Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 Town Hall. View directions

Items
No. Item

34.

Apologies and named substitutes

To receive apologies for absence and details of any Councillor (or co-optee substitute) nominated to attend this meeting in place of a member of the Committee.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Anita Clayton.  There were no named substitutes.

 

Apologies were also received on behalf of Councillor Sheila Blagg (co-opted member for West Mercia Police Authority) and Mr Ken Hazeldine (Redditch Anti-Harassment Partnership).

 

35.

Declarations of Interest and Party Whip

To invite Councillors to declare any interest they may have in items on the Agenda and any Party Whip.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest nor of any party whip.

 

36.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 144 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Panel that took place on 20th January 2011 as a correct record.

 

(Minutes attached)

 

 

Minutes:

The Chair informed the Panel that he had delivered a report about the previous meeting of the Panel for the consideration of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in February 2011.  This report had outlined the content of the presentation on the subject of alcohol related admissions to hospital that had been delivered by a representative of the Worcestershire Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT).  The Committee had questioned whether the Alexandra Hospital’s policy of admitting intoxicated under age alcohol users was consistent with the policies of other hospitals across the country and had asked the Chair of the Panel to write to both the Worcestershire DAAT and the relevant Government Minister to clarify the alcohol related admissions practices at hospitals outside Redditch.

 

An initial letter to Worcestershire DAAT had subsequently been submitted and a response had been received which had clarified the process for alcohol related admissions to the Alexandra Hospital.  Subsequently, a letter had been sent to Anne Milton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, to seek further clarification about practices outside Redditch and comparable performance across the country.

 

RESOLVED that

 

the minutes of the meeting of the Committee on 20th January 2011 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

 

37.

Annual Report - Chair of Community Safety Partnership

To receive an annual update from the Chair of the Redditch Community Safety Partnership in response to the questions that were agreed by the Panel at the previous meeting:

 

(No separate report)

 

Minutes:

Members received the Annual Report from the Chair of the Redditch Community Safety Partnership which was provided in accordance with a list of questions that had been proposed at the previous meeting of the Panel.

 

1)           Following confirmation of the Government’s Grant Settlement, how are the budget cuts expected to impact upon the Redditch Community Safety Partnership?

 

The Worcestershire Safer Communities Board allocated funding from a central budget to each of the district Community Safety Partnerships. In 2011/12 the Community Safety Grant funding for Worcestershire would be £644,338 which represented a 20 per cent reduction on the previous year.  This reduction had not had a negative impact on the Redditch Community Safety Partnership because the allocation of funds had been undertaken on a needs basis rather than in accordance with the size of the population.   Consequently, the Redditch Community Safety Partnership had been allocated £107,400 for 2011/12 which represented an increase on the £90,327 allocated to the Partnership in 2010/11.

 

In 2012/13 there would be a further reduction to the Community Safety Grant by an estimated 60 per cent compared to current levels.  The grant would be administered by the elected Police Commissioner for the West Mercia Police Force area who would assume responsibility for allocating funds to the district Community Safety Partnerships.

 

In 2011/12 it had been agreed that the Redditch Community Safety Partnership would continue to allocate funds to support two posts: a Community Safety Analyst and a Community Safety Project Officer.  The Partnership had also allocated funding to the delivery of a communications strategy, to operational tasking projects and to the Redditch Anti-Harassment Partnership.  £17,400 remained to be allocated.   

 

The Panel noted that the Police Commissioner would be assuming a wide range of responsibilities across a large geographical area.  In this context the role of the Safer Communities Board would change.  Consideration would need to be given to the appropriate role for the board in the transition period until a Police Commissioner had been elected and it was likely that the board would be in the position to advise the Police Commissioner following his/her election.

 

Members welcomed the allocation of funding on a needs basis and requested that their appreciation be reported to the Safer Communities Board.  Furthermore, the Panel requested that, following the election of the Police Commissioner s/he should be advised of the Panel’s view that a needs based approach to allocating community safety grant funding to community safety level partnerships should be adopted.  Prior to this date it was agreed that a letter should be dispatched to Councillor Blagg, Chair of the West Mercia Police Authority, requesting that the views of the Panel be noted by the authority.

 

2)           How is the Partnership performing in relation to its agreed targets?

 

The Panel was advised that the requirement to report to the central level on performance in relation to national performance indicators had been removed following the change of government in 2010.  However, the Redditch Community Safety Partnership continued to monitor performance in relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

38.

End of Year Review

To invite Members to reflect on the operation of the Panel during the 2010/11 municipal year and propose amendments to current practice if considered appropriate.

 

(No separate report)

 

 

Minutes:

The Panel discussed the conduct of business during the year and aspirations for the future. 

 

Members noted that as 2010/11 was the first year when the crime and disorder scrutiny function had been fully implemented it was difficult to compare performance to previous years.  However, Members were generally satisfied with the performance of the Panel.  A number of core items identified early in the year had been considered, including SARCS and alcohol related admissions rates.  The Panel had also responded to the national developments by contributing to the national consultation process on changes to policing in the 21st century.

 

Members were keen to ensure that the Panel should continue to receive presentations from relevant partner representatives as this helped to ensure that scrutiny by the Panel was fully informed and effective.  There was some interest in receiving further information about the respective roles of different partners on the body to help Members to develop their understanding and expertise in the field of community safety.  However, it was recognised that, in accordance with statutory guidelines, the focus of the Panel would need to remain on the partnership and not on the work of individual partner organisations.

 

The Panel concluded that the strength of the Panel was the relatively small size of the body.  This ensured that meetings could be convened at a relatively short notice.  Consequently, it had been possible to convene an extra meeting of the Panel during the year. 

 

RESOLVED that

 

the report be noted.

 

 

39.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 87 KB

To consider the contents of the Panel’s Work Programme.

(Report attached)

 

 

Minutes:

Members considered the content of the Panel’s Work Programme.  It was agreed that at the following meeting of the Panel relevant representatives from the Redditch Community Safety Partnership should be invited to deliver a presentation on the subject of the new community safety performance management framework.

 

RESOLVED that

 

1)           subject to receipt of training, the new community safety performance management framework be considered at the following meeting of the Panel; and

 

2)           the Panel’s work programme be noted.