Agenda and minutes

The Chief Executive reported that, under Local Government (Committee and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, Councillors Mrs W Bowkett, Mrs P cooper and Mrs E J Sneath had been appointed to the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee to replace Councillors R D Butroid, Mrs C L Perraton-Williams and W J Aron respectively for this meeting only.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2017 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

During consideration of the minutes it was clarified that Councillor M A Whittington had been in attendance at the meeting as a replacement member for Councillor Mrs C L Perraton-Williams.

In relation to the online training for domestic abuse awareness for members, it was reported that officers hoped to e-mail all members at the end of September with an update on accessing this training.

It was queried whether another member could be nominated to sit on the Heritage Working Group, however, members were advised that Councillor Mrs J Killey had been nominated as the Labour Group representative.

Members were advised that work was underway to bring items to the Committee to enable the Committee to sit as the Crime and Disorder Panel.

The Executive Councillor for Community Safety and People Management reported that Daryl Pearce, who was on secondment from the Police to work on Safer Communities had been recalled back to the Police.  It was reported that Sara Barry would now be leading on Safer Communities.  It was expected that a replacement from the Police would be found.

The Executive Councillor also reported that he had recently been elected as Chair of the Community Safety Partnership.  He advised that there was a lot he wanted to do to bring about closer working with the various strategic management boards, and had a lot of ambitions for how the Partnership would go forward.

The Executive Councillor also advised that in relation to item 6 on the agenda (Safe and Well Visits), he had heard the presentation by Simon York the previous week, and was very enthusiastic about what was being proposed.  It was clear that a lot of opportunities had been missed in the past, and the more that could be one visit the better.  The focus should not just be on the obvious aspects of health, but there were also things such as doorstep scams which could cause ill health.

(To receive a report from Daryl Pearce, County Manager Public Protection; Nicole Hilton, Community Assets and Resilience Commissioning Manager and Nick Borrill, Chief Fire Officer, which provides the Committee with performance and customer satisfaction information for Quarter 1 2016/17 relevant to Public Protection, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, Libraries and Heritage Services as set out in the Council's Business Plan)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Committee with performance and customer satisfaction information for Quarter 1 2017/2018 relevant to Public Protection, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and Libraries and Heritage as set out in the Council's Business Plan.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Juvenile first time offenders – it was suggested that there was a need to know more about the background of these offenders, for example whether any were repeat offenders. 

·         It was queried what percentage of offenders reoffended after going through restorative justice.

·         It was queried whether there was a need to look at what other areas were doing in relation to youth offending, including other countries, to find different ways of doing things.

·         Alcohol related violent crime incidents – it was queried whether it was though that a lack of visible policing had an effect on alcohol or violent crime related incidents.

·         In relation to the technical issues which had been reported as affecting the data for quarter 1, it was noted that these were due to changes to the police recording system and the database which sat behind this.  Those incidents which had not been included for quarter 1 would be corrected when data was available.

·         Alcohol related anti-social behaviour incidents – it was queried who defined an incident as 'anti-social' was it the resident or the police, and it was clarified that it would be Police officer who attended the incident who would make that decision.

·         Primary fires had increased significantly this quarter, with vehicle fires and cooking fires being more prevalent.  There was a strategy of interventions for cooking fires and Fire and Rescue was also working with the manufacturers of white goods as well some of the most vulnerable at risk groups for cooking fires.

·         In relation to deliberate fires, vehicle fires were the area of most concern, and the Arson Task Force continued to work collaboratively with neighbourhood policing teams on initiatives to reduce deliberate fires.  It was noted that most of these vehicle fires were caused by people entering the county from other areas.

·         It was queried what percentage of fires were due to people buying cheaper goods which may not be safe, as they had less money available.

·         Part of the home fire safety checks would target potential hazards in the home, including faulty white goods.

·         In relation to vehicle fires, it was queried whether these were mainly due to people coming into the county with stolen cars and then burning them.   It was confirmed that this was the most prevalent way that fire and rescue came across vehicle fires.  It was also queried whether there was a success rate in terms of catching the people who did this, but it was noted that once the fire had been extinguished, fire and rescue did not hear about the outcomes in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

(To receive a report from Simon York, Area Manager Planning, Prevention & Protection, which seeks to inform committee members of the key changes to our Home Safety Check service delivery strategy and provide an understanding of the new Safe and Well Check that is currently being piloted)

Consideration was given to a report which informed committee members of the key changes to Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue's Home Safety Check service delivery and provided an understanding of the new safe and well checks that were being piloted.

It was reported that Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue had delivered Home Fire Safety Checks for in excess of 15 years and had fitted many thousands of smoke alarms in people's homes, and the number of serious dwelling fires had fallen whilst the rate of ownership of working smoke alarms had risen to an all-time high.  However, despite these trends, people continued to lose their lives to fire, and this, as well as the national drive to promote fire and rescue services as a health asset had brought about a change in service delivery strategy, to focus resources on the most vulnerable.  Members were informed that the popular 'Home Safety Check' was being developed into a more holistic 'Safe and Well' visit as the range of issues tackled had expanded over the years from purely a fire safety check, into a broader home safety check.  Whilst fire safety remained hugely important, it was considered that now was a time to broaden the check to incorporate a wider range of issues while still recognising the effectiveness of the fire services' preventative work.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was commented that whole time fire fighters were being trained as advocates, but it was queried whether retained fire fighters would also be carrying out this role.  Members were advised that it was not currently planned to bring retained staff in to deliver this service, but if retained crews responded to a fire incident and came across these issues they would provide information to the vulnerable person and report it back into the system so they would be contacted by an advocate.

·         Concerns were raised regarding whether this was just about saving money, and members were advised that it was more about formalising processes which were already carried out and from a fire and rescue perspective, there was no intention to save money, and if possible would like to put more resources into this activity.

·         Members commented that they fully supported Fire and Rescue in this activity and queried whether there were enough staff to carry out this work.  It was noted that the most vulnerable groups of people would be targeted for these checks, and was again highlighted that these activities were already taking place and the changes were a way to formally capture this information.  Additional support would only be required in relation to business support activity.

·         The joined up nature of this approach between the agencies was welcomed, as there were people with multiple risk factors.  There was also the issue of those people who would only tell someone what had happened (e.g. door  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

(To receive a report from Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, which enables the Committee to consider and comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity is focused where it can be of greatest benefit)

The Committee received a report which enabled members to consider and comment on the content of the work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity was focused where it could be of the greatest benefit.

During consideration of the work programme, the following was noted:

·         The next meeting would be held on 31 October 2017.

·         The annual report from the Lincolnshire Road safety Partnership would be presented at the next meeting, and following the meeting there would be a presentation of 'Too fast, too soon'

·         It was queried whether a report on street lighting would be brought to the committee, and it was reported that this would be the subject of one of the scrutiny panels, but it would be separate to this committee.  The scrutiny panel would carry out a review and then would feedback to the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee.  It was noted that this Panel would be chaired by Councillor Mrs A M Newton.

·         It was confirmed that there would be an update report on the PREVENT strategy at the next meeting.

RESOLVED

            That the comments made in relation to the work programme be noted.