Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors D C Morgan, R J Phillips, Mrs A Reynolds.

The Chief Executive reported that having received a notice under Regulation 13 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, he had appointed Councillors C E D Mair and Mrs J Renshaw as replacement members of the Committee in place of Councillors Mrs A Reynolds and D C Morgan for this meeting only.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meetings held on 13 July 2016 and 26 July 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Executive Councillors and Chief Operations Officers had nothing to report to the Committee.

(To receive a report from Tony McGinty, Consultant in Public Health, in connection with a way forward for the development of a revitalised but sustainable Heritage Service)

The Committee considered a report concerning the Future of the Heritage Service which was due to be considered by the Executive on 4 October 2016.  The views of the Committee would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.  During discussion of the item, the following points were noted:

• The Committee expressed support for the commercialisation of assets in order to benefit improved public services, and highlighted the need for the County Council to work towards a self-financing model that provides a quality service and retains a sustainable asset for the County Council.
• The Committee queried how the heritage service could continue to develop with future investment under the recommendation proposed. Officers confirmed that after the first few years the service would start to generate a level of surplus which would be used to fund improvements and support continued investment.
• The Committee highlighted concern that the Heritage Service could become too focused on income generation, and not on providing a valuable service for the people of Lincolnshire. Officers confirmed that a balance needed to be found between maintaining public assets for the community, attracting new events to Lincolnshire and generating income for service improvements.
• The Committee acknowledged the excellent work undertaken as part of the Lincoln Castle Revealed project and supported the need to apply a similar methodology at other sites across the County to attract bigger events to Lincolnshire.
• The Committee highlighted the need to consider how the proposals for the Heritage Services could benefit smaller heritage sites, or support community groups in running local heritage attractions. Officers confirmed that smaller sites and activities were more difficult to sustain, however it was intended to continue supporting external sites, but that the capability to do this was diminishing as budgets reduced.
• The Committee highlighted the need to ‘join the dots’ between the various heritage sites across the County and increase the levels of local and national promotion to better convert day visitors into longer term visitors to Lincolnshire.
• The Committee highlighted the need for effective planning to be in place as part of the proposed changes, and queried how visitor interest could be maintained to ensure the continued sustainability of the service. Officers highlighted that due to the reputational benefits seen as a result of the Lincoln Castle Revealed project, Lincolnshire was now being approach to host bigger events in the area.
• The Committee questioned officers on the benefits of the proposal that income achieved by the Heritage Service would be retained for reinvestment back into the service. Officers highlighted that there was a need for more availability of budget to aid in forward planning of events and reinvestment in services. The ability for the Heritage Service to the retain income achieved between April 2015 and March 2018 would allow more freedom and quicker reaction in developing the service for the future.

RESOLVED

That the recommendations as set out in the report to the Executive be supported and the comments made in relation to this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

(To receive a report from Nicole Hilton, Community Assets and Resilience Commissioning Manager,which provides an update on Prevent activity in Lincolnshire as a result of changes to the Counter-terrorism Bill 2014 and the introduction of the Government Counter-Extremism Strategy 2015)

Consideration was given to a report which provided an update to the Committee on Prevent activity in Lincolnshire as a result of changes to the Counter-terrorism Bill 2014 and the introduction of the Government Counter-Extremism Strategy 2015.

It was reported that information updates came in to the Council on a six monthly basis which contained nothing confidential.  In addition, Officers regularly attended meetings in London for updates. 

There had been several reports of unacceptable behaviour in Lincolnshire since the referendum result to leave the EU in June 2016, however this had not been as bad as in some areas.

The Committee received a presentation on Prevent – Prevent and the Threat of Terrorism from Nicole Hilton, Community Assets and Resilience Commissioning.  During the presentation, the following points were noted:

·         Although the UK's threat from international terrorism level was currently set to Severe, Lincolnshire was at low risk from an attack compared to other parts of the country;

·         The biggest threat to Lincolnshire was from Far Right Extremism.  However these groups (typically defined as defence leagues, the far right and the extreme right) were often disjointed and therefore lacked the ability to generate and co-ordinate violence;

·         Current international terrorism saw the targeting of mainly young Muslims in the UK using slick, intense social media propaganda.  The type of people drawn in by such methods often did not have a deep knowledge of faith and may have recently converted to Islam.  Many very susceptible or isolated, yet people with a range of different education levels.

Questions from Members confirmed the following:

·         The UK's ability to disrupt attacks (6 over the course of the last year) was partly due to a multi-agency ability to work together and share information (thought to be better than many other countries), and also due to having fewer land borders;

·         Paul Drury, Programme Officer, Community Engagement had been employed to manage a budget intended to aid community cohesion in the districts, however the money was only available for 12 months;

·         With plans to build a mosque in a particular area of Lincoln, community cohesion was being aided by meetings between residents in nearby streets and Muslim elders;

·         Officers were informed of the Active Change Foundation which had been formed to help reduce the increase in violent street crime and the growth of gangs;

·         A suite of training programmes had been developed to help people identify radicalisation.  These programmes were bespoke for individual needs and come in a range of formats including face to face, online or in a classroom setting.  These programmes had been run ini schools, colleges and universities with a positive and motivated take up.

It was noted that the Committee would receive regular updates on the Prevent Strategy

RESOLVED

1.That the report and presentation and comments made be noted;

2.That the Committee receive regular updates.

(To receive a presentation from Ian Reed, Emergency Planning)

The Committee received a verbal report from Sue Whitton, Senior Emergency Planning Officer, which provided an update on Exercise Grey Seal which was a major exercise planned to take place on 21 November 2016 at Mablethorpe, and at the County Emergency Centre on 23 November 2016.

Exercise Grey Seal was a national exercise that Lincolnshire LRF and Humberside LRF were participating in jointly, and was focused on the preparation for a coastal pollution incident.  The aim of the exercise was to carry out a national shipping exercise to test the overall co-ordination and communications between response cells and the MCA's (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) overall preparedness to respond to a major incident.

The exercise would also examine the local resources that may well be brought into play and the circumstances in which the MCA deployed the UK's national assets to respond to a significant marine pollution incident from shipping in order to protect the overriding public interest.

It was reported that there would be a police presence on site at Mablethorpe to keep the public out of the exercise area.

RESOLVED

That the verbal report be noted.

(To receive a report from Mark Housley, County Officer Public Protection, Tony McGinty, Consultant in Public Health and Nick Borrill, Acting Chief Fire Officer,in connection with key performance information that is relevant to the work of the Committee)

The Committee considered a report which provided key performance information that was relevant to the work of the Community and Public Safety Scrutiny Committee.

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

·         The indicator for Primary fires was better than quarter 1 of last year, but still behind target.  An increase in cooking related (mostly minor) fires.  It was confirmed that smoking in the home would shortly be the focus of a new campaign;

·         Reported incidents of domestic abuse had not been achieved, however the number of reported cases was expected to plateau;

·         Domestic homicides had not seen an improvement, in fact the figures were getting worse.  Instances of domestic homicide tended to be where the perpetrator had a close relationship with the victim, but the incident had not necessarily taken place on home premises;

·         Officers were proposing to amend the indicator for Alcohol related anti-social behaviour incidents to measuring completed treatment and not presenting within six months;

·         There had been funding issues for Crimestopper reports received from the public indicator and Officers were asked to find out why this was.

The Committee agreed that this new way of reporting performance was much easier to follow.

RESOLVED

That the report and appendices and comments made be noted.

(To receive a report from Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, which provides the Committee with an opportunity to review its work programme for the coming months)

The Committee considered a report which detailed its work programme for the coming year.

It was noted that at its next meeting, the Committee would be meeting in Sleaford to undertake a visit to Sleaford library at Heckington Community Hub.

A visit to Fire and Rescue at South Park or RAF Waddington Fire and Rescue Station was planned for a future meeting.

An update on Lincoln Prison would be added to the work programme.

RESOLVED

That the work programme and changes made therein be noted.

(To receive a presentation from Mark Housley, County Officer Public Protection)

It was reported that Officers had requested that this item be deferred until a more substantial update could be provided, once a clearer picture was available on Devolution.

RESOLVED

That this item be deferred to a future meeting.