Agenda, decisions and minutes

That the minutes be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

1.1       RESOLVED:

That the minutes be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Councillor James Walsh declared a non-prejudicial interest in item 4 and 5 as he worked at London South Bank University.

Councillor Sophie Davis declared an interest in item 4 as she was a Council appointee on the board of Voluntary Services Lewisham and item 5 as she worked for the Behavioural Insight Team; The Metropolitan Police were clients of the organisation.

2.1       Councillor James Walsh declared a non-prejudicial interest in item 4 and 5 as he worked at London South Bank University.

2.2       Councillor Sophie Davis declared an interest in item 4 as she was a Council appointee on the board of Voluntary Services Lewisham and item 5 as she worked for the Behavioural Insight Team and the Metropolitan Police were clients of the organisation.

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That the following information should be forwarded to the report author for the report on Disability Provision in Lewisham, scheduled for the meeting on 9^th October to include in the report to Committee:

·         That the timeline for the accessibility commission, who will be responsible for it, and details of the costs and how it will be funded be included in the report.

3.    That the Committee did not require a formal response to their referral on 12^th March on the item “Provision for the LGBT+ Community in Lewisham: 6-month update”.

3.1       The Chair introduced the response and members of the Committee agreed to note the report.

3.2       The Chair announced that regarding the Committee’s referral made at their meeting on 12^th March on the item “Provision for the LGBT+ Community in Lewisham: 6-month update”; the response from Mayor and Cabinet was that “The Committee’s comments be noted, and the recommendations considered in another setting”.  The Committee agreed they did not need a further formal response to this.

3.3       The Chair noted that she had asked that the Cabinet Member for the Community Sector be invited to attend the meeting of Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee on the 16^th July.

3.3       RESOLVED:

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That the report author for the report on Disability Provision in Lewisham, scheduled for the meeting on 9^th October, include the following in the report to Committee:

·         The timeline for the accessibility commission, who will be responsible for it, and details of the costs and how it will be funded.

3.    That the Committee do not require a formal response to their referral made on 12^th March 2019 on the item “Provision for the LGBT+ Community in Lewisham: 6-month update”.

That the representatives from Age UK, the Positive Ageing Council and Lewisham Pensioners Forum and the Deputy Mayor be thanked for attending and providing evidence to the Committee.

4.1       Catherine Mbema, Interim Director of Public Health presented the report to the Committee. During the discussion, the following key points were raised:

·         Members of the Committee requested information on the numbers of older people in Lewisham receiving a form of intervention to prevent loneliness.

·         The intervention strategies aligned different target groups including suicide prevention. It was recognised that men were at most risk of suicide and the age group 25-44 was the highest risk group within this.

·         There were different referral routes for intervention such as through GPs and through other community groups. Work was on-going to try to improve links between organisations and monitoring.

4.2       Councillor Chris Best, Deputy Mayor, presented to the Committee and highlighted the different work that was on-going. During her presentation and in the discussion that followed, the following key points were made:

·         There was positive work on-going linked to the adult isolation and services to the elderly work. This included: presentations at local assemblies; referrals; individual Councillors reaching-out; free swimming for over 60s; outdoor gyms; healthy walks programme; dementia friends programme.

·         Meet me at the Albany was hugely successful and was expanding and also being replicated in Downham.

4.3       Camilla Biggs and Alice Groux from Age UK presented to the Committee. During their presentation, the following key points were highlighted:

·         Age UK worked with the public health team and ward assemblies. They had supported 967 people.

·         Through the SAIL Connections pathway (Safe and Independent Living) there had been 1435 referrals.

·         Age UK  worked closely with the Council and were now based at Laurence House with the Adult Social Care Team which facilitated a joined up approach to information sharing and support.

·         Around 50% of their clients were over 50. Another key group was supporting people with the transition from children’s to adult’s social care services.

·         Social isolation could be caused by mental ill health, alcohol and drugs misuse, mobility issues, sight loss, hearing problems and conditions such as dementia, as well as issues such as living away from family and friends. There could be a long waiting list for support.

·         Age UK looked at gaps in service provision and strengths each year and challenges for different community groups and minorities.

4.4       Iris Till, Chair Positive Ageing Council presented to the Committee. During the presentation the following key points were raised:

·         Isolation and loneliness could be invisible and the Positive Ageing Council was always focussed on how to reach out and engage and identify where there was a problem.

·         The group was working closely with Council officers such the Cultural Development Officer and had designed a programme called “table talk”.

·         Thinking about venues and where to engage was important. There was the potential to include; libraries; pubs; supermarkets; health centres.

·         The organisation was also running focus groups about Lewisham becoming an “age-friendly borough”.

·         Lewisham Council had a number of positive initiatives such as the free swimming and gym for over 60s and the Council should be proud of this.

4.5       Bridgit Sam Bailey and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Superintendent Andy Carter be thanked for attending and presenting to the Committee and Martin Corbett, Borough Commander for London Fire Brigade be thanked for his report.

