Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed all to the meeting and expressed her thanks to both CI Lynch and CI Zitver for their contributions at previous meetings.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2023 be agreed as a correct record.

Apologies received from The London Fire Brigade, Matt Leng, Community Safety Manager and Alice Bird, MOPAC.

None.

Maggie Higton-Brown, Head of Community Safety & CCTV and Superintendent Tania Martin gave an overview on performance up until February 2023 which included highlights:

·      In the 3 months of December 2022 to February 2023 (incl.) there were 522 cases of Residential Burglary in Barnet

·      In the 3 months of December 2022 to February 2023 there were 169 cases of Non Residential Burglary in Barnet

·      In the 3 months of December 2022 to February 2023 there were 191 cases of Robbery of Personal Property in Barnet

·      In the 3 months of December 2022 to February 2023 there were 540 cases of Violence with Injury in Barnet

·      There were 2325 cases of Violence with Injury in Barnet in the 12 months up to February 2023. In the 12 months prior there were 2269. This is an increase of 2.5%

·      In the 3 months of December 2022 to February 2023 there were 22 cases of Knife Crime with Injury in Barnet

·      In the 3 months of December 2022 to February 2023 there were 8 cases of Gun Crime Lethal Barrelled Discharged in Barnet

·      In the 3 months of December 2022 to February 2023 there were 171 cases of Domestic Abuse VWI in Barnet

·      In the 3 months of December 2022 to February 2023 there were 381 incidents captured by CCTV in Barnet

·      There were 28 Prevent referrals in Barnet over Q3. In the same quarter in the previous year, there were 18. This is an increase of 56%

The Safer Communities Partnership Board noted the contents of the presentation.

Tania Martin gave a verbal update which included some personnel changes within the police service and that under the Commissioners turnaround plan that have been publicly noted and one strand of this is to have a dedicated superintendent and a local chief inspector to enable links between boroughs and the police to become easier. Other staff have recently joined the BCU and Tania asked for any member of the board to make contact with her to strengthen working relationships between all partners.

Additional changes also mean that every two weeks the Police will meet with each boroughs Safer Neighbourhood Teams to plan more specifically and carefully what is needed as opposed to linking this across Brent & Harrow.

Wider pieces of work Operation Innis which is targeted at Barnet High Street and the increasing numbers of Anti Social Behaviour and theft which has been a long term piece of work. The team have also been focusing on Grahame Park Estate with police patrols and the challenges that area has. 

Looking forward overt the coming months the Police will be working closely with the Community Safety Team on the Summer nights campaign and the issues that arise from this particular time of year.

The Chair thanked Tania Martin for her updates.

Tina McElligott, Director for Early Help & Childrens Social Care presented the report which provided an overview on three key areas of Family Services delivery that cross over into the Community Safety Strategy which are:

• Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women & Girls

• Violence, Vulnerability & Exploitation

• Reducing Re-Offending

The report set out key progress, highlighting national initiatives, local innovation, and current/future challenges to delivery and the following highlights were shared with the board:

• In Barnet in the 12 months to February 2023, there were 5044 Domestic Abuse incidents, 3121 Domestic Abuse offences and 722 Domestic Abuse violence with injury cases were reported to Police.

• IRIS Programme - Out of 50 GP surgeries in Barnet, of which 28 are fully trained practices and a further 15 are partially trained, 7 GP Practices have not engaged. In order to improve take up, Solace has been linked as the lead for training the remaining GP surgeries. And referrals into Solace Services from GPs in Barnet have improved with take-up of training.

• Additional funding for this programme has been agreed and is being jointly funded by Barnet Public Health and North Central London Integrated Care Board with a total of £90k having been committed.

• Prevention in schools - Public Health is mapping support, resources and training available to schools in the prevention of domestic and sexual abuse and training for all safeguarding leads in schools has been requested to support this.

• Operation encompass – led by the Metropolitan Police in partnership with the Council and schools enables the Police to share information with schools following reported domestic abuse incidents which leads to school support staff being able to be aware instantly to provide support to the children and young people affected. Tania Martin commented that she would make contact separately with Ms McElligott to ensure this is a success.

• There were 147 homelessness approaches due to domestic abuse in quarter 4. Of these, 29 were provided temporary accommodation. Many victims find their own accommodation as they do not want to stay in temporary accommodation.

• Barnet Homes dedicated DA Team supported 23 victims in quarter 4 who were deemed high risk.

• The CODA programme is also continuing and being modified to make some of the model more culturally appropriate along with a pilot being organised with teenagers.

• In Barnet, the police have issued 26 Domestic Violence Prevention Notices (DVPN) and 22 Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPO) in the 12 month period to March 2023.
• 15 requests for Clare’s Law disclosures at DA MARAC an increase from 8 requests in Q3.

• The team continue to work with Middlesex University on the ‘hear my voice’ campaign which is student led and continues to focus on capturing the local context of the borough and narratives of individuals, groups and organisations in the community.

• The Barnet One Stop Shop (OSS) has seen the demand for the services decrease however there has been various issues in relation to space and privacy for victims and this is being discussed with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Dr Tamara Djuretic gave a presentation on suicide prevention and the extensive work the team are currently working on carrying out which includes suicide rates in Barnet with it being the lowest rates in London.

Fiona Bateman commented on the successful campaign around suicide prevention and the joint working that took place around this.

Cllr Conway made a suggestion for councillors to carry out some mental health awareness training. Ms Djuretic noted this and would take forward as necessary.

The Safer Communities Partnership Board noted the progress on both the work on the Mental Health Charter and suicide prevention

Tamara Djuretic, Director of Public Health introduced the report and Luke Kwamya, Head of Public Health took the board through the key points of the report which included the progress made on Barnet Combatting Drugs Partnership (BCDP).

Progress on the strands of work the Public Health Team are currently working were highlighted, and notably there has been a good up take on the Drink Coach Service with 24% of users in the possible dependence category therefore they would present these people to treatment services. The needs assessment has demonstrated that the service reaches a cohort of people who wouldn’t usually come forward for assistance which is a positive outcome.

Cllr Conway thanked the team for their work to date in the and if this is also linking with the good working relationships between the Community Safety Team and the PSPO’s. Louisa Songer commented that the team are currently launching the Drink Coach contract and would welcome discussions with the Community Safety Team how best to join this work up.

1.The Safer Communities Partnership Board considered and noted the progress being made to Deliver a world-class Drug and Alcohol treatment and recovery system, including setting up of the Barnet Combating Drugs Partnership (BCDP).

2. The Safer Communities Partnership Board also agreed oversight of BCDP delivery plan.

Diasmer Bloe presented the Serious Violence needs assessment and explained that it was put together to analysis on the causes and context of serious violence. The idea of the assessment is to support the Police and specifically looks at the age of 25 or under who have or are experiencing serious violence, with special attention of victims of domestic abuse.

The main Duty holders in the process are:

• Police

• Fire and rescue authorities

• Justice organizations (youth offending teams and probation services)

• Health bodies (Integrated Care Boards)

• Local authorities

Most data has been received to date, however some information is still missing and the completion date is for the end of May. The data will be then looked at and brought to the meetings going forward to be able to understand the wider issues once the full assessment has been collated.

Cllr Conway noted that the Serious Violence Duty Needs Assessment is an important tool going forward and the Board noted the contents of the report presented.

Fiona Bateman noted that the Safer Adult Review may be published in time for the next meeting, if not the following one for the Boards information. 

None.