Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

No interests were declared.

RESOLVED

That the minutes be agreed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

There were no updates.

(To receive a report from David Powell, Head of Emergency Planning,on Lincolnshire County Council's 'Co-ordination of Spontaneous Volunteers Policy and Procedure.')

A report by Laura Edlington, Emergency Planning Officer, was considered which was for information and awareness of the Council's Co-ordination of Spontaneous Volunteers Policy and Procedure.  The policy detailed how Lincolnshire County Council would co-ordinate spontaneous offers of assistance in civil emergencies, which the Council was required to do under the Civil Contingencies Act.

The policy had been signed off at officer level by Pete Moore, Director of Finance and Public Protection at the 30 March 2016 meeting of the Corporate Management Board.

It was noted that this was to be the last piece of work for David Powell, Head of Emergency Planning before leaving the Council and the Chairman thanked him for all the work he had done to assist the Committee during his time at the Council.

Following a recent flood in Lincolnshire, where emergency services were overwhelmed by offers of support from members of the public, it became clear that a policy to coordinate spontaneous volunteers was required.

During discussion of the item, the following points were noted:

·         An LCC employee would be required to oversee the hub for liability insurance purposes;

·         Volunteers would be insured from the point they were tasked by the Council;

·         Volunteers would be given either personal protection equipment or a tabard or similar, depending on the nature of the task;

·         A spontaneous volunteer would not be asked to work with vulnerable adults or children and no volunteer would be left unsupervised.  They would not be asked to undertake hazardous work or work that was beyond their physical capability;

·         There was discussion regarding the communication strategy between Emergency Planning and local councillors, which was felt could be improved;

·         Local spontaneous volunteers would be called upon if, for example, a village became isolated due to snow or floods;

·         The safeguarding aspect of the policy needed to be discussed at great length by officers before finalising the policy;

·         Terrorism would not be dealt with as a civil emergency, the Police authority would lead on that.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Committee be aware of the County Council's responsibility for the co-ordination of the voluntary sector including spontaneous volunteers in civil emergencies;

2.    That the report and comments made be noted.

(To receive a verbal report by David Powell, Head of Emergency Planning, on the Barnes Wallis Exercise)

A verbal report was received from the Head of Emergency Planning on the Exercise Barnes Wallis.  A report on the exercise would be brought to a future meeting of the Committee.

The exercise involved the simulated discovery of a WWII bomb and considered what the surrounding community could do to protect themselves.

During the exercise, lessons were learnt on the extent the voluntary sector could help with spontaneous volunteers.  In addition, it was highlighted that broadband and connectivity needed attention.  However, the exercise did prove that communities could do a lot to help themselves with the assistance of the emergency services.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue had 20 flood rescue boats and more could be borrowed if necessary from other authorities.

RESOLVED

That the verbal update be noted.

(To receive a report by Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, in connection with the latest situation of the Committee's work programme)

The Committee considered its programme of work for the coming months and members were invited to suggest any topics they felt required scrutiny. 

It was requested that Neighbourhood Policing and People Trafficking (which could be expanded to organised crime) be added to the work programme.

The Scrutiny Officer reported that there would be a visit to North Kesteven District Council on 2 November 2016.  This would incorporate a visit to the Sleaford and Ruskington Community Hubs.

It was also noted that the new Police and Crime Commissioner would be invited to attend a future meeting.

RESOLVED

That the work programme, and changes made therein, be noted

(To receive a report by Tony McGinty, Consultant in Public Health, which provides an update on progress on this re-commissioning work, identifying achievement against the key milestones for delivery)

The Committee considered a report which updated members on the progress of re-commissioning Community Substance Misuse Treatment Services which had been approved by the Executive in March 2015.

At present there were four providers of the service and, after a full competitive tender from which several applications were received, Addaction was chosen to provide all substance misuse treatment services (with the exception of those in pharmacies which were provided under a separate contract).  This would include an acute service to treat addiction and a service to support patients at the end of the treatment journey, including housing, employment, family issues and keeping off substances.

