Agenda item

(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 4 2016/17 relevant to Public Protection, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, Libraries and Heritage Services as set out in the Council's Business Plan)

The Committee received a report which provided performance and customer satisfaction information for Quarter 4 2016/17 relevant to Public Protection, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and Libraries and Heritage as set out in the Council's Business Plan.

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

·         It was known that incidents of domestic abuse were under-reported, but the numbers reported were in line with national statistics.  It was highlighted that an increase in incidents reported would not necessarily mean there were more victims, but that more people were being encouraged to come forward.  Work was being carried out to try and engage with the hard to reach groups.

·         It was queried what publicity material there was on how people could confidentially report incidents of domestic abuse either towards themselves or friends and family.  Members were advised that there were a lot of third party charities who could help in these situations, who would ask if they could have the authority to report the incident to the Police.

·         It was queried whether there was a correlation between the number of police officers in an area and how safe it was, as Lincoln had been judged as the most unsafe place in the county, whilst North Kesteven was the safest.  Members were advised that officers were not governed by district boundaries, but there were many factors for why Lincoln was considered more unsafe than other places including socio-economic factors, population density, having a night-time economy and there would always be a difference between urban and rural areas.  It was also noted that when someone was arrested and taken into custody in Lincoln, regardless of where the person was from, that would be included in Lincoln's figures.  It was confirmed that there were more police officers in Lincoln, and that they would be deployed where the requirement was.

·         Concerns were raised regarding elderly people living alone who may become victims of fraudsters and be too afraid to report it to the police, and it was queried how reporting of this could be encouraged.  Members were advised that work was ongoing with the Police and Trading Standards.  Information on this work would be forwarded to members of the Committee.

·         Members were advised that Councillor R Wootten had been nominated as the Council's Domestic Abuse representative, whose role it was to ensure that the Council was supporting its staff.  It was reported that there was an online training package, as well as face to face training available for staff in recognising and supporting victims of domestic abuse.  It was suggested that all councillors should complete the online course.

·         It was queried whether there was a reason for an increase in the figures of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions between July and September.  Members were advised that this was likely due to the increased volume of traffic on the roads during summer as it was the holiday season.  It was noted that officers would drill down further into these figures to determine how many of the casualties were visitors to the county, as well as the geographical location of the collisions.

·         Satisfaction with response to crime and anti-social behaviour – it was queried why this measure had not been achieved.  However, members were advised that this figure had since increased to 59%, it was also noted that this measure covered the 'whole journey' so whilst there may be higher satisfaction with the initial response from the police, a person may then be disappointed with what happened in court.  It was acknowledged that there was some work to be done in relation to managing expectations of what the outcomes may be.  Concerns were raised regarding whether there was a risk that this figure would drop lower as people were encouraged to report crimes online, however, officers advised that they believed the opposite would happen as people would be able to track the progress of their report online.

·         It was noted that the reporting of domestic abuse in South Holland and West Lindsey had increased, and it was queried why that was and if there was anything that other areas could duplicate.  Members were advised that these areas did not have a different reporting method, but some of the support services were slightly different, but this should not affect the figures.

RESOLVED

            That the performance information presented be noted.