Contact your Parish Council
Maidstone Borough Council
Partnership and Well Being Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting as the Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Committee
Monday 14 March 2011
Update from Safer Maidstone Partnership
Report of: Overview & Scrutiny Officer
1. Introduction
1.1 The Partnerships and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Committee has a statutory role to act as the Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Committee and scrutinise the Safer Maidstone Partnership, one of four delivery groups in the Local Strategic Partnership.
2. Recommendation
2.1 The Committee is recommended to interview the Chairman of the Safer Maidstone Partnership Martin Adams, Area Manager of Kent Fire and Rescue Service, Robbie Graham, Chief Inspector at Kent Police and David Coleman, Independent Chair of the Kent Police Authority Standards Committee to provide an update on the Safer Maidstone Partnership and its priorities, Stakeholder events such as Domestic Violence and their view on the proposed changes to CCTV.
Areas of questioning could include but are not limited to:
· On what basis were the original 9 priorities formed and what statistical information was used to support this;
· When will the revised Priorities of the SMP be confirmed;
· How will the priorities of the SMP be communicated to the wider community to ensure engagement;
· What will happen to the organisations that were supported by the SMP under their wider set of priorities;
· Will the SMP seek to engage widely with organisations despite the narrowing in priorities;
· How will they achieve this;
· How have the outcomes of the Stakeholder events held been taken forward;
· What involvement do the SMP have with regard to CCTV;
· What is the SMP’s stance on CCTV and the proposed relocation of the monitoring to Medway;
· How are the SMP articulating their voice on CCTV in the local community;
· Has CCTV caused divisions in the group;
· What have the outcomes and successes been of the Stakeholder events so far;
· How have these been taken forward; and
· How does the structuring of the issues around 4 central themes Prevention, Education, Intervention and Enforcement assist in taking outcomes forward.
3. Safer Maidstone Partnership
3.1 The Safer Maidstone Partnership currently has 9 Priorities which they are proposing to reduce to 4: anti social behaviour; domestic abuse; road safety; and drug and substance misuse. At their meeting on 25 November the group appointed a task and finish group, established with key partners, to review existing priorities and ascertain whether data is available to support these as priority issues. The 4 priorities have broader links with other types of crime, for example drug and substance misuse which can often be linked with burglary crimes. The assessment completion date is March 2011 when it can be confirmed whether the data and analysis is correct in terms of the 4 proposed priorities.
3.2 The Sustainable Community Strategy is overarching to the work of the Local Strategic Partnership and the Safer Maidstone Partnership and at the SMP’s meeting in November 2010 (Appendix A)they agreed to a:
‘refresh exercise of the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) on behalf of the LSP. This involves working with each delivery group to set priorities, actions, targets and performance measures. The SMP delivery group’s current terms of reference include the following objectives:
· Continue the decrease in overall rates of crime;
· Take a preventative approach to tackle and reduce anti-social behaviour;
· Promote Maidstone as a safe place to live;
· Reduce violent crime and reduce serious crime in the wards where the trend is higher than the borough average;
· Reduce alcohol related crime in the town centre;
· Reduce drug offences; and
· Improve road safety.
3.3 It was suggested at the meeting that it was sensible to align the group with the SCS terms of reference and strategic assessment priorities. It was proposed at the meeting that the SCS should reflect the priorities currently being set through the strategic assessment to ensure consistency across the partnership.
It was confirmed that the strategic assessment task and finish group would incorporate discussions on the SCS refresh, including performance data availability and action setting.
4 CCTV
4.1 The decision (Appendix B) on CCTV was made on 20 December 2010. Subsequent to the decision there has been much negative media coverage in the local press. Maidstone Borough Council have held Stakeholder events which have included a visit to the CCTV Control Centre at Medway and a Question and Answers Session. The final report will be published on 17 March with a decision from the Cabinet Member will be made on 25 March 2011.
The decision proposed:
· That a partnership arrangement with Medway Council to provide CCTV services through a service level agreement be investigated; and
· That the Director of Regeneration and Community Services reports back to the Cabinet Member for a decision as to the way forward in the procurement of CCTV services, following consideration of stakeholders’ views, such report to include an analysis as to whether the issues listed in paragraph 1.5.6 of the Report of the Director of Regeneration and Communities have been satisfactorily resolved.
4.2 The decision was made ‘as part of the medium term service and financial planning process, the current CCTV service and the cost of provision were reviewed and a range of options identified.’ The review confirmed that in its current location, the cost of the service could only be significantly reduced by reducing the level of service provision i.e. reducing the number of days the CCTV cameras are observed’
4.3 One of the options was to consider a proposal from Medway Council which already provides the CCTV service for Swale Borough Council. This option would require Maidstone to join a shared CCTV control centre based in Medway, through the transfer of the operation, maintenance and management of the service to Medway Council.
5. Stakeholder Events
Domestic Violence
5.1 Prevention, Education, Intervention and Enforcement are the issues that were highlighted at the stakeholder event on Domestic Abuse held on 12 November 2010. The event’s afternoon workshop identified a wide range of priorities, best practice and a wide range of gaps/barriers in the service. Initial feedback which is documented in the group’s minutes from their meeting on 25 November (Appendix A) has identified a number of recurring themes including the need for:
· A co-ordinated agency approach for tackling Domestic Abuse (DA) in the borough;
· Better early intervention;
· Provision of a one stop shop; and
· Better information and training for practitioners and victims.
On 7 March 2011 there will be a 2nd stakeholder event on Road Safety. The event will focus on the same issues: Prevention, Education, Intervention and Enforcement.
5.2 The SMP report progress against priorities/targets to the LSP board on a quarterly basis and produce an annual report. They also present emerging issues to the Board and identify actions required, as the need arises.
6. Impact on Corporate Objectives
6.1 The remit of LSP Safer Maidstone Partnership has relevance to many of the Council’s Priorities but relates specifically to the priority a place that has strong, healthy and safe communities which covers the majority of the delivery group’s work and the MBC objective to make people feel safe where they live relates to the key priorities of the group.
6.2 There are no risks involved in considering the priorities and progress of the Safer Maidstone Partnership.