Agenda, decisions and minutes

RESOLVED: That

1)    Cllr Lahai-Taylor was elected Chair of the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee.

2)    Cllr Liam Shrivastava was elected Vice-Chair of Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee.

1.1       Katie Wood, Scrutiny Manager, welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited the Committee to agree the election of the Chair and Vice-Chair. The Committee unanimously agreed.

1.2       RESOLVED: That

1)    Cllr Lahai-Taylor be elected Chair of the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee.

2)    Cllr Liam Shrivastava be elected Vice-Chair of Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee.

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 3^rd March be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings.

2.1       RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 3^rd March be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings.

There were no declarations of interest.

3.1       RESOLVED:

There were no declarations of interest.

There are no responses to referrals due at this meeting.

There were no responses to referrals due at this meeting.

4.1       There were no responses to referrals due at this meeting.

RESOLVED:

That Members of the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee are given access and information on how to use the Crime Data Dashboard and the Stop and Search dashboard used by the Safer Communities Service.

That information on the budget plans for Communities, Partnership and Leisure Services be shared with the Committee.

5.1       Councillor Lahai-Taylor opened the item and praised the work of two Councillor officers, Zara Francis and Delroy Downer from the Community Safety Team who had stopped to help a member of the public who had suffered from a head injury.

5.2       James Lee, Director of Communities, Partnerships and Leisure introduced the report to the Committee. Jannet Hall, Head of Safer Communities was also in attendance.

5.3       Councillor Chris Barnham, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Community Safety addressed the Committee highlighting the following:

·         The Safer Communities brief was a new addition to his Cabinet portfolio and he would be undertaking an induction and learning process over the next few months.

·         The Community Safety portfolio had been divided into three with Cllr Barnham leading on Youth Offending, Youth Justice, Crime and Community and Police relationships, Cllr Juliet Campbell leading on Violence Against Women and Girls, and Cllr Kim Powell leading on regulatory and licensing work.

·         Councillor Barnham listed his priorities as:

1.    Community engagement with the Police and acting as a critical friend to the Police on matters such as disproportionality.

2.    Continuing focus on Stop and Search and also Prevent following on from work undertaken by this Committee. A Stop and Search survey was due to be carried out shortly.

3.    Ensuring there were active and representative Safer Neighbourhood Board Panels in all wards.

4.    Working with the Metropolitan Police on their workforce inclusion agenda and action plan.

5.    Reducing violent crime in the borough and embedding the Public Health Approach to Violence Reduction to prevent people getting involved in crime at an early stage.

·         The Council was working on the Engage Programme to embed a Youth Worker in the custody suite at Police stations to provide support to young people.

5.4       During the subsequent discussion, the following key points were raised:

·         A member of the Committee requested for the Committee to see the budget plans for Community, Partnership and Leisure Services.

·         Regarding disproportionality and unconscious bias, it was important to consider that there could also be conscious bias that needed to be addressed as well. In Lewisham there were very strong links between the Council and Police and commitment to tackling these issues including regarding representative recruitment. More data was being sought via surveys on how people felt falling interactions.

·         The Police were also committed to having ward panels in all Lewisham wards and continuing to work closely with the Council and other partners.

·         The Council was working hard to improve the Safer Neighbourhood Partnership meetings and support the Safer Neighbourhood Boards.

·         The Council worked with a number of partner organisations around crime and disorder and community engagement. Trying to integrate Lewisham ward assemblies with other panels such as the Safer Neighbourhood Board ward panels was a priority going forward. The Council also worked closely with a range of partner organisations and NGOs such as Second Wave and many other NGOs who work across the borough such as Power the Fight.

·         Some of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

RESOLVED:

1)    That Councillor Jackson be appointed as the committee’s Climate Change Champion.

2)    That the draft work programme be agreed subject to the following changes:

a)    An information item be included earlier in the municipal year on the Borough of Sanctuary.

b)    An information item be added to the agenda on the budget for the Communities, Partnerships and Leisure Service.

c)    That the report on Libraries be moved to the Committee’s December meeting.

d)    That the report on the staff survey results be moved to the Committee’s September meeting.

6.1       Katie Wood, Scrutiny Manager introduced the report to the Committee and invited members to finalise their draft work programme for the 2022/23 municipal year and to nominate a Climate Change Champion.

6.2       RESOLVED:

1)    That Councillor Jackson be appointed as the committee’s Climate Change Champion.

2)    That the draft work programme be agreed subject to the following changes:

a)    An information item be included earlier in the municipal year on the Borough of Sanctuary.

b)    An information item be added to the agenda on the budget for the Communities, Partnerships and Leisure Service.

c)    That the report on Libraries be moved to the Committee’s December meeting.

d)    That the report on the staff survey results be moved to the Committee’s September meeting.