Colindale regeneration areas where tall buildings would be built in appropriate places. 

 

The Director for Children’s Social Care asked whether the new sites would attract  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

MOPAC Blueprint for whole systems approach to women in contact with the criminal justice system pdf icon PDF 223 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Community Safety Manager presented the report including the MOPAC Blueprint for a Whole Systems Approach to Women in Contact with the Criminal Justice System.

 

The Community Safety Manager reported that all London Boroughs had been asked to support the Blueprint which would help to understand and address the causes behind female offending, including coercion, trafficking and domestic violence (DV).

 

He added that in November 2019 the Community Leadership and Libraries Committee (CLLC) had passed a resolution to endorse the Blueprint, and had asked the Community Safety Team to attend quarterly working groups at MOPAC, which aimed to produce an Action Plan for the Blueprint. The Community Safety Team would provide updates to the Safer Communities Partnership Board as this developed. This would also be fed into the Reducing Offending Delivery Group and VAWG Delivery Group.

 

The National Probation Service (NPS) Head of Service reported that proposals on working with women had been fed in to the courts service by the NPS and in the past two months fewer women had been put into custody. Community Orders had been issued.  The NPS would continue to work closely with Councils on this. The Head of Service added that housing was one of the biggest issues for this group.

 

The Board resolved to note the report.

 

7.

London Fire Brigade Annual Update to the SCPB pdf icon PDF 230 KB

Minutes:

The Borough Commander for Barnet spoke to his presentation.

 

He reported that improved IT had meant that more live data were available. KPIs overall had improved since the previous year.

 

‘Serious injuries’ had been reducing but still showed in the ‘red’ category. This included smoke inhalation. The LFB was trying to target vulnerable people but data was not always available.

 

‘Shut in lift’ occurrences were also in the ‘red’ category and this was the case for most London Boroughs, but Barnet had achieved a ‘very low’ number of incidents with few repeat offenders. As the number of high rise buildings increased the number of lift incidents was likely to grow.

 

There had been a reduction in callouts to automatic fire alarms (non-domestic buildings) when the Authority had begun to issue fines, but these had been discontinued and an increase in callouts had been the result. The LFB worked to educate organisations when they had these callouts as several different reasons could cause the alarms to be set off. The LFB was also working with Barnet Homes and registered social landlords on education around fire alarms.

 

Highlighting vulnerable people continued to be a challenge; ensuring this group had a means of escape from any dangerous situation was more important particularly as many had reduced mobility The LFB continued to have ongoing discussions with various groups around vulnerable people and how to support them. It was important that vulnerable people were highlighted to the LFB by other organisations where possible, for example if they are smokers or at risk for any reason.

 

There had been two fire fatalities in two months in Barnet. Both had not been able to understand their situation or to escape. This was a concern and the LFB needed to be able to track such individuals if they were moved to a new home.

 

Mr Kwamya noted that he was putting together a strategy for housing officers and other staff. He asked the Borough Commander to inform him of individuals who could be linked in to this training.

Action: Borough Commander

 

The Borough Commander noted that he tried to have contact with as many people as possible, and organisations such as care homes, as well as practice nurses who visit people at home. Sometimes staff focused on medical care but were not aware of fire risk. Emollient creams are flammable so this poses a high risk particularly for smokers, for example.

 

There had been a policy on hoarders in Barnet for the past two years and many agencies had been discussing this. This was not only a fire concern but a general health one and the panel was beginning to address the barriers for communicating with hoarders. Funding had been made available for clearance but the root causes were not yet being dealt with and these individuals tended to re-hoard. The right partners were in discussion, including the CCG and the GP Networks. Barnet Homes representatives were also involved and the LFB had been installing smoke detectors.

 

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Report on progress of delivering the Prevent Strategy pdf icon PDF 222 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the Prevent Coordinator, LBB to present his report on the Barnet Prevent Strategy.