2.    That Superintendent Carter provide additional information on the unconscious bias training undertaken by the Police.

3.    That the report from the Borough Commander for Lewisham, London Fire Brigade, be forwarded to Cllr Muldoon as Chair of Healthier Communities Select Committee and Councillor Bernard as Chair of Housing Select Committee.

4.    The self-neglect and hoarding policy should be provided to the Committee once it has been published.

5.    That the results of the HMICFRS inspection of Lewisham Fire Brigade be shared with the Committee once they have been published.

6.    For the next report from London Fire Brigade it would be useful to include details of non-fire related work such as support given in road traffic accidents in the borough. It would also be useful to have details of the long term trends rather than just the 12-month rolling trend. This could be compared to National figures where possible.

5.1       Superintendent Andy Carter gave a presentation to the Committee, a copy of which will be included in the agenda documentation. During the discussion that followed, the following key points were raised:

·         Members of the Committee were invited to take part in community ride with the Police should they be interested.

·         Catford and Catford Hill Police Stations would be closed within the next 12-24 months to make way for new Police “hubs”. The Police were in the process of identifying a new site for the Catford hub. 

·         600 arrests had been reported in the National media around County line activity. This was not linked to Lewisham.

·         The Police had a notification protocol around significant incidents. There was not capacity to notify everybody about everything and at times, incidents may appear on social media but would not meet the notification criteria. The protocol involved the Police advising the Head of Public Protection and Safety who would then informs stakeholders. Councillors could contact the Head of Public Protection and Safety if they had a particular concern.

·         Superintendent Carter highlighted that the process should be two-way and he would be really keen to hear back from community leaders on what was happening in the area, whether there were community concerns around a particular incident or event for example.

·         Capacity within the Council may be considered further with future restructuring.

·         There was no knowledge of a Lewisham connection to the 600 county lines arrests which had recently been publicised in the national media. However the Committee heard that an investigation commenced in 2013 in Lewisham on County Lines had recently resulted in successful prosecution under the modern day slavery legislation.

·         The complaints data for stop and search was available on the Metropolitan Police publication scheme website. A Committee member felt it would be helpful if it was more transparent and available so people could easily have access to, and understand, the data. The Scrutiny Manager would send the link to members of the Committee.

·         There were vacancies in key roles within the BCU which had an impact on performance. They were working hard to minimise this and there were new staff coming in as well. The change to the BCU from the previous 3 borough format had reduced the number of posts by approximately 100.  There is now approximately 1460 posts in the BCU.

·         Members of the Committee requested additional details on the unconscious bias training delivered by the Police. They felt this would be useful to assess standard and quality. Superintendent Carter would look into this and provide more details to the committee.

·         The commitment to the new model was 2 dedicated ward officers, and a PCSO in each ward. There were times when they may briefly help out on a neighbouring ward which was practical policing and not seen as a problem. There were times when they may be called away from their ward. This had previously been limited to the Notting Hill Carnival and New Year’s Eve, or any exceptional circumstance.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the extract from the minutes of the 30^th April 2019 highlighting details of what was requested to be included in the scope for the Committee’s in-depth review in equalities be e-mailed to all members of the Committee.

6.1       Katie Wood, Scrutiny Manager presented the work programme report to the Committee. During the discussion, the following key points were highlighted:

·         The Committee had previously agreed the review should include looking at: the Council’s employee profile and staff survey results; how equalities is embedded across the Council including organisations funded by the Council; Equalities Impact Assessments including looking at what best practice is and how they are carried out in Lewisham; and looking at data and disclosure rates to see whether improvements need and can be made. Each Directorate should be asked to highlight the key issues in their area. Members requested this extract from the minutes on 30^th April be circulated to Committee members.

·         There was a discussion as to whether data should be broken down by strand of equalities, it was felt that it could be problematic to present data in a method that could appear to be promoting “a hierarchy of inequality”. It could be useful to consider what was lost and what was gained from going to a single equalities strategy.

·         Best practice examples would be included in the scope.

·         It would be useful to understand what the residents of the borough see as their key issues in terms of equalities. This could be through the new call for evidence on the Council’s website. Third sector organisations would also be included in the witnesses.

6.2       RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the extract from the minutes of the 30^th April 2019 highlighting details of what was requested to be included in the scope for the Committee’s in-depth review in equalities, be e-mailed to all members of the Committee.

There were no referrals to Mayor and Cabinet made at the meeting.

7.1       The Chair highlighted that there had been no referrals at the meeting.

7.2       The Chair highlighted that Business Panel had now amended and agreed the referral from the last meeting of Safer Stronger communities on Equalities. There would not be a formal response to Safer Stronger on this.

7.3       Minutes for this meeting should be sent to the Chair of the Transport Liaison Committee to highlight the issues regarding isolation from barriers to accessing public transport.     

7.4       RESOLVED:

There were no referrals to Mayor and Cabinet made at the meeting.