Agenda, decisions and minutes

That the minutes be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings.

1.1       RESOLVED:

That the minutes be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings.

There were no declarations of interest.

2.1       There were no declarations of interest.

There are no responses to referrals due at this meeting.

There were no responses to referrals due to be considered at this meeting.

3.1       There were no responses to referrals due to be considered at this meeting.

That the Keith Cohen and Kirsty Addicott be thanked for their presentations and for attending and the information be noted.

4.1       Keith Cohen, Head of Lewisham Youth Offending Service, (YOS) and Kirsty Addicott, Interim Head of Service, Lewisham and Southwark LDU, National Probation Service (NPS), gave presentations to the Committee, copies of which can be found in the agenda documentation. Cllr Juliet Campbell, Chair of Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee invited guests from Children and Young People Select Committee to participate in the questions and discussion. During the discussion the following key points were raised:

·         There were 8 schools in the borough that were involved in the restorative justice approach pilot. This linked with a trauma-informed network helping to build up intelligence and capability within the borough.

·         Members of the Committee were interested in the anti-racism and anti-discrimination training that the YOS was involved in and would be keen to hear more about that at a future occasion.

·         It was really positive that in the surveys 100% of the young people felt they trusted YOS staff and reflected really well on the whole service.

·         Prevention and early intervention were key focuses for the YOS.

·         There were concerns that rates of offending could rise in the future as restrictions eased following the pandemic.

·         The trauma-informed approach worked best if it was considered at the earliest stage possible as the best outcome for children and young people was not going into custody.

·         Members of the Committee were concerned that the government privatisation of the probation system had not been a success but were pleased it was now being re-nationalised.

·         Members of the Committee would be keen to see local performance data from the NPS.

·         There were concerns raised by Members of the Committee that the probation area of Lewisham and Bromley was different to the Borough Command Unit and they were unclear of the logic behind the pairings.

4.2       RESOLVED:

That Keith Cohen and Kirsty Addicott be thanked for their presentations and for attending and the information be noted.

That the report and presentation be noted.

5.1       Cllr Kevin Bonavia, Cabinet Member for Democracy, Refugees and Accountability, presented the report to the Committee. Phil Baker, Borough of Sanctuary Programme Manager, was also in attendance. During the discussion the following key points were raised:

·      Lewisham was sharing learning and experiences with its twin town of Charlottesburg-Willmersdorf in Berlin.

·      Being a borough of sanctuary helped link residents to support.

·      Members of the Committee congratulated the Cabinet Member and officers for the work being done.

5.2       RESOLVED:

That the report and presentation be noted.

That the original concerns of lack of access to local data on referrals to Prevent that were highlighted in the Committee’s report and referenced under referral 9, be further investigated and if the issues still exist, the Director of Communities, Partnerships and Leisure be requested to action referral 9 as originally requested. An update on the outcome should be provided to the Committee.

That referral 12, requesting the Committee further consider the terms of reference of the National Prevent Review once they have been agreed, be added to the list of possible items for the Committee’s 2021/22 work programme.

6.1       James Lee, Director of Communities, Partnerships and Leisure and Jannet Hall, Head of Safer Communities, Public Protection and Safety introduced the report to the Committee. During the discussion and questions, the following key points were raised:

·         The issues raised by the Committee in the review were prescient and ahead of their time. Recently published reviews from the Mayor of London and the IOPC included similar findings.

·         A data scientist post and a Community Coordinator post was being created in Jannet’s team to support data analysis and work with community groups.

·         Members of the Committee were keen to keep up to date on work the Council was doing on the Public Health Approach to violence reduction.

·         Members of the Committee requested that the Director of Communities, Partnerships and Leisure, look into the data gaps in the local Prevent data available to Councillors that were highlighted in the Committee’s report to establish if they still existed. They requested being updated on this and if necessary referral 9 still be actioned as originally requested.

·         Members of the Committee requested that the terms of reference of the National Prevent Review once they have been agreed, should be added to the list of possible items for the Committee’s 2021/22 work programme.

6.2       RESOLVED:

1)    That the original concerns of lack of access to local data on referrals to Prevent that were highlighted in the Committee’s report and referenced under referral 9, be further investigated and if the issues still exist, the Director of Communities, Partnerships and Leisure be requested to action referral 9 as originally requested. An update on the outcome should be provided to the Committee.

2)    That referral 12, requesting the Committee further consider the terms of reference of the National Prevent Review once they have been agreed, be added to the list of possible items for the Committee’s 2021/22 work programme.

That the following items be considered for the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee Work Programme for 2021/22: Violence against women and girls Strategy; Safe Lewisham Plan; Local Assemblies Review; Lewisham Libraries; Consideration of the Council’s cultural events; information on the Government Prevent review.

That members and officers be thanked for their work on the Committee over the last municipal year.

7.1       Katie Wood, Scrutiny Manager, introduced the report to the Committee and highlighted the items that had been suggested to be considered on the Committee’s 2021/22 work programme.

·         Cllr Juliet Campbell, Chair, thanked officers and colleagues for their work on the Committee over the last municipal year.

7.2       RESOLVED:

That the following items be considered for the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee Work Programme for 2021/22: Violence against women and girls Strategy; Safe Lewisham Plan; Local Assemblies Review; Lewisham Libraries; Consideration of the Council’s cultural events; information on the Government Prevent review.