 

The Prevent Coordinator reported that the Prevent risk assessment for the Borough included awareness of possible radicalisation of vulnerable individuals online and the Prevent pathfinder process for prisons. A Prevent Education Officer was working to build resilience within schools including challenging stereotyping around terrorism. Unregulated education settings were also being considered and Barnet has a voluntary register for these. Any organisation could sign up to this for safeguarding advice.

 

The Prevent Action Plan and Risk Assessment were presented biannually to Barnet’s Management team and there was ongoing oversight and scrutiny from the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive.

 

A training plan was in place to help staff to recognise signs of radicalisation. This had been undertaken annually by social work staff, the Corporate Ant- Fraud Team and staff in both Children’s and Adults’ services, Barnet Homes, National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) annually. Staff delivering voluntary services to vulnerable individuals had also received the training, such as Mencap and Westminster Drugs Project staff.

 

The Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) team has a Prevent Lead and any external referral in relation to Prevent was treated in line with any other safeguarding issue by the MASH team.

 

18-year-olds and above were referred to the Community Safety Team for triage. Close links with policing partners who were involved in risk assessment and risk assessment for channel process.

 

The Prevent Coordinator noted that as part of the Channel process it was often found that individuals had other concerns e.g. ASB or alcohol issues. He requested that local policing be represented on the Channel Panel to help prioritise these issues. Inspector Mosely noted that the team would need to contact their local Counter Terrorism Command (SO15).

 

Resolved that the report was noted.

9.

Family Services update pdf icon PDF 813 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman invited the Director for Children’s Social Care to speak to her presentation.

 

Families First

 

The Ministry of Housing, Local Government and Communities (MHLGC) had confirmed further funding for Barnet to work with another 111 families to March 2021. The current programme is due to end in March 2020 with almost 5000 families having been attached.

Barnet was performing strongly nationally and was 4th in London.

 

A Resource Hub with other agencies had been set up, bringing additional expertise around reoffending, DV and drug use. This enabled more joined up work particularly in relation to DV services and probation services. An impact analysis of the Hub was underway.

 

Youth Offending Team

 

·       Barnet continued to perform well against the London and national data for the young person as first time entrant and in custody. A Resettlement Group had been set up to support young people coming out of custody. Reoffending rates were at the lowest point in the past three years.

·       First time entrants are much lower due to the out-of-court options such as community sentences which were being used effectively.

·       Analysis had identified that mental health concerns appeared to be present in reoffending young people. Being out of education was another negative factor as were households with DV. Funding had been made available from NHSE for screening for mental health concerns, a forensic psychologist and some interventions.

·       The Youth Offending Team (YOT) had moved to Family Services and this worked well and enabled greater wraparound work with parents in a whole-family approach, looking at the context of the child’s environment.

·       Fresh Start in Education had been commissioned to do 1-1 tuition with pupils permanently excluded from school, particularly those over 16, aimed at trying to get them into work or training

·       The current caseload profile is older children and BME is disproportionate in the cohort. Most were male and over 15. There was a shorter time to intervene with the cut off at 18 for statutory children’s interventions.

·       Caseloads were increasing but this was positive; caseloads had been reduced so much that staff had capacity to do other work beyond the statutory levels of intervention.

·       The team was preparing for the last inspection for Youth Justice 2012 - around 40% had received out-of-court disposals and early intervention work.

·       Self-assessment of the new framework for YOT Management Boards was underway and due in March 2020.

·       Barnet had developed some best practice including an activity-based residential trip with young people which had taken place for the first time in October and was likely to be repeated. This had enabled young people to learn new skills and experience a different environment. Any agencies would be welcome to join them at the next trip; this was an opportunity to speak to and influence this group.

·       The team co-produced an information video for and with young people with the help of a local artist. The Youth Justice Board had requested that this be shown to others as an example of best practice for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

North West BCU Police update to the SCPB pdf icon PDF 703 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman invited Inspector Moseley to speak to his presentation.