Patients going through treatment with the current providers would have to be transferred to the new provider with minimum disruption to their treatment.

In response to questions from Members, the following was confirmed:

·         LPFT had tendered for the contract, but had been unsuccessful;

·         A 25% reduction in costs had been achieved by consolidating the contracts and removing the overheads for 3 separate providers.  In addition, efficiencies within the service had been achieved;

·         A new pathway was being created for service users with both substance misuse and mental health issues;

·         There was discussion regarding available mental health services around the county;

·         There was a "gentlemen's agreement" that neighbouring authorities would not charge each other for treating neighbouring residents;

·         There was a four week wait for the start of treatment, following referral from a GP;

·         Treatment had to be planned in such a way as to not be too difficult for the patient to complete, but not be so easy that the patient did not need to commit.  Incentives might be used, but only for hard to reach users;

·         Patients could self-refer by visiting a walk-in centre and registering for treatment.  There would always be staff on hand to help patients take this first step;

·         The drug use pattern had changed with less heroin and more new psychoactive substances being taken.  There had also been a gender shift with half of patients now being female;

·         Drug substitutes (eg methadone) were designed to take away the need for illegal drug use while the patient sorted out the underlying issues causing the initial addiction.  There were control mechanisms in place to ensure the substitutes were not a risk to the wider community;

·         Service users with young children were catered for with an on-site crèche and the centres would try to group together appointments for people needing this facility.

Councillor Mrs J M Renshaw, who was in attendance at the meeting, was permitted to speak by the Chairman and reported that the view from her office overlooked the entrance to Lincoln's branch of Addaction.  This enabled her to observe the behaviour of service users on the pavement outside, which occasionally became antisocial.  Officers explained that Addaction should be policing the behaviour of service users outside its own centres and this information would be investigated further.

RESOLVED

That the report and comments made be noted.

(To receive a report by Mark Housley, County Officer Public Protection and Sara Barry, Safer Communities Manager, which provides an update on the Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership (LCSP).  This includes the priority setting process, structure of the LCSP and progress highlights for each of the priority areas)

A report was considered which provided an update on the Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) which included the priority setting process, structure of the LCSP and progress highlights for each of the priority areas.

The priorities for 2015-2018 had been agreed by the LCSP and the officer went through each one in turn:

·         Antisocial behaviour & hate crime

There had been an increase in reported hate crime, which either demonstrated an increase in incidents or an increase in the number of reports;

·         Domestic abuse

More work needed doing with the perpetrators of domestic abuse, however it was a complex area with different authorities involved.  There had been 4 domestic homicides in 3 years, which was less than expected and a Domestic Homicide Review was underway;

·         Reducing offending

This area for the LCSP would be dominated by the Integrated Offender Management Model which would focus on tackling the cause of offending for an individual, rather than the offence itself which would remain the job of the Police Authority;

·         Serious & organised crime

This was a new priority for the Partnership and had already seen some success;

·         Sexual violence

This priority was also captured within Domestic Abuse.  70% of sexual violence was alcohol related and the victims were often known to the perpetrators;

·         Substance misuse

The Stay Safe Team was currently doing work within schools, as drugs were becoming more fashionable (with the exception of heroin, which had seen a downward trend in use).  There were no shops in Lincolnshire selling New Psychoactive Substances (legal highs).

Discussion took place regarding young offenders and it was reported that there had been a significant drop in the number of young offenders in recent years with only 130 children offending over the last year.  This was thought mainly to be due to restorative justice.  When asked, young offenders often gave the reasons of domestic abuse, substance abuse or indifferent parenting   for their offences.  Literacy skills were being improved using schemes in prisons to improve young offenders' chances on release.

The Community Safety Partnership was trying to prevent burglary re-offending by tackling the root cause of the offending.

Trading Standards had been less interested in counterfeit goods, focussing instead of counterfeit alcohol and tobacco which both carried health risks.

The Partnership's main aim was to prevent crime in contrast to the Police whose aim was to react to it.

RESOLVED

That the report and comments made be noted.