To update the Committee on current community safety issues in Herefordshire, including the new approach to managing offenders, as well as the proposed priorities for the Herefordshire Community Safety Partnership for 2014/17.

The Chairman advised that the committee acted as the council’s statutory crime and disorder committee and welcomed the following to the meeting: George Branch, Assistant Chief Officer, Warwickshire and West Mercia Community Rehabilitation Company; Superintendent Sue Thomas, West Mercia Police; and Nina Bridges, Sustainable Communities Manager, and Adrian Turton, Community Safety Manager, Herefordshire Council.

                                       

The Sustainable Communities Manager presented the Community Safety Update, supplemented by comments from the Community Safety Manager and Superintendent Thomas.  The presentation was included in the agenda and was structured under the following headings: Changing Landscape for Community Safety; Herefordshire is a Safe County; Achievements in 2013/14; Headline Statistics 2013/14; Draft Priorities for Strategic Plan 2014/17; Reduce Re-offending; Address the Harm Caused by Alcohol and Drugs; Address Domestic Violence and Abuse; Promote Community Cohesion and Reduce Anti-Social Behaviour; and Moving Forward.

 

The committee considered the report, the principal points included:

 

a.         The Chairman said that this item was timely given that Ofsted were inspecting the authority’s safeguarding arrangements currently.  It was noted that, since Ofsted had found the arrangements to protect children as ‘inadequate’ in 2012, progress had been made with the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).

 

b.         The Chairman said that the Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) statistics were alarming; with a 9% increase in incidents in 2013/14 compared to 2012/13 and a 19% increase in DVA crimes over the same period.  The Community Safety Manager said that, although the reasons were not certain, the figures may reflect increased confidence about reporting incidents and increased awareness as a result of local and national campaigns, such as those by Women’s Aid and the White Ribbon campaign.  Superintendent Thomas said that the police were taking extra effort with certain offences, including DVA, sexual assault and hate crime.  She added that it was not necessarily about focussing on the figures but about ‘doing the right thing’.

 

c.         A Committee Member noted that DVA could have a serious impact on children at very early ages and it was questioned how awareness was being raised in schools.  The Community Safety Manager advised that five schools were involved in a pilot initiative and this had delivered positive outcomes; the potential to develop the project and roll it out across Herefordshire would be explored in the forthcoming year.  The Chairman commented that teachers or teaching assistants would often pick up on behavioural changes and questioned whether the reporting lines were as clear as they possibly could be.  The Cabinet Member Corporate Services said that a significant amount of training was provided on safeguarding issues.  The Sustainable Communities Manager said that a lot of work was being undertaken around the advice and support available to frontline professionals and others who might come into contact with DVA issues.  The Community Safety Manager said that the comment about teaching staff would be taken away and he provided an overview of the current referral process to MASH.  Mr. Branch commented on work to reduce reoffending, such as the Building Better Relationships programme.

 

d.         A Committee Member questioned whether the background of youth offenders formed part of risk assessments and whether the Community Safety Strategy would include elements around restorative justice and other out of court disposals.  Superintendent Thomas commented that agencies were aware of the care homes in the locality and associated issues.  She also commented that focus had changed from detection rates to solved rates and outcomes, therefore the police would continue to look proactively at appropriate community resolutions.  Mr. Branch added that restorative justice would become a sentencing option under the Offender Rehabilitation Act.

 

e.         The Chairman questioned whether there was certainty around the number of care homes in the county, especially those established by other authorities.  The Cabinet Member Corporate Services said that the Children’s Wellbeing Directorate would be able to provide a response.  Superintendent Thomas said that work around missing persons had provided the police with a better understanding of the locations of care homes and placements.

 

f.          A Committee Member commented on the linkages between alcohol and DVA crimes and, whilst noting that progress had been made with the night-time economy, questioned whether enough was being done locally to reinforce the work of the police and to promote safe practices by licensees.  The Cabinet Member Corporate Services said that the Licensing Team would be involved in Community Safety Partnership work on addressing the harm caused by alcohol and drugs.  The Chairman suggested that the issues raised by the Committee Member could form part of future scrutiny activity.

 

g.         There was a brief discussion about apparent increases in certain types of crime and about the interpretation of data.  Superintendent Thomas commented that increased reporting was encouraged and campaigns, such as White Ribbon, helped to increase awareness.  She also commented that resources would be prioritised based on where the most risk was, who presented the most risk, and who was at most risk.  A Committee Member said that the different agencies needed to be mindful about the presentation of data given the potential for misinterpretation.

 

h.         A Committee Member commented on the need to assess the needs of those young people who did not get involved in traditional youth groups and after school clubs; the value of the MYLO (Mobile Youth Led Opportunities) project in developing activities and discouraging anti-social behaviour was noted.

 

i.           In response to a question, the Community Safety Manager advised that further analysis was being undertaken in relation to the higher rates of first time youth offenders in Herefordshire compared to England and Wales.  A Committee Member said that it was crucial to understand where incidents were occurring to inform the strategic allocation of resources.

 

j.           Members in attendance commented on: the likelihood that DVA had been hidden in the past; the benefits of street pastors; the linkages between drugs, youth offences and incidents recorded at hospitals; and increases in DVA incidents during football tournaments.

 

Mr. Branch provided an overview of the current probation service arrangements and pending Ministry of Justice (MoJ) reforms; the Transforming Rehabilitation document was included in the agenda.  The key points included:

 

1.          The West Mercia Probation Trust: was one of the highest performing trusts in the country; had won a number of awards; had a unique strategic partnership with Youth Support Services through One Step Beyond; hosted the West Mercia youth offending service teams; and had a history of working with offenders serving short prison sentences, such as the Connect Project.

 

2.          Mr. Branch said that credit for the achievements should go to David Chantler, the Chief Executive Officer until 1 June 2014, and to trust staff.

 

3.          The MoJ vision for its reforms were summarised as: driving innovation and flexibility; moving away from a target-driven culture and focusing on outcomes; and to extend supervision to offenders serving sentences of twelve months or less.

 

4.          From 1 June 2014, the 35 Probation Trusts in England and Wales would be replaced by a new National Probation Service (NPS) and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC); the CRCs would be transferred to new providers following competition.

 

5.          Of the trust’s existing staff, 40% would become part of the NPS which would have responsibility for: all court reports and enforcement; initial risk assessments; offender management for cases classed as high risk of harm and a small number of public interest cases; victim liaison work; and approved premises.

 

6.          The remainder of the trust’s staff would become part of the West Mercia and Warwickshire CRC and have responsibility for: offender management for cases classed as medium and low risk; prison resettlement contracts; and interventions such as Community Payback and Accredited Programmes.

 

7.       An overview was provided of the timeline for the changes, albeit a number of key dates had yet to be confirmed.  Contracts were due to be awarded from autumn 2014, with new providers due to start delivery before the next General Election.

 

In response to questions from the Chairman about the implications of the reforms, Mr. Branch said that:

 

i.           he felt that the changes were being rushed;

ii.       it was likely that representatives from both the NPS and CPC would need to attend meetings in the future;

iii.      capacity and resilience was likely to be reduced at all levels, there were numerous vacancies currently;

iv.      senior officers would have to cover large areas;

v.       communications would be centralised;

vi.      local protocols on information sharing would be needed;

vii.     with the NPS being responsible for court reports, CRC staff could feel de-skilled; and

viii.    with the NPS being responsible for higher risk offenders at all times, there could be higher levels of burn out of NPS staff.

 

Mr. Branch clarified that he was expressing his own opinions but similar views had been expressed by some of his counterparts around the country.  He emphasised that the changes would break up a successful trust, would result in fragmentation and duplication, and there would be consequential impacts on resilience and flexibility.

 

The Vice-Chairman commented on potential risks in terms of costs, service delivery, rehabilitation outcomes and community safety.  In response to a question about the implications for Herefordshire, Mr. Branch said that: the NPS did not have sufficient staff numbers currently to manage both the courts and supervise offenders in the community; and there would be duplication and increased workloads for both the NPS and CRC, particularly where offenders moved between risk categories.  Mr. Branch suggested that concerns about the reforms should be directed to the Secretary of State for Justice.

 

In response to a question from the Vice-Chairman, Superintendent Thomas said that she was not in a position to comment at this time but noted that the implications for the Community Safety Partnership’s Integrated Offender Management approach would need to be assessed.  The Chairman commented on the potential for complications for the police.

 

In response to questions from Committee Members, Mr. Branch advised:

 

•        Continuity in the management of offenders would be undermined and there could be serious public protection issues.

 

•        Concerns had been raised as part of the short consultation process.

 

•        The extension of supervision to offenders serving short sentences was a positive development, although this would increase workload for the CRC and no additional funding would be available.

 

•        There were on-going discussions in respect of ‘payment by results’.

 

•        The ability to track offenders through the system and between areas could be compromised, especially as the 21 CRCs could have different IT systems.

 

•        He felt that there were some flaws with the Risk of Serious Recidivism tool which would be used to decide how to allocate cases.

 

•        There were good community arrangements for women offenders currently but it was not clear how the reform agenda would address the limited number of women’s prisons in the system.

 

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services noted that the reforms were being progressed and questioned what was being done to prepare locally.  Mr. Branch said that partners were being alerted to the changes, support provided to the NPS was being logged, and issues were being reported to the transition team.  In addition, the CRC was developing a business plan to enable the new provider to understand and take on the work involved.

 

A Committee Member commented that many observers, from across the political spectrum, were concerned about what may happen as a consequence of the reforms.

 

The Chairman, reiterating the committee’s role on crime and disorder matters, proposed the recommendations detailed in the resolution below.

 

RESOLVED:  That

 

a)      The Community Safety Partnership be asked to establish clear performance indicators to provide assurance that impacts from the transitional arrangements being put in place for the probation service are identified and mitigated at an early stage, and provide quarterly reports on performance; and

 

b)      The concerns of the committee be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice.