Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed all.

Approved as an accurate record.

Apologies were received from Tim Harris and Peter Clifton.

·         Ms Fiona Bateman had met with the Community Safety Team (Item 5 of the previous minutes).

·         Mr Stuart Coleman reported that he had initiated Prevent training in Barnet Homes (Item 7 of the previous minutes).

·         London Knife Crime Strategy

·         MOPAC Knife Crime and Serious Violence Reduction Action Plan

Ms Vagarwal spoke to the slides that were circulated with the agenda. As discussed at the July meeting of the Safer Communities Partnership Board (SCPB) the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) had asked all London Boroughs to develop a ‘Knife Crime Action Plan’ focusing on reducing knife crime and serious violence. Further to the input from all partners, six key themes, with around 40 actions, had been agreed for Barnet and forwarded to MOPAC:

·         Targeting lawbreakers – involving intelligence-led Stop and Search and Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO).

·         Keeping deadly weapons off our streets – addressing availability of knives including test-purchase operations and community weapons sweeps; knife arches in some schools

·         Standing with communities – neighbourhoods and families against knife crime; facilitating community involvement in Stop and Search

·         Supporting victims of crime – Art Against Knives and No Knives, Better Lives initiatives

·         Protecting and educating young people – recognising the importance of preventative education work – Growing Against Violence being delivered in Barnet schools; police cadet scheme

·         Offering ways out of crime – helping young people to move away from criminality.

Detective Chief Superintendent Rose stated that Section 60 had been needed less and less in Barnet and this was due to around 22 CBOs being actioned around the Grahame Park Estate two years previously. The amount of knife crime continued to be reducing.

Ms Vagarwal noted that work was ongoing with the Licensing Department and the retail industry to help to reduce accessibility of knives.

DCS Rose stated that in relation to the police’s work with schools, some schools had declined safety arches and also some were not keen on other knife crime prevention tactics. He agreed to inform the Community Safety Team when he became aware of schools not agreeing to any intervention where the police felt some was needed.

Action: DCS Rose

Mr Leader noted that there is no Cadet Scheme in Barnet with the London Fire Brigade but the service had capacity to develop one if needed.

DCS Rose noted that the Cadet Scheme in the Metropolitan Police in Barnet was working on a Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) project in relation to hotels in the area, to try to increase awareness of CSE amongst hotel staff.

Ms Vagarwal noted that Clinical Practitioners were now embedded in the Youth Offending Team (YOT). Fiona Bateman enquired how the outcomes of this were being monitored and how effective the Clinical Practitioners were at accessing support for individuals. She would be happy to take a lead on this as Chairman of the Adults and Safeguarding Board. Dr Djuretic and Ms Vagarwal would find out more about where it was being rolled out.

Action: Ms Vagarwal and Dr Djuretic

Ms Ansdell reported that the Safer Streets Initiative (focusing on 18-25 year olds and currently being trialled in Brent) would produce additional rehabilitation requirements. This would be rolled out across all London Boroughs within a year.  Ms Vagarwal would incorporate this in the Action Plan. 

Dr Djuretic noted that NHS England  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Tony Lewis,

Chief Executive, Unitas, Barnet Youth Zone

·         The Youth Zone concept

·         Plans for Barnet Youth Zone

·         Partnership Working

The Chairman welcomed Mr Tony Lewis, Chief Executive of Unitas Youth Zone in Barnet.

Mr Lewis spoke to his written report which outlined the mission of the Youth Zone, its partnership approach, and how it could support the objectives of Barnet’s Community Safety Strategy.

Unitas Youth Zone’s Montrose Park facility in Burnt Oak would open in Spring 2019. It would be open seven days a week providing youth services for hundreds of young people (aged 8-19) across the Borough. It was joint-funded, at a cost of £6.5million, between private business, local authority, local community and young people themselves. Successful models of youth provision had been set up by its parent charity, OnSide, across the North West of England.

Attendance would be via self-referral and activities include music, gym and learner kitchen across the six key themes of sports, arts, personal development and wellbeing, outdoor activities, leadership, volunteering and citizenship and employment and enterprise. The cost of each visit would be just 50p.

Ms Bateman noted that she would be keen to meet with Mr Lewis when the Youth Zone was up and running, in particular to discuss transitional safeguarding (over 18 years of age). Mr Lewis stated that he would be happy to explore the needs of young people ages 19-25.

The Chairman asked about knife arches at Montrose Park. Mr Lewis responded that he suspected that knife arches or other deterrents would be used but the focus would be on the quality of relationships with young people. Feedback from young people showed that generally they approved of knife arches if done well.

Ms Vagarwal asked about the type of engagement the SCPB might have with the Youth Zone. Mr Lewis stated that one of those set up in the North West was working closely with housing associations and residents. Transport had been provided to get young people to the youth zone. Ms Vagarwal would add this to a future agenda of the SCPB so that ideas for engaging could be considered.

Action: Ms Vagarwal

Dr Djuretic noted that she would speak to partners involved with the Youth Zone in Barking and Dagenham about their preventative approach. It would be a good opportunity to raise awareness on public health issues (smoking cessation, obesity).

Action: Dr Djuretic

Mr Lewis reported that there would be a soft opening of the Youth Zone in April and May 2019 and he would invite stakeholders from the SCPB at that point.

The Committee noted the update from Unitas Youth Zone.

·         Troubled Families

·         Cohorts were there are links to the Safer Communities Partnership Strategy – including Domestic Violence and VAWG, Crime and ASB and demand pressures.

The Chairman invited Ms Tina McElligot to update the Board.

Ms McElligot spoke to her slides on the Troubled Families Programme. Target attachment numbers had been met and crime and ASB levels remained low.

A secondment post had been created from the CRC/NPS. The postholder had begun to identify families to attach.

A domestic abuse worker had also been appointed to Troubled Families Programme team and Education, Health and Adult Mental Health appointments were in progress. Employment advisers had also been appointed and were already showing improvements.

Barnet’s Troubled Families Programme’s outcomes data showed it to be the third most successful in London.

The Chairman asked whether all partners inputted data to the Programme. Ms McElligot stated that there were data sharing agreements in place with relevant agencies, and with the addition of the probation post, NPS and CRC databases could also be accessed to ensure efficient joint working.

Youth offending was steadily declining in Barnet and this was occurring nationally. It was likely to be due to the Out of Court disposals and monitoring of first-time entrants to crime. A weekly OOCD Panel was held in Barnet to make decisions on young low-level offenders and work was then undertaken to try to defer them from further offending. Barnet also has a successful Triage programme which aims to divert young people from crime and ASB.

Ms McElligot would ask for the Youth Justice Plan to be sent out to the SCPB as she was seeking comments before publication.

Action: Governance Officer/Mr Clifton

The Committee noted the report.

·         Substance misuse trends, treatment services and preventative interventions

·         Public Health interface with the Barnet Community Safety Strategy priorities

·         Tackling issues of domestic violence and abuse, mental health and substance misuse

The Chairman invited Dr Djuretic and Ms Songer to present their paper: ‘Substance misuse prevalence, trends, preventative interventions and local opportunities’.

Ms Songer reported that cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis were the most used drugs amongst young people in Barnet whereas opiate use was higher in people aged 35-64. This reflected the national picture.

The number of dependent drinkers in Barnet not in treatment was increasing annually and was currently 88%. Those being treated for drug and alcohol misuse in Barnet had a good completion rate and were unlikely to return to treatment.

The paper set out prevention opportunities for drug and alcohol misuse – many were already in place locally but much work was to be done to ensure they were effective. Leadership was needed from the SCPB and the Health and Wellbeing Board to articulate a shared ambition for reducing alcohol harm via strong oversight of the local substance misuse strategy and implementation plan.

Routine data sharing across local alcohol partners should be used to inform strategic planning and service delivery. Also influencing local alcohol licensing policy is one of the most effective ways to prevent alcohol related harm and commissioning of services must be appropriate to the substance-misusing population.

Mr Rose asked whether there was more information available on nitrous oxide since it was banned in 2016. Fentanyl was not mentioned in the report and this drug was linked to a large number of overdoses and deaths. Ms Songer would look into this.

Action: Ms Songer

Clerk’s note: following the meeting Ms Songer forwarded this information:

• To date, no one in Barnet accessing substance misuse treatment has disclosed Fentanyl use
• In 2018 there have been 133 Fentanyl related deaths in the UK, these are mostly in the north-east.
• The MET area has seen 4 Fentanyl related deaths and 4 seizures – none of these in Barnet

Ms Songer noted that PHE was developing a Potent Opioid Overdose Framework in response to the Fentanyl crisis – details would be reported back to the SCP when available.

Action: Dr Djuretic

The Chairman asked how long the process would take for this to be implemented in Barnet. Ms Songer responded that cases were not appearing in the Barnet drug service but they were appearing nationally.

Ms Ansdell reported that she had seen users of Fentanyl in the streets in Barnet and it was possible that they were not being referred to the service. Mr Rose added that overdosing on this drug was easy and the number of deaths would reflect the use though the Coroner’s reports were possibly not identifying it specifically. Ms Vagarwal would check Coroner’s Court data to see whether Fentanyl was being named in cases of overdose.  The Community Safety team would also be carrying out a review of the Substance Misuse Strategy and Delivery Plan so it was important to ensure that Fentanyl was represented.

Ms Emma Phasey, Group Manager, Public Protection was invited to the table. She reported that the licensing team had been working  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

·         Strategic approach

·         Safeguarding Children

·         Safeguarding Adults

·         Section 11 Audits

Ms Vagarwal spoke to her slides which were circulated with the agenda.

A new aim had been added to the Community Safety Strategy – an increased focus on safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults affected by crime, ASB and substance misuse using a coordinated multiagency response. This included VAWG, Prevent and hate crime awareness:

·         Over the past two years a programme of hate crime awareness training had been delivered by the police, Community Safety Team and Barnet MENCAP to a range of voluntary and community sector organisations. There was now a trained network across the Borough to ensure that adults with disabilities were supported to report hate crime.

·         Prevent Action Plan – includes a specific section relating to child safeguarding to protect children from risks of radicalisation. Also Prevent training is being delivered to local authority staff and staff across the partnership.

·         VAWG – domestic violence MARAC (Multi agency risk assessment case conference) focusing on identification and reduction of risk to victims. Links with MASH and introduction of Barnet Domestic Violence and Abuse One Stop Shop.

·         Barnet Community Safety MARAC is focused on complex, high risk ASB cases, including identifying underlying causes of ASB issues and any safeguarding issues.

·         Community Safety Team has also looked at ‘contextual safeguarding’ – responding to events causing significant harm beyond the family and home setting eg online bullying, robbery and sexual violence in public places/public transport.

Ms Vagarwal reported that together with Ms Bateman she had carried out a self-assessment to ascertain whether any further actions were needed. This would be shared with the SCPB soon. Feedback would be sought from residents.

Action: Ms Vagarwal, Ms Bateman

The Committee noted the report.

·         The London Crime Prevention Fund

·         MOPAC priorities and new strategies

·         The 2019/20 funding landscape

The Chairman noted that no representative had attended for many meetings. Ms Vagarwal would enquire again about representation from MOPAC for future meetings.

A briefing paper was received from Jamie Keddy (MOPAC).

Ms Vagarwal reported that Boroughs would shortly be asked to develop and send in their project proposals prior to grant agreements being drawn up with a view to all projects being agreed by the end of the calendar year. Ms Vagarwal noted that details of the policing plan and Community Safety Strategy for Barnet would be presented in January or April 2019 further to discussions with partners.

The Committee noted the report.

Standing agenda item – Performance dashboard update on performance and crime trends.

The Chairman invited Ms Sepia Golding to speak to her slides.

Ms Golding reported on the statistics for burglary, robbery and violent crime, knife and gun crime, domestic violence and violence with injury and ASB over the last quarter and in comparison with other London Boroughs. There had been a 12% increase in the amount of burglary in Barnet over the past year and ranked 21^st lowest in London out of 32 Boroughs.

Barnet was 2^nd lowest of all 32 London Boroughs for violent crime and 9^th lowest for robbery, though these had increased in Barnet in the past year. There had been decreases in the amount of knife crime since the previous year and also in ASB and domestic violence.

Mr Rose reported that the large number of vacancies (1750) in the Metropolitan Police were making improvements difficult. The vacancies were shared evenly around London.

Prevention measures were being highlighted by the police (Smart Water, property marking). The vast majority of burglaries were opportunistic and low-cost interventions could make a difference. Also police officers not on active patrol were being deployed to speak to victims and this had increased the availability of officers for proactive patrol by 27%.

It was not yet clear why domestic violence reports had decreased but this mirrored other London Boroughs.

The Chairman enquired whether automatic number plate recognition had had a positive impact. Mr Rose reported that it had but officers often did not have time to respond. Recently response times had improved and there was an indication that number plate recognition was working well but more time was needed to see the full outcome of this.

Ms Bateman asked about the profile of burglary victims in Barnet. Mr Rose noted that it varied across the different areas of Barnet. The police had done work to raise awareness mainly of fake water board officials approaching residents at their homes. Ms Bateman reported that the Adults and Safeguarding Board had also carried out some crime prevention work and she wondered whether the Board could work with the police further on this given that the impact on their quality of life of such crimes was significant. Perhaps more could be included in the Strategy. Ms Vagarwal noted that there was already a Burglary Reduction Group in place, chaired by Ms Golding. The group had piloted memocams and safety locking.

Ms Phasey noted that Securecall was aimed at preventing the scam aspects of burglary – it screens out cold callers and was particularly helpful for people with dementia. Barnet would soon have access to Trading Standards’ database of intercepted scam mail and this will enable the team to warn specific residents.

The Committee noted the performance update.

·         Update on the Barnet Zero Tolerance to Hate Crime Project (Relevant to Priority 2 and 7 of the Community Safety Strategy)

·         Update on the findings of the 2018/19 Community Safety Strategic Assessment (Relevant to all priority areas of the Community Safety Strategy)

·         Update on the Partnership approach to delivering an evidence base for the Community Safety Strategy (Relevant to all priority areas of the Community Safety Strategy)

·         Youth Justice Board update (Relevant to priority 4 of the Community Safety Strategy)

·         Performance Update (Relevant to all priority areas of the Community Safety Strategy)

·         Update from the Barnet Reducing Burglary Delivery Group (Relevant to priority 6 Community Safety Strategy)

·         Tri-Borough Model of policing – Mr Rose

·         Verbal update on Substance Misuse Strategy – Dr Djuretic

·         Performance dashboard – robbery update – Mr Rose/Ms Golding

·         Burglary Reduction Group update – new implementations in autumn 2018 and the outcomes – Ms Golding

·         Adults Safeguarding Self-Assessment update and annual report – Ms Bateman.

The Committee agreed the proposed items for the next meeting.

The Chairman expressed his thanks to partners for their involvement in improvements made for the Burnt Oak community in relation to an area of street drinking. He introduced Councillor Sara Conway.

Councillor Conway expressed her appreciation to partners and added that it was clear from her experience within Burnt Oak and in her Ward Surgeries that the area had greatly improved due to partners’ joint approach. She added that the point about licensing made earlier in the meeting was a positive step.