 

Inspector Moseley reported that policing resources and buildings of Harrow, Brent and Barnet had merged 14 months previously.

 

Concerns had been expressed about police being able to attend ‘Immediate’ calls quickly enough but data showed that this had not changed since the merger. Also, there had been improvements to ‘101’ calls and in the reporting of crime.

 

‘Violence against a person’ is the highest reported crime in Barnet and covered a wide range of severity from a push to DV.

 

Inspector Moseley noted that processes had not been disrupted as part of the merger. He had not noticed a huge difference or any drawbacks from his perspective in the community. There had been an increase in the number of police officers for the Met Police of 2000 following several years of cuts. Barnet would receive around 320 in front line posts.

 

The Chairman enquired how many constables would be stationed in Barnet. Inspector Moseley would ask for this information after the meeting.

Action: Inspector Moseley

 

Inspector Moseley stated that an update on robbery had been requested at the last meeting. Nationally robbery had increased by 11% (robbery offences were defined by being carried out in the street so did not include burglary). Incidents of robbery in Barnet were currently around the midpoint of the 32 London Boroughs and it is a priority crime for Barnet. The Met Police had appointed 15 new personnel to its Focus Desk who would be reviewing all robberies and suspects. Hotspots had been identified in Barnet and extra patrols would be provided for these areas. In 2019 a spate of robberies had taken place in Finchley and investigation had found that youths were being targeted close to some of the schools for items such as headphones by individuals from outside the Borough. Several interventions including Safer Transport Teams running operations on buses and around transport hubs had resulted in a decrease in these crimes. Advice had also been given to schools. Four school children had recently been arrested and had accounted for many of the crimes. 

 

The Chairman asked what the Council could to support the police. Inspector Moseley noted that the work with youths would help and should continue and was helpful in educating and empowering young people, as well as preventing gang-related crime. The Community Safety Manager, Matt Leng, noted that robbery victims were changing due to new technology such as high valuable items that could be worn or carried. The Community Safety Team was working on education, awareness and providing information on property marking via Immobilise.com. It would be helpful if this could be highlighted further through the task and finish groups and that victims could be encouraged to report their perpetrators as it had been found some were known to the victims.

 

The Head of Service, NPS, reported that she will be rolling out to Barnet a piece of work she was introducing in Enfield currently. This enabled the team to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Performance update pdf icon PDF 272 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman invited Ben Norfolk, Partnership Performance, LBB to the table.

 

Mr Norfolk reported on the performance dashboard update which had been circulated with the agenda.

 

  • There had been a reduction in non-residential burglaries in Barnet. Residential burglaries had increased but had not increased as much as the average across London.
  • Barnet had experienced a large increase in robbery in the past year. Despite this Barnet was still the 11th lowest of the 32 London Boroughs.
  • Violent crime was the second lowest in Barnet compared to all London Boroughs, but it had experienced a slight increase.
  • Knife injuries had slightly increased in age 25 and under.
  • DV had a slight decrease in sanction and detection.
  • Reoffender rates had decreased by 1% over the past year in Barnet and overall was 3% percent lower than national average.

 

 

12.

Proposed items for next meeting pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Minutes:

The Forward Plan was received. The following items were noted for the next meeting:

 

  • Partnership response to ASB and environmental crime – with the performance update

·       Family Services – Youth Justice Board update

·       Report on the key findings of the 2019/20 Annual Community Safety Strategic Assessment

·       Reducing Offending Group update

·       Safeguarding Adults Board update

·       Update on the MOPAC London Crime Prevention Fund (LCPF) projects

·       Residential burglary – update from the BCU

 

Note: following the meeting the 4th April meeting was CANCELLED in line with rules of Purdah (GLA election on 7 May).

 

 

13.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

None.

14.

Date of Next Meeting

Minutes:

Friday 24 July 2020, 09:00 hrs

 

The meeting finished at 11:20 hrs