To inform Cabinet that the Strategy Group of the Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership (HCSDP) has approved the Partnership Plan (2008-2011).

To request that Cabinet considers the contents and adopts the plan.

THAT: It be recommended to Council that the Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership Plan be adopted.

1                    Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership (HCSDP) is the county’s merged Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) and Drug Action Team (DAT).  HCSDP has a statutory obligation[1] to undertake a Strategic Assessment to evaluate the performance of the partnership against the 2005-2008 strategy and to propose future partnership priorities and to produce a three-year Partnership Plan setting out how priorities will be addressed.  This enables partnerships to develop plans and tackle short, medium and long-term priorities aligned with other planning cycles, most notably, the Local Area Agreement planning process.

2                    The Plan must contain information about the role of each partner in contributing to and supporting delivery of the agreed priorities.  It should also cover information about the way in which performance against priorities will be measured and how the partnership will address the performance management of their work; as well as information about the way in which the partnership will engage with their communities.

3                    The plan must be revised annually as priorities will not necessarily remain the same, with the partnership able to incorporate any new priorities emerging from the annual Strategic Assessment.

4                    A copy of Herefordshire’s first Strategic Assessment and Partnership Plan is attached for Members attention.  As a partner within HCSDP, Herefordshire Council needs to formally adopt the Partnership Plan and support its delivery.

There are no Alternative Options.