Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The Chief Executive submitted a report which identified the forthcoming issues to be considered by the Executive, as outlined in Appendix A to the report. The report provided the Overview and Scrutiny Board with the opportunity to consider whether any item contained within the Executive Forward Work Programme should be considered by the Board or referred to a scrutiny panel.

NOTED

The Chair welcomed the Executive Member for Community Safety and the Director of Environment and Community Services to the meeting and asked the Executive Member to deliver her presentation.

The Community Safety portfolio covered areas including Community Safety, Cohesion and Migration, Hubs and Libraries and Locality Working. The Board’s attention was drawn to Neighbourhood Safety Wardens who would eventually number 30 in total and would operate across the town.  Their work included supporting vulnerable people on a range of issues including debt management, victims of crime as well as undertaking welfare visits. All Neighbourhood Safety Officers were trained in First Aid and could administer CPR.

With regards to Neighbourhood Safety Officers, their roles included investigation of nuisance complaints, anti-social behaviour and hate crime. They also attended daily Police briefings and helped with the reduction of crime and the fear of crime. They were also responsible for tackling persistent begging.

The service also had Environmental Neighbourhood Safety Wardens whose role was to investigate and enforce fly tipping offences, coordinate community skip drives and deal with abandoned vehicles. Those officers were based at the Bus Station and were in possession of CCTV equipment that could be deployed rapidly.

In terms of Community Safety, this was driven by Active Intelligence Mapping which collected data from several sources including Thirteen Housing Group, the Council’s OneStop system, the Fire Brigade and the Police. Emphasis was placed on those areas that had the highest levels of criminal activity. The Community Safety Partnership was a statutory function which helped inform the safer streets initiative.

Community Safety also included PREVENT whose objective was to safeguard people at risk of radicalisation. The Neighbourhood Action Partnerships were in the North, South, East, and West of the town with all councillors welcome to attend and provide input. The Executive Member expressed disappointment in the low attendance of the Neighbourhood Partnership meetings which would be mentioned in her next report to Council. Community Safety was also able to bid for, and was the recipient of, funding from sources such as Safer Streets and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Community Cohesion was also part of the Executive Member’s portfolio. This function included a range of services which included community engagement through conversations to measure levels of cohesion, the successful redevelopment of the Interfaith Network and weekly coffee mornings for Eastern European communities. There had been over 28 newly granted refuges that had sustained meaningful employment with many taking part in volunteer opportunities.

Support had been provided to all Ukraine visas to ensure greater integration and cohesion with several Ukrainian refugees having found employment in local businesses and schools. In terms of Afghan resettlement there had been full support for 20 families, which included property allocation, education, clothing and furniture.

There were 10 community hubs and libraries across the town with two self-service libraries and a Books on Wheels delivery service.

The Executive Member invited questions from the Board.

A Member queried what the process was to supply mobile CCTV as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/74

The Chair invited scrutiny panel chairs to provide their updates.

The Chair of the Regeneration Scrutiny Panel advised the Panel had not met since OSB’s last meeting. However, permission was sought from OSB to receive information about the future of the Captain Cook Birthplace museum. The Chair of OSB agreed this would be a useful exercise.

The Chair of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel advised the Panel had not met since OSB last met and would next meet on 11 March.

The Chair of the Health Scrutiny Panel advised the Panel had not since OSB last met and its next meeting would be on 19 March.

The Vice Chair of the Environment Scrutiny Panel advised the Panel had met on 4 March and received information relating to the Community Safety Partnership. During the meeting questions were raised around statistics indicating Anti-Social Behaviour rates were decreasing while violent crime rates were going up. It was also stated a report into crustacean deaths was being prepared for submission to Council the conclusions of which did not agree with those of DEFRA. A previous meeting of the Panel also heard an update regarding Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and had recommended that, during the next policy review, investigations carried out internally should be approved by the Chief Executive rather than the Head of HR. It was confirmed this recommendation had already been communicated to the relevant service area.  

The Chair agreed this should be submitted to Executive for their information.

ORDERED that:

1.     The Regeneration Scrutiny Panel received information relating to the future of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum.

2.     That the Environment Scrutiny Panel’s recommendation that internal investigations be authorised by the Chief Executive be placed on a future Executive meeting for their information.

3.     The information presented be noted.

None.