Agenda item

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 the SNB ward panels were very established with high levels of engagement. Working with Neighbourhood Watch had also helped to improve engagement. The SNB were going back to being in person following the pandemic. The Lewisham SNB meeting would be on 28^th June and all members would be welcome to attend. James Lee would send an e-mail to all members listing the sergeants for each of the 19 Lewisham wards as soon as he had the information.

·         A member of the Committee asked how the impact of the VAWG strategy would be measured and how it joined up with other work across London and Nationally. The Committee heard that extra management and project resource had been put into the team to focus on delivery and monitoring.

·         A member of the Committee asked if it was possible to have access to the crime data dashboard listed in the report. Members commented that data use needed to be used with caution and with understanding of where there were gaps in available data. The Committee were informed it would be possible to have access to the crime data dashboard and the stop and search data dashboard.

·         There was a bid for £20 million for Lewisham Central for the levelling up fund.

·         The restructure of the Community Safety Service was complete and current structure charts could be shared with members. James Lee would confirm with colleagues in HR as to whether previous structure charts could also be shared.

·         The Lewisham Play Strategy was about the way space was used across the borough. There would be a briefing for all members and the strategy would go to Mayor and Cabinet in October.

5.5       RESOLVED:

1.    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.

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

3.    That the Director for Communities, Partnerships and Leisure send an e-mail to all members listing the names of the relevant Police sergeant for each of the Lewisham Safer Neighbourhood wards.

4.    That the current structure charts for the Community Safety Team be shared with members and members to be informed as to whether previous structure charts could be shared.