Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Meeting.

Apologies were received from Mr A A J Adams, Mr C J Bloore and Mrs J A Brunner.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 23 July 2018).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address below.

None.

(previously circulated)

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 28 June 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Board was asked to consider the Annual Update on developments in relation to Community Safety in Worcestershire.  There was also an additional focus on the County Council's role, with partners in relation to Modern Day Slavery and Trafficking.

The Director of Public Health introduced the Report and the Senior Public Health Practitioner reminded the Board of the Council's statutory responsibilities, which were summarised in the Report.

Appendix 1 of the Report gave an update on the key areas of focus in respect of 2017/18 outcomes and 2018/19 activity and Appendix 2 detailed the Community Safety Governance Structure in Worcestershire.

Main Discussion Points

·       It was agreed that that the Board would be provided with hate crime data broken down by District

·       The Board requested that future reports included trend data, it was however noted that it was quite complex to provide this for all areas as some areas had more data available than others and it was obtained from a variety of sources.  The Senior Public Health Practitioner acknowledged that data analysis needed to be sharper and advised that it was work in progress to address this.  The West Mercia Police Performance Summary (available here) , produced quarterly  contained some of the relevant data  which the Board would find useful

·       The Director of Public Health also advised that that there was a drug misuse dashboard which was considered by the Health and Well-being Board in May, which could be shared with the Board

·       It was suggested that interested members may find it helpful to attend some of the public community safety meetings to get a flavour of the types of issues discussed.

The Board received a presentation on Modern Day Slavery, copies of which were circulated to the Board.

Following the presentations there was an opportunity for the Board to ask questions. 

Main Discussion Points

·        The Multi Agency Targeted Enforcement Strategy (Mates) had been very successful in Herefordshire and was being rolled out in Worcestershire during August

·        It was confirmed that by and large Worcestershire farmers were paying minimum wage levels and providing appropriate facilities for staff

·       Although the number of modern slavery crimes recorded was negligible, the picture was very complex and currently there wasn’t confidence in the accuracy of the figures

·       It was acknowledged that sign-posting for reporting modern slavery issues was unclear, but if in doubt,  a referral to the Police was always the recommended course of action

·       A Member highlighted that migrant workers weren’t always aware of their rights and some communities were particularly hard to reach. The Police and Crime Commissioner advised that the multi-agency approach was the only way to address such issues

·       It was important to ensure that District, Parish and Town Councils were involved in the multi-agency approach to tackling Modern Slavery and intelligence from communities was key to prompting and supporting investigations

·       It was noted that the County Councils Internal Audit Team were considering the LGA Report on tackling modern slavery: A Council Guide, with a view to benchmarking the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1051.

Representatives from the Safer Roads Partnership (SRP) (covering West Mercia and Warwickshire) were invited to the Meeting to give a presentation about road safety and the County Council's role in relation to this. The SRP representatives had previously attended the Health and Wellbeing Board in February 2018 and Councillor Middlebrough, the OSPB's Lead Member for Crime and Disorder (and community safety), thought that the Board's annual Crime and Disorder meeting with partners would provide a timely opportunity to discuss the issue further.

The Cabinet Members with Responsibility for Communities and Highways and Officers from the relevant Directorates were also invited to the Meeting.

The Board received a presentation, copies of which were circulated during the meeting. 

Main Discussion Points

·       The RSP pointed out that speed camera signs were no longer in use in Warwickshire as they were costly, historic and not a legal requirement.  This was not thought to be an appropriate measure for Worcestershire, it was  important to be open and transparent with our communities and to use the signs as a means to educate, not catch people out 

·       Advance notice of the Council's road maintenance programmes would assist the RSP with their planning process for speed cameras and campaigns etc

·       There was a concern about the capability of older drivers using their cars to avoid social isolation and whether there were any educational driving campaigns targeted specifically at this age group.  It was confirmed that there were targeted campaigns and Age Concern for instance carried out campaigns with this age group. 

·       For the younger age group, there was a strong focus on social media campaigns, which were currently thought to be the most effective method of communication. The point was made by the RSP, that in order to be effective it was important that the various educational initiatives were  sustainable and consistent

·       The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) believed that focusing on changing driver behaviour would have a significant impact on reducing the number of road traffic causalities (RTC).  The PCC was working with partners including West Mercia Police, the County Council, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Fire and Rescue Service and the SRP on various educational driver education campaigns

·       There were also various campaigns at varying times aimed at cyclists and motor cyclists, the point was made however, that although campaigns were carried out in Worcestershire, there was a proportion of cyclists who lived out of County and so would be unaware of the campaigns

·       It was highlighted that poor driving at 51% was the highest causation factor of RTC

·       To date the use of mobile phones as a causation factor for RTC's wasn’t shown separately, but in future it would be possible to record it separately as the reporting model was changing

·       It was confirmed that mobile speed enforcement operated 7 days per week within daylight hours

·       The RSP highlighted that delays in getting amendments to Traffic Regulation Orders had a knock on effect on speed enforcement. There had been cases were TRO's had taken 2 years to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1052.

Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC)

At the last meeting of HOSC, the Committee were provided with information on the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Local Maternity System (LMS), which was part of the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP).

Information on the new arrangements with regard to neighbourhood teams had also been circulated to all Members.

Corporate and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel

At its last meeting, the Panel considered the Councillors Divisional Fund Scheme.  The Panel had also been considering its work programme for the forthcoming year and would be looking at Libraries Remodelling early November.

Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel

The decision on future provision of Overnight Short Breaks for Children with Disabilities was considered by Cabinet on 12 July.  The Chairman of the Panel attended Cabinet to present the Scrutiny Task Group's Report and had asked the Cabinet Member whether they would be allowed to observe meetings with parents to maintain a watching brief of the process.

The Panel were having an additional meeting on 8 August to consider the SEND Action Plan and feedback comments to the Cabinet Member before it was sent to OFSTED.

The planned meeting in July to discuss KS2 attainment with headteachers across the County had been delayed until October.  All schools which covered KS2 would be invited to attend.

The Panel also intended to undertake a scrutiny exercise to consider the relationship between schools and the Family Front Door.  Workload pressures had meant that this had not yet been started.

Crime and Disorder

Following today's meeting, Councillor Middlebrough advised that he would look to take forward at signposting for modern slavery to district, town and parish councils.  In addition, he would take forward the issues discussed as part of the road safety discussion pertaining to the County Council ie highways maintenance issues, TROs and the strategic relationship with the RSP and the County Council.

Forward Plan

